Honey bee swarm causes buzz in Muncie neighborhood

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - What Toby Nunemaker saw when he stepped out onto his front porch for a smoke after daybreak on Wednesday made him stop short: thousands of honey bees draped over two nearby vehicles.

Although honey bees are generally "very docile" this time of year, police dispatched beekeeper Ron Burton to the scene -- the 1300 block of South Elm Street -- to remove the swarm.

"There is no way you were going to get into that vehicle without getting stung," Nunemaker said. "I've never seen it that bad. Two windows and half the top of the vehicle were covered solid."

Swarms usually occur in late spring or early summer when a queen bee leaves the original colony because of overcrowding and takes a large group of worker bees with her to find a new home.

"Although it is possible to get stung when they are swarming, bees are very docile at this time because their bellies are full of honey and they have no nest to defend," professor Greg Hunt, a honeybee specialist at Purdue University, told The Star Press. "They are looking for a new one. There is lots of swarming going on right now. People should just leave them alone. If they cluster somewhere, you can call a beekeeper who may want to hive them."

Wearing a bee suit, veil and gloves, Burton, a retired Ball Corp. chemist, brushed much of the swarm, which was more spread out and more hyperactive than usual, into a cardboard carton. The bees might have been trying to figure out if a car window left open was an entrance for a new nest, he said.

"This collection was very small, just a few thousand," Burton said. "They were probably getting ready to fly again. They start loosening up when the scouts come back and let them know they found a place to make a home. A signal transmits through the swarm. They are tight and quiet to that point. Then they loosen up before taking off."

The Elm Street swarm was nothing compared to the swarm that Burton responded to at a college student apartment complex near Riverside and New York avenues several days earlier.

"The one at Ball State was three pounds -- 20,000 bees on a little yellow sports car," Burton said.

While honey bees are supposed to be benign this time of year, a reporter, videographer and photographer for The Star Press took no chances on Elm Street, remaining in their vehicles even after Burton had collected most of the swarm.

A small cluster gathered on the back window of the photographer's car while others swarmed around the vehicle.

Two men mowing yards and a mail carrier swatted at the bees, which, it turns out, is not recommended.

"If you leave them alone, they won't bother you," said Stan Zimmerman, another local beekeeper. "If you swat at them, they might self-defend, but normally they're pretty docile."

Swarms are almost always temporary and usually no action is required.

The bees will move on within hours, or at most, a few days.

"If you're comfortable with them, let it go," Burton advised. "If they're near an entrance or an inconvenience or you're allergic or fearful, call a beekeeper."