'Hey, MCC-Longview, you're covered in bees!'

With the semester in full swing it is not unusual for faculty and staff to talk about the buzz of activity they hear on campus.

But when Automotive Director Stan Abrahamson heard The Buzz earlier this week, he knew it was coming from something other than students. In fact, a swarm of bees had taken up residence on a tree limb just outside the automotive building on the west side of campus.

Lucky for MCC-Longview, psychology instructor Matthew Westra moonlights as a beekeeper and knew exactly how to safely relocate the swarm.

"I borrowed a plastic 5-gallon bucket from the automotive department, went out to the swarm, held the bucket under the cone shaped swarm and gave the branch a hearty shake," Westra said. "If the queen falls into the bucket...[the bees] eventually notice that her pheromone is not coming from the tree, but from the bucket on the ground. I left the bucket there and returned just before dark to find that the bees had settled into the bucket."

Bees, according to Westra, usually swarm like this in the early spring as they spend most of the summer building up a strong reserve of honey for the winter. It's odd, he said, to find bees swarming this late into the fall.

Now, with a bucket full of bees, Westra hopes to relocate the bees safely to one of his own bee boxes where they might have a chance to build their own hive and store enough honey before the first cold snap.

"This is very late for them to have much chance of developing comb, brood and storing enough honey reserves to get through the winter," Westra said "We’ll do what we can to facilitate their success."

Thanks to Westra for ensuring that MCC-Longview is, in fact, NOT covered in bees.

(photos by Steve Greife)