IT’S not just regional towns that are abuzz with people again after the easing of coronavirus restrictions.
Bees are swarming after they took up residence on a tree in a Kerang street.
Beekeeper Kaine O’Connell and assistant Steve Bax were called last Wednesday to the tree outside Northern District Community Health.
Mr O’Connell said it was natural for the insects to turn up there.
“In spring they swarm, it’s part of their reproduction,” he said.
“The tree out the front of Northern District Community Health just happened to be their temporary home.”
According to the apiarists, bees were “quite gentle by nature” but needed to be removed from the public place for their own safety because people were afraid of them.
To lure them from the tree, the men placed a plastic hive with comb in it under the branches.
Mr O’Connell said the dark interior and familiarity of the wax smell was attractive to the insects.
“You see them start marching in there,” he said.
“And once you’ve got the queen, they’ll all follow.”
The be-suited pair waited for the queen to release her pheromone before shutting the box and taking it away.
Mr O’Connell, who runs small honey enterprise Mallee Honey Co, said he was offering them a “forever home”.
