Honey bees get new home

WERNER GRIMSLEY Things were really buzzing at Schleier and Brown's office yesterday. It wasn't so much a legal matter, but still a stinging subject.

About 30,000 honey bees set up a hive in the tree just outside the law firm's front door.

B. J. Owens, city of Kilgore, was called to look into the problem. "I called Werner Grimsley, a bee keeper out of Longview to relocate the hive," said Owens. "This is not the first time we have had bee problems in the downtown area."

Grimsley, a bee keeper for 40 years, said this was probably the third largest hive he had ever seen.

Once you get the queen all of the other bees will follow, said Grimsley.

But these bees were not going down without a fight.

Grimsley attempted to shake the tree and drop the hive into a box, but only half of the hive dropped and bees were everywhere. "This sometimes happens, but only about one in 25 times," said Grimsley.

Once Grimsley got the queen bee into the box, the rest of the bees crawled in after her. "It takes about an hour to get all of the bees into the new box, especially when dealing with this many," said Grimsley.

In 1985 it was discovered that parasitic mites had been killing honey bees. Over the past ten years, 50 percent of managed honey bee hives have declined because of these mites, one called a tracheal mite and the other a Varroa mite, both discovered in Virginia.

Honey bees are very important to crop production in the United States as they are used to pollenate the crops. It is estimated that without the honey bees, pollenation of more than one third of the world's crops could be lost.

Grimsley does not charge the city for coming out to clear the hive because he takes the queen as his reward, setting up a new hive.

Rob Schleier said his building has had honey bee issues before, as they are build hives in the facade. It is difficult to get to the bees to remove them.

After a few bee stings for Grimsley - and even Owens - the bees were removed and relocated to a safe location.