Eight-pound bee hive bugs busy Troy intersection

TROY, MIch. (WJBK) - A massive rescue is all the buzz in Troy - it involved thousands of honeybees.

A busy strip mall was bugged by the insects but instead of contacting an exterminator, police called in a beekeeper.

"I was nervous to go outside," said Heidi Super, an employee at Biancha's Salon and Spa. "I started seeing a bunch of bugs and I thought they were just flies or something."

From a few bees to thousands, right before her eyes.

"It got thicker and thicker and it turned black."

What Heidi was watching was a phenomenon called honeybee swarming.  According to experts, thousands of bees surround a new queen in her quest to find a perfect home for a new colony.  And in that quest, they stopped for a rest on this tree.

One of the biggest concerns was the location of this tree. Right next to where customers park their cars in the lot. In fact, the nearest spot is just feet away, where anyone getting out is walking right into danger."

"Everyone gets scared even if we see one bee," she said. "We run away."

It is a concern that experts say is warranted as bees will do anything, include sting to protect their queen. This prompted a call to Troy police.
 
Police say that rather than call an exterminator, they called Jim Armstrong, a honeybee farmer from Clarkston.

"His suit was on and he was gathering them with a tool or something," Super said.

Armstrong was able to corral most of the thousands of bees and relocate them to his farm where a new colony would be a welcome sight.
 
And the Troy Police Department were commended for doing its part to help preserve the dwindling numbers of honeybees.