‘20,000 Bees on My Pants!’
Her laundry was hanging on the line in her backyard in Victoria, Australia. But it was going to be a little difficult to bring it in . . .
Beekeeper Brian Gardiner got the terrified emergency call, and arrived in the backyard later in the day. By then, there were roughly 20,000 bees clustered across three pairs of pants.
“She had gone out to bring the washing in and got the fright of her life,” he said.
“When she rang me and described where the swarm was, I had to grab my camera.”
The clean laundry waving in the breeze made an attractive stopover spot for the bees.
When their hives become overcrowded, a group of the bees will customarily evacuate, gather in a swarm with a new queen, and head off to create a new hive. They were not planning to turn the laundry into their new abode; just stopping over during their house hunt while scouts search for new digs.