5,000 Honeybees Are Looking For A New Home In Fort Greene

Be on the lookout for a swarm of bees! But fear not: Mickey the Beekeeper says they’re a gentle lot.

A wind storm on June 12 knocked over a tree at a residence on Vanderbilt Avenue in Fort Greene, and lo, there was a beehive with about 6,000 bees in the crux of the tree, according to Mickey. He says he was able to save about 1,000 of them by moving them to his own home in nearby Bedford-Stuyvesant, meaning that about 5,000 survived and are probably within about a mile or so.

“I’ll probably get another call in the next week or the next year, and they’ll probably be in someone’s house or in a tree somewhere,” said Mickey, who is a third generation beekeeper.

While the owners initially called in exterminators, Mickey the Beekeeper was called in because these were honeybees. Mickey said he charges the same as an exterminator, and while the work is hard, he doesn’t mind because he wants to save the bees.

Mickey said about half the bees were in the tree and half were on the ground, and he believes the queen was knocked out of the hive during the storm.

Fortunately, he thinks the majority of the bees, which he called friendly and gentle, are near their old home, so he looks forward to seeing them again sometime in Fort Greene.

“I didn’t even wear gloves, I didn’t even wear a mask half the time,” said Mickey about the amiable insects he found in Fort Greene.