Worker bees surround Ricky Wright as he removes a swarm from a parking sign in Downtown Decatur Thursday afternoon. Wright and his wife Cheryl own an apiary and Weatherford and offer honey bee removal and relocation services. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
Downtown Decatur’s parking situation got a little more complicated Thursday after thousands of honey bees swarmed on a parking sign on Main Street.
Ricky Wright, a man armed with nothing more than a vacuum, jeans, a short-sleeve shirt and a ball cap — calmly collected the bees. The other half of the apiary operation, Cheryl Wright, was at his side, manning the SUV filled with bee containers and a few jars of their freshly collected honey.
She estimated that there were roughly 3,000-4,000 bees in this swarm.
“This is pretty small compared to some other jobs we’ve had,” Cheryl Wright said.
Still, the cluster was dense enough to completely blot out around half of the 2-Hour Parking sign in the 100 block of E. Main Street.
A swarm of honey bees huddled up on parking sign during their migration from their previous hive. COURTESY | CITY OF DECATUR
While a startling sight, the swarm was apparently harmless, with the bees surrounding their recently excommunicated queen as she rested.
Swarming is part of a bee colony’s life cycle, typically occurring when a hive becomes overcrowded or the colony decides to replace its queen, an article on beeswarmed.org explained. In such cases, the reigning queen leaves the hive, followed by a large group of worker bees, in search of a new home. The cluster often stops temporarily — like on a sign or tree branch — while scout bees search for a suitable location.
Around 1 p.m., phone lines lit up at Decatur City Hall lit up with bee-related concerns. City Manager Nate Mara said a city staff member happened to know of a few beekeepers.
The honey bees will be taken to a permanent home in Weatherford, Warrior Bee Apiary — once the Wrights finish a few last relocation jobs.
“It’s bee season,” Cheryl Wright said, adding there were seven removals on their calendar so far today.
What was left of the swarm after several vacuum passes. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
A swarm of bees was removed from a parking sign in Decatur Thursday. Ricky Wright, a beekeeper out of Weatherford, said honey bees don’t scare him. AUSTIN JACKSON | WCMESSENGER
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