The honey bee swarm getting situated in the “Cats in Hats” hive. Courtesy of Iron Bee Apiary.

A honeybee swarm that was located outside of Bellevue City Hall was relocated to the Iron Bee Apiary, a family-owned apiary located in Sammamish.

Brian Orr, who is the Bellevue Police Department’s Forensic Lab Manager and a former beekeeper, was on scene to handle the bees. According to Orr, the honey bee swarm is a completely natural process and allows the bees to reproduce.

“All colonies will swarm when the colony population gets to a certain point,” said Orr, who brought up how several factors can affect this.

There’s no telling where the honey bees came from, said Orr, who suggested they could have come from someone’s apiary or even a tree in a local park. Regardless of their origin, Orr stated that it probably isn’t far from Bellevue City Hall.

“When a hive swarms, the entire hive does not leave,” said Orr. “The host hive created another queen. The old queen leaves with approximately half of the bees and swarms off to rebuild a new home.”

According to Orr, these honey bees did not bother anyone who was visiting Bellevue City Hall, and he described them as calm.

On the afternoon of August 11, the Iron Bee Apiary picked up the bees from the Bellevue Police Department, and are safely nestled inside the “Cats in Hats” beehive.