You win some and you lose some. We lost one today.

I got a call early this evening form the manager of a local truck stop. They had a swarm on the canopy over the gas pumps. Apparently, the came from a hive on the back of a truck that was there earlier. I’ve never heard of a migratory hive swarming in transport, but I guess it happens.

The problem: he sheepishly admitted that his first reaction was to call a pest control company. They came out this afternoon and sprayed the bees. He was calling me because the bees were back.

So, I grabbed some dinner, loaded the car and off I went. Only to find that the pesticide did it’s job very well: there were only about 1,000 bees left in the cluster. There were also more tan 20 feet off the ground and not a long enough ladder in sight. If the swarm was still viable, I could have left a bait hive, but they were decimated.

I’ll be having words with the killers in the morning. Cordial words. It’s good PR for a company that kills insects for a living to step back occasionally and say “No, you should call a beekeeper.” Hopefully, they’ll see it that way.