Jar O Bees

Mar. 8th, 2010 07:05 am
aggienaut: (Bees)
[personal profile] aggienaut
A particularly dashing young chap holding a jar overflowing with bees.  He is not wearing protective clothing and there are a few bees crawling on his face

   "Bees in a jar??"
   "Yep, some film crew called and they want us to put bees in a jar
"

   I didn't know then why they wanted to put bees in a jar, and, frankly, after having seen the shoot, I still don't know what the hell bees in a jar had to do with anything, but hey.

   They had already called some other beekeeper, earlier, who did bring them a box o bees, but had no idea how to get them in a jar and eventually left without doing so, leaving this production staff member with a box o bees in his apartment.

   But, then they called us, which was a good move on their part, because there's nothing we can't do with bees. Jar o bees? When and where!


   When Wallstreet Journal wanted to do a story about "Bees on a Plane," they came to us. When National Geographic wanted to do a story on "Killer Bees," they came to us (for Nat'l Geo they actually covered my face in bees).

   It also so happens that we're always inventing things. The bee control side of our business was among the first in the industry to use hand held laser thermometers to find colonies inside walls by the temperature spike, as well as several other devices and chemicals. I've posted a few times about various things I happen to be researching that day (most recently, for example, new biological control methods vs ants, & the finer points of earwig biology). The astute reader may also recall I've made a few vague references to ongoing research on a new "bee vac," construction of prototypes of such going on in the background, etc. This, it so happens, is the key to BEES IN A JAR.

Diagram of the Bee Vac, consisting of a a vaccuum attached to a bucket within which is a smaller container.  Bees are trapped in the smaller container.

   I introduce to you: THE BEE VAC (patent pending!). Beekeepers have been hoovering bees into things for many many years now, but I'm not sure a beevac has ever been designed and built that is quite so... complicated. Usually it's simply a vacuum that leads into a bee receptacle. The removable "Bee Containment Pod" --as I like to call it-- is incredibly handy though. Sometimes you just need your bees on the go!

really everything in this picture is described below, except I don't mention the invisible chicken in a top hat

   In the above picture you can see latest prototype Bee Containment Pod (BCP?), which is the one I used in this mission. It is upside down in this picture (note that the entire bottom comes off, allowing one to disgorge the contents). To the BCP's right is the Relatively Ordinary Bucket and mostly off frame and upside-down to the left is the shopvac head.


   Film shoot was at 3pm on Friday. That morning my boss Dave and I leapt into the beemobile when a call came in about a swarm in a park and vaccuumed them into the Beevac.


   Several hours later I show up to the shoot with several thousand aspiring actresses in a canister. The shoot is taking place at a dollar bookstore, and I have to wait through several other scenes. It's apparently a film student's final project. The scenes I see prior to the bees seem to involve a couple arguing.
   Because the jar is badly ventilated I don't put the bees in the jar until I'm told the bee scene is coming up. Even then I don't put the lid on them until the last possible minute.

   As you can see from the video, the secret to placing bees in a jar is thus:

(A) Place jar on ground
(B) Make a large funnel, place it atop the jar
(C) Shake the bees from your container into the funnel.
(D) ?????
(E) Profit!

   One will want to do this far away from anyone else, since, for god knows what reason, many people do not actually enjoy being surrounded by mini-aerial-kittens. At first everyone from the film crew gave me a very very wide berth, but eventually some were overcome by curiosity, and observing that I obviously wasn't getting stung, ventured to come over and meet the bees. After observing the bees up close for awhile and talking to me about the Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Bees several were definite fans of our little furry friends.

   Finally the call came out for the bees. I picked up the jar, gave it a little jolt to knock the bees off that were hanging on the piece of screen I'd placed over the top, and replaced the screen with the lid. The lid had several holes punched into it for ventilation but this was very clearly insufficient -- the temperature of the jar rose ten degrees in thirty seconds and condensation began forming on the sides.
   Fortunately by now several film staff members genuinely cared about the well-being of the bees. When it turned out the bees weren't going to be on stage as immediately as thought, one of the newly converted bee enthusiasts (I don't know shit about film staff positions but her card says Producer, so lets call her that) had the jar given back to me to be un-lidded until the true last minute.

A child of about ten holds the jar o bees carefully. Makeup artists have covered him in fake bee stings

   Pictured above is relatively what it looked like when the bees were used in the shot. Here he's just practicing taking it out of the bag, in the actual shot that other fellow wasn't there. In the scene, the protagonist couple is standing in the bookstore aisle discussing something when the kid happens along asking them where he can find diphenhydramine (which he reads off a piece of paper)(which you may recognize by its more common name, benadryl). They ask him what happened, he shows them the jar o bees, they say "wow uh.. you probably shouldn't do that," and he shuffles off.

   Once the bees were done shooting I hurried the bees back out to the truck and released them back into the Bee Containment Pod. Casualties hadn't been as high as I feared and there wasn't any evidence of any large scale death when I transferred them from the jar to the canister.

   Said goodbye to the staff I'd met, collected my pay, and the bees and I were headed back to the bee cave. Hopefully we'll be able to situate them in a hivebox and they'll live out their days doing everything bees love to do, occasionally telling their grandkids about the time they were moviestars.


EPILOGUE (apilogue?)

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Date: 2010-03-08 03:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cacophonesque.livejournal.com
That is seriously all kinds of awesome! You play with bees and you invent stuff!

Well, not awesome that some of the bees died... may they rest in peace.

But this was very interesting reading for my morning.

Date: 2010-03-09 03:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Thanks (:

Date: 2010-03-08 03:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] magsmom.livejournal.com
Who you gonna call????

Perhaps the bees time had just come and it had nothing to do with being vacuumed into a jar. I do that to my dog all the time and he's fine.

You lead an interesting life. Not one I covet, mind you, but one I have to admit I admire. And the best thing - you know it's interesting.

Date: 2010-03-09 03:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
You vacuum your dog into a jar?

Yeah in any bee colony just by the sheer numbers you can expect 1200-1500 to die ever day (out of 60,000. Not coincidentally, 1200-1500 are born every day. That's just a little over one a minute. Which, really, I'm not sure I saw more dead bees than would be predicted by that rate.

Date: 2010-03-08 04:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beautyofgrey.livejournal.com
I love the invention - it's one thing I miss about working in a lab.

Also, invisible chicken's shadow is a little creepy. :D

Date: 2010-03-09 03:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
I was wondering who would notice the invisible chicken. :D

Date: 2010-03-08 04:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] troubleagain.livejournal.com
You know the movie Uly's Gold, about a beekeeper? My husband's uncle was a tech consultant on that one.

Date: 2010-03-09 03:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Consultant on bees or other tech issues?

Yeah I didn't see the movie personally but I've heard about it.

Date: 2010-03-08 06:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 67threnody.livejournal.com
"...several thousand aspiring actresses," hahahaha, I love it.

Thanks to your bee posts, I feel a bit of fondness toward bees. That's not to say I won't inwardly panic the next time I see one, but that I'll do so with warmer feelings.

Date: 2010-03-09 03:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Hooray! (:

Date: 2010-03-08 06:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] popfiend.livejournal.com
You're like Ghostbusters.

Except with bees.

And you don't bust them.

But other than that it's an accurate analogy.

:D

Date: 2010-03-09 03:16 am (UTC)

Date: 2010-03-08 08:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] colt-4-5.livejournal.com
dude that vid was awesome. Did you get stung? (my 3 year old was awestruck by how close you were to them)

Date: 2010-03-08 08:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Literally just seconds ago I placed them in a hive. Looks like they were still doing well, and I found the queen, she was also looking healthy and lively!! I took another video of this so hopefully I'll get it up (:


I got stung twice -- once when I walked back to the truck to put the bees back from the jar into the container, I picked up the container without looked first and smooshed a bee between my hand and the container, it stung me of course. The second time I had gotten back to the office, looked in the bottom of the container to make sure they were still all right and one shot down and stung me right in the lip. This was particularly bad because while bee stings don't generally phase me at all (except in the nose!!!) anymore, a sting in the lip WILL make my lip swell up and be ridiculous. So I took bendryl, which had the effect of making me really sleepy. I tried to go out to the bars that night but after one drink had to go back to my friends place and crash on her couch because I was falling asleep from the benedryl+alcohol. So that one sting ruined my evening!!
Edited Date: 2010-03-08 08:30 pm (UTC)

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Date: 2010-03-08 09:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] memeworrywort.livejournal.com
I'm not an expert, but I'd like to know what would keep the bees from damaging themselves (unintentionally).

Date: 2010-03-08 10:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Not putting them in fucking jars. :D

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Date: 2010-03-08 10:06 pm (UTC)
shadowwolf13: (Default)
From: [personal profile] shadowwolf13
Very interesting and cool! :)

Date: 2010-03-09 03:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Thanks! (:

Date: 2010-03-09 02:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] furzicle.livejournal.com
I, too, am very fond of the line, several thousand aspiring actresses.

Date: 2010-03-09 03:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] painindesire.livejournal.com
the man in the blue shirt has extremely hairy arms, though i do find him attractive. O_O

they need to hire you for Candy Man XXX ;)

Date: 2010-03-09 04:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
LOL you would. Your taste in men... ::shakes head::


I think it's just because any female will INEVITABLY find any man who's looking attentive to a small child attractive ;D

Date: 2010-03-09 03:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kerrison.livejournal.com
I am sad for the bees who died.

Did you have a bee-funeral? :( Poor bees, giving their lives for art.




hehe... is this now a "B-movie?" ... Ok. that was just so sad/bad it was wrong.

Date: 2010-03-09 04:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
The bee losses were extremely low though fortunately. (:

Date: 2010-03-09 03:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blackcat514.livejournal.com
Omg i have the biggest fear of bees.

Date: 2010-03-09 04:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Aerial kittens!!!
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Date: 2010-03-09 09:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Bees are adorable! (:

Date: 2010-03-09 09:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] niora.livejournal.com
Awesome job you've got! :-)

Date: 2010-03-09 09:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Thanks (:

Date: 2010-03-09 11:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] baxaphobia.livejournal.com
Caged bees are close to caged birds I suppose! hahaha. Great entry! I really liked this and thanks for tagging the pictures!

Date: 2010-03-09 01:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] holy.livejournal.com
that first pic is my worst nightmare.

Worst Nightmare!

Date: 2010-03-09 11:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Being placed in a crowded jar with hundreds of your peers, by an ugly giant? I don't blame you! :D

Date: 2010-03-09 04:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lawchicky.livejournal.com
This was so cool! I loved watching your work with the bees and reading about your contraption. What a fascinating job.

Date: 2010-03-09 08:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Thanks (: I wish I had the videographical skills and logistics for it to be feasible to make better vloggery about it because I love sharing the world of beekeeping with people (:

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Date: 2010-03-09 05:28 pm (UTC)
ext_8664: (Default)
From: [identity profile] mummimamma.livejournal.com
I love your job too! I learn something new every time.

Date: 2010-03-09 08:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
So do I! :D

Really, Really Cool Story ...

Date: 2010-03-09 06:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] abe-lincoln666.livejournal.com
Thanks for writing that; I really enjoyed reading it.

So is it true that bees seldom sting while swarming? A couple of times, I've come across huge colonies of bees, all clumped into a big mass on trees on my block. Usually, I only notice them when I'm standing directly underneath them, about three feet away, and everytime that happens it never fails to scare the sheeet out of me.

One time, when a big mass of bees had stopped over in the tree in my front yard, I became concerned that it might be dangerous to the kids from my neighborhood who were playing right under the swarm. First, I tried calling Orange County Vector Control, and they told me that they don't handle bees.

Next, I tried calling some "bee guy" who I found in the phone book. He told me that if I was really worried, I could pay him about $250 to come out and remove the bees, but it would be a waste of money because the bees would probably move on by the next day, and that the chance of them attacking any kids was really pretty slim. So I took his advice and just left the bees alone.

He was right; the next day the bees were gone and the only sign that they'd been there was a handful of dead bees underneath the tree where they'd been massing.




Re: Really, Really Cool Story ...

Date: 2010-03-09 08:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
This is correct!

And that's why I was able to dump the bees from one container to another and all that, because the bees I was dealing with were a swarm. You can shake them off a branch or dump them roughly from one container to another, they're that docile!!!


Next time you have a bee problem make sure you call Bee Busters, that's my company. (:

Date: 2010-03-09 11:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rattsu.livejournal.com
See, it is things like this that just makes life a little more awesome. Thank you for sharing them!

Date: 2010-03-09 11:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
It was a really fun experience (:

Date: 2010-03-10 03:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teaberryblue.livejournal.com
GOD I LOVE THIS POST EVEN MORE THAN I LOVED IT THE FIRST TIME. INVISIBLE CHICKEN YOU ARE MY HERO.

Date: 2010-03-10 03:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
Looking so DAPPER in that top hat!!

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Date: 2010-03-10 08:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tamaraland.livejournal.com
Between the ships and the bees, I think you live in one of the more interesting variants of this earth that I've seen!

Date: 2010-03-10 08:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
thanks (: I aim to keep it interesting.

Date: 2010-03-10 09:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] comedychick.livejournal.com
I liked when you described the bees as actresses XD

Date: 2010-03-10 09:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] emo-snal.livejournal.com
They just need a screenplay now. (:


Several of the production staff were joking about giving them screen credits. Like after having everything else having five columns of eligibly small names rapidly scroll by the screen for a few minutes.

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Date: 2010-03-11 01:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] onda-bianca.livejournal.com
...lookin' like a swarm with the bees in the jar, got gold on the butt...;)
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