Beekeeper helps relocate Elgin Street bees to country apiary - Action News
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Beekeeper helps relocate Elgin Street bees to country apiary

A local beekeeper helped relocate thousands of honey bees to a home in the country after they started to make a hive outside an Elgin Street office building Monday.

'Everything's pollinated around here right now': Reproducing bees create buzz on Elgin Street

Local beekeeper Marc Gravel transported more than 15,000 honey bees to an apiary in Carp after the insects started to make a home in a tree on Elgin Street. (CBC News)

The sidewalk outside 150 Elgin St.was swarming with more than just people at 5 p.m. Monday evening.

About 15,000 honey bees were buzzing around a small tree outside the office building, prompting passers-by to swat the air and give the area a wide berth as they passed.
A employee from Shopify helped scrape the bees from the tree into a box for transportation. (CBC News/Sherry Aske)

"It was wild to watch them basically walk out into the middle of Elgin Street to avoid the swarm," said Stephen Beckta, who runs a restaurant in the adjacentbuilding.

Beckta alerted the building's landlord when he spotted the massive cloud of insects gathering below his office window.

Determined to find the bees a good home, Beckta said they called a local beekeeper to relocate the bees to the country.

An employee from Shopifyhelped transfer the bees to a box so they could be transported, and beekeeper Marc Gravel arrived to drive them to an apiary in Carp.

Honey bee swarmings are commonin May, June and July, Gravel said.

As the bees reproduce, half the population splits with the original queen and goes in search of a new home, he said, adding the restof the hive is likely somewhere near by.

"I'm pretty surprised that a lot of people found it interesting," Gravel said. "I didn't see anybody who was afraid."

Building employees blocked off part of the sidewalk until the bees were moved.

Building staff at 150 Elgin Street blocked off part of the sidewalk near the tree where thousands of bees were swarming Monday evening.

Several bees were still swarming the tree afterwards, but Beckta said he wasn't concerned about the stragglers.

"We have a garden of our own on the seventh floor terrace," he said.

"Hopefully they will go and pollinate things nicely."