On a recent afternoon, some residents had noticed that in a tall, leafy tree near the sidewalk on Leicester Street, there was an enormous swarm of bees. The gathering was oblong, hanging from a branch that was drooping from the weight.
“With the amount [of bees], I was pretty nervous,” said Chloe Mizuta, a Belmont resident whose house was the site of the action.
The bees began arriving on a Friday afternoon, and “in a matter of a couple of hours,” there were thousands of insects, according to Mizuta.
The Belmont resident called the non-emergency police line. The responding officer told her they would reach out to the highway division because the tree in question belongs to the town. The police then contacted Ottavio Forte, an 85-year-old sculptor and scientist who keeps bees. Forte arrived at Mizuta’s house to examine the situation.
Previous Coverage
The next day, Forte returned with fellow beekeeper Phil Thomas, founder of Belmont Bee Company, to collect the bees. The Belmont rescue would be Thomas’s third of the day: one in Cambridge before most people got out of bed, one in Somerville, and now in Belmont.
Thomas and Forte, dressed in blue jeans and bee suit jackets, climbed a ladder to retrieve the swarm. They held a long stick with a bucket attached at the end. Thomas shook the branch so the honeybees could fall into the bucket. Together, they’d collected over half of the swarm.
A day or so later, Thomas returned. He collected the remaining bees and the most important member: the queen. He relocated around 80% of the bees to Rock Meadow, where they will contribute to honey production for his company.
“When we rescue them, we put them in a hive where there’s already honey in the combs,” Thomas said. “That gives them a head start and a lot more supply for winter … They’ll hatch out, then [have the] capability to create more honey and keep the hive warm.”
The beekeepers transferred the remaining 20% of the bees to Forte’s backyard garden. There, the bees reside in a nucleus hive – a makeshift hive resembling a white box.
In total, the two beekeepers transported 6,000 to 8,000 bees.
Commonly, bees swarm in late spring and early summer. This typically occurs because of an overcrowded colony, a weakened queen, or a decline in resources, leading to bees inhabiting a temporary spot while seeking a permanent home, according to Forte and Thomas.
Forte said he does not recommend dealing with a swarm without expert knowledge.
“If you don’t do it right, then the beehive falls apart,” he said. “Then, the bees escape. It will not be a pretty sight.”
