“We could have to go to a call on a moment’s notice and having the bees on the aircraft are not conducive to operations,” Dickson said. So their team called local honeybee removal expert Suzi Hulsmann, who was able to meet them on the tarmac and gently vacuum off almost 3 pounds of bees — estimated at just over 10,000 bees — plus the colony’s queen. “The bees were just totally agreeable,” said Hulsmann, who owns and operates her company Suzi and the Queen Team in San Luis Obispo County and keeps bees herself. “The bees were looking for a new home,” she said, explaining that the swarm likely had to find cover after winds picked up that afternoon. “This was a first for me for sure,” Dickson said.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 15, 2024 18:49 UTC