Crazy true stories of Beekeepers. The Kaboom Lady.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

If you know a true crazy thing a beekeeper has done, I want to hear the humorous story.

The Kaboom Lady:
A beekeeper in Southern Arkansas would shot her swarms with a shotgun.  Seriously, the Lady thought swarms in her apiary were wild honeybees trying to move in on her bee hives so she would shot the swarms with a shotgun.  A person could not convince the lady with common sense, those were her bees that swarmed.  She was adamant: those were feral bee swarms, maybe even Africian honey bees out to take over her hives so kaboom.

[iddee]

The story goes like this. A semi load of bees were going north on I-75 out of Atlanta on a hot late spring day. DOT had a road block set up checking trucks.The bee hauler was 30 minutes waiting to get to the front. By then, there was a swarm all around the trailer. They told him to get out and bring all his papers. Log book, manifest, license, DOT card, the works.

He hopped out and said, "I don't have a license, I stole this truck, I shot the real driver. Now take me to jail and you take care of these angry off bees."
They told him to get his smart a* in that truck and get out of there.

[BeeMaster2]

This story isn?t about a beekeeper, but a swarm report. I received a call while at work from a guy that he had a swarm of bees on his fence. It was close to where I worked so I said I would stop by during lunch. I asked him what he sprayed them with, he said nothing. After talking for a while he admits that he tried to set them on fire. He still had a big ball of bees.
I went there and like he said there was a ball of bees on the fence. Turns out he threw gasoline on them and set his neighbors fence on fire. His neighbor saw the fire and came out to try to put it out. Picture this, 2 non beekeepers with hoses spraying water, trying to put the fire out with several thousand bees all around them. They almost lost control of the fire and were about to call the fire department but were able to put it out. There were thousands of dead bees below the swarm and the swarm was back on the same spot on the fence. He was amazed that neither one of them got stung. 
Jim

[Michael Bush]

On another forum (I think) and someone wanted to know about these little worms in the comb and how to get rid of them.  Someone asked him to post a picture to determine if they were SHB larvae or wax moth larvae.  It was a picture of open brood.  He was serious.

[Beeboy01]

Here's one. One of the first swarms I ever tried to catch was out on a branch way up a skinny hemlock tree. Being pretty new I believed the stories that swarms won't sting so I decided to climb up the tree with a bucket tied on the end of a real long pole. I pulled on a light weight leather jacket and gloves and climbed up the Hemlock dragging the bucket and pole along behind. The plan was to poke the swarm with the pole and have it drop into the bucket to catch the swarm. Well  I gave that swarm a real good poke and the bees dropped into the bucket as planned then the came flying out just like something you would see in the old time loonie toon cartoons.  I still remember watching the bees fly straight down the pole and start stinging me along my hair line. Didn't wear a veil cause swarms won't sting ha ha. It was at that moment I decided to get out of the tree as fast as I could. The first two branches held but when I hit the third one it snapped off at the trunk and away I went sliding down the skinny hemlock like a fireman snapping branches off as I went till I hit the ground and bounced. By then my leather jacket had been turned inside out around my head and there must of been a good two dozen really angry off bees trapped in it trying to finish the job. I was able to make a quick sprint to the garage and closed the door while slapping myself in the head trying to kill the bees that had come along for the ride. The total sting count for the adventure was 14 around the hairline and ears, three in the eye brows and another 10 on my arms, legs and torso not to mention a multitude of abrasions from my trip down the tree. The poor hemlock looked like a telephone pole with about eight of it's branches snapped off from my hasty exit. Seems the swarm had been there long enough to make some comb which is why it was so aggressive. Never did box that swarm and you just can't make this stuff up. LOL   

[GSF]

I had someone come to my house because they needed help catching a swarm. For the life of them they couldn't understand how to get a swarm out of the air..,