Rio Grande Crazy Bee Removal

Save the Bees Organization

We like to say that we're problem solvers, so when we heard there was a development with a serious bee infestation, we knew what had to be done. We gathered up a team of beekeepers and environmental champions and got to work! Here's an update on some of the work the Karma Honey Project and friends have completed in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

The Rio Grande project is  one of our biggest current operations. This is a three month project where we will be rescuing an estimated 70-80 colonies of bees that are slated for extermination. Each honey bee colony consists of a single queen, hundreds of male drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. That means our small but mighty team could be dealing with over 5 MILLION bees!

What is being done to save the bees

We have halted the extermination that was planned, and have been given a three month window to rescue millons of the very special gAHB bees from this apartment complex in Rio Grande.

The difficulty of this rescue is that the bees have been colonizing this development and are in the walls. Another issue is that the majority of the hives are on the third floor of the developments. By the utilization of a cherry picker our beekeepers have been painstakingly extracting the hives from inside of the these apartment buildings.

How to Save the Bees

Rio Grande is in the rain forest region of Puerto Rico, which adds additional challenges. For the safety of the bees, and to reduce the chance of the queen absconding, the bees cannot be moved within two to three days of rain. This makes this project a painstaking one.

Often only one or two colonies are able to be re-homed on any given day. They must be then left there for 3-7 days before we can move them to local organic farmers properties. We do this to ensure that the queen has the best chance of survival and adaptation to her new home.