Battle Royale

[thegolfpsycho]

Walked out to the hives this afternoon and noticed a baseball sized knot of bees in front of one.  First thought was they were balling a queen for some reason, and I started brushing them to disperse them.  Suddenly out of the mass, a bumble bee emerged trying to escape.  As quickly as it appeared, another onslaught of bees would join the battle and the bumblebee would be gone from view.  This went on for several minutes, and finally I helped the bumbler escape.  She managed to fly off with 2 bees maintaining their death grip on her.  I watched the colony for a another minute when right out of the entrance rolled another bumbler and a fresh skirmish.  For a second, I thought I better tear the colony down and have a look.  I looked at the 3 deeps I would have to move, it was 93 degrees out, and decided the bees were takin care of business.  No need for me to meddle in bee business.  

I wish I had a video camera.  I'm sure if I could get Richard Kiley to narrate, it would rank right up there with the hornet video that was posted some time back.  Only this time, the good gals were winning!