Swarm of bees creates a buzz for Island woman

An Island woman got quite a surprise Thursday morning when she found her yard abuzz with activity.

Emma McAlduff, who lives near Freetown, was putting her son down for a nap when she thought she heard a fan on inside her home, she said.

Then she walked to an open window and realized it was honey bees, and a lot of them.

"It was thick," McAlduff said. "It looked like it was pouring rain. Like, I couldn't even see out of the window."

She said she took a video of the bees flying around her yard and sent it to her boyfriend. She asked what to do to keep them out of the house.

"I kind of panicked," she said.

She called an exterminator. When he got there he told McAlduff he couldn't legally touch them because he wasn't a beekeeper, she said.

"By the time he got here they all had congregated in one swarm."

Beekeepers interested

McAlduff said the exterminator told her a swarm like this was a rare occurrence, and that there was a queen in the middle and the other bees were protecting her.

Her only options were to leave the bees or find a beekeeper willing to help remove them from her property, McAlduff said.

"One guy that was interested in coming to get them said there was probably 70,000 bees in that swarm."

She said she heard from multiple Island beekeepers interested in taking the honey bees, but by the time they had reached out, the bees were already gone.

"I went for a drive and came back around 2:30 or so and they were gone," McAlduff said.

Terrified to go outside

McAlduff said even though the bees disappeared she remains cautious.

"I'm a little terrified they are going to get in the house somewhere, but I think they probably set up shop somewhere else."

She said though it was scary, it was one of the coolest things she had ever witnessed.

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