"Thou shalt not steal"

**Tom Fran** · 05-27-2011, 08:35 PM

A bumblebee learns why crime doesn't pay.

This is a true story of "bee justice." Enjoy!

**sevenmmm** · 05-27-2011, 08:42 PM

Awesome.

**Kingfisher Apiaries** · 05-27-2011, 09:35 PM

The narration is almost better than the video LOL
mike

**waynesgarden** · 05-27-2011, 10:11 PM

Working "him" over? Tearing "him" a new one?

Bumble looked like a worker (female) to me. (Just like honey bees.) But unlike honeybees, I believe the drones are much smaller than the workers. Am I wrong?

As the Beatles song goes "She could steal but she could not rob." Didn't anybody tell her? ...

Wayne

**Tom Fran** · 05-28-2011, 05:53 AM

Wayne,

I guess it could have been a "she" and not a "he." The thing that amazed me was how they all piled on the bumblebee and literally chased it from their hive. It looked like a display of street justice to me.

My honeybees work some long hours to lay up their provisions, and they aren't about to let this bumblebee come in and just take what is theirs.

**waynesgarden** · 05-28-2011, 09:12 AM

The first time I opened a hive for inspection, there was the same scene playing out on the top bars of the hive. The brawl spilled out over the edge of the hive and to the ground where Bumble eventually made her escape through the grass.

There was syrup on that hive then. Were you feeding in that hive? I'm wondering if the bumbles are more attracted to syrup than honey.

Wayne

**Tom Fran** · 05-28-2011, 09:24 AM

Wayne,

Now that you mention it, I did spill some honey syrup on the ground around the hive during an inspection the day before. I guess the bumblebees could have been attracted to the area because of that?

I was actually surprised that after the beating it took, the bumblebee was able to get loose and fly away. But, I'll bet it was a "memorable experience" for it.

**Kingfisher Apiaries** · 05-29-2011, 06:41 AM

I have seen that before, also yellow jackets, and red wasps. Never really been a threat but COOL to watch.
mike

**Cicada54701** · 05-29-2011, 08:51 AM

Bumble looked like a worker (female) to me. (Just like honey bees.) But unlike honeybees, I believe the drones are much smaller than the workers. Am I wrong?

That actually looks like a queen bumble to me. The queens go around looking for places to make nests this time of year and, unlike honeybees, they do partake of the pollen and nectar gathering and such especially in the spring when she has no offspring to do it for her.

Usually any large looking bumblebee spotted this time of year will be a queen.