Maquella Chacon
Staff Writer
30,000 honey bees were found in, and removed from, Swanson Arch in early July 2019 by local beekeepers and University maintenance workers.
The bees took over the arch by entering through the wood on the lower section inside and then working upwards, building a hive on the ceiling. Wasp nests and other similar beehives have been found in the arch in years before, this time however, honey bees were found.
The bee extraction was led by Sarah Hofeldt, local beekeeper and ISU fitness instructor, with help from her husband, Nick Hofeldt. The beekeepers were overseen by Dee Rasmussen, zone maintenance manager for ISU Facilities Services.
The hive was removed by Hofeldt with a homemade extraction vacuum, which took about four hours, and then relocated to her Chubbuck home where she keeps three other hives with 150,000 other bees.
At the end of the summer after observation and readjustment, the bees will be moved to a farm location with other bees residing in seven additional hives outside of town.
Very few bees were harmed in the process and the team managed to find and trap the queen bee to help the life of the hive upon relocation. Keeping the honey bees in controlled hives combats the trend of extinction, protecting the bees from the elements, farm- used pesticides and deadly parasites.
Reportedly, the bees were very calm and unbothered by the beekeepers and did not need to be sedated through smoke. No one was stung during their removal.
Hofeldt said, “It absolutely went as flawlessly as could be, no one got stung. The bees were docile. And I have to say the ISU (maintenance) boys that came down were awesome and very patient with us. They went above and beyond,” Hofeldt said to the Idaho State Journal. “They let us cut wood and do what we needed to do. And they’re going to patch the holes and fix them back up. The whole process was a huge success.”
Traditionally, every year students cross through the Swanson Arch, first at New Student Orientation in August, then in May for graduation. Through the extraction of the bees the tradition was able to live on at orientation after the maintenance and repairs were finished.
The cause of the bees in the arch is likely to be that due to how large the hive was, half the bees split off to build a new one.
The Hofeldts run their own honey company, Bee Great, locally in Southeast Idaho with the purpose of earning an extra income and saving the bees, last year they produced 600 pounds of local grown honey.
“Bees are having a hard time and I’m thrilled to death ISU and Dee Rasmussen did the responsible and good thing and didn’t exterminate them,” Hofeldt said to ISU News.
