Bees swarm the White House

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]We have some news tonight. A swarm of bees took over the White House Pebble Beach area. This is the front of the White House in front of the Oval Office.

[00:00:09]As you can see all the bees are flying around. This is near where all the press stand. You can see it from the press, I guess, booth.

[00:00:16]Hundreds, hundreds of bees took over the White House today essentially for a period of time. Some are saying it's symbolic, others are saying it's because of the beehive that was installed at the White House apparently. And they eventually moved away, but for a a good chunk of this afternoon, a small chunk of Okay, that's enough of that. Aaron's going to drag that out for another 32 seconds so he can get a monetizable video. Um, but as a beekeeper, I have some insights there. So, first off, Aaron, that wasn't a couple hundred bees, that was thousands of bees.

[00:00:47]Second, swarming is the natural way that honeybee colonies reproduce.

[00:00:53]The worker bees, which are female, will decide to make a new queen. And once that queen cell has matured and that queen has emerged, the old queen and a portion of the hive will leave in a swarm and go find a new home. This is how colonies split and grow. Usually when a colony has outgrown the hive that it's in, or because there are other stressors or factors, they will decide to reproduce. It is something that naturally happens in spring when nectar and pollen are abundant. It is not uncommon on a warm sunny spring day to see a swarm of bees flying around. The queen will find somewhere to alight. All of the bees will come around her and form a bee ball. That ball of bees doesn't have honey or pollen or brood to protect, and it is generally quite docile. I know that people have a lot of, like, scary negative connotations um, when they hear the word, the term swarm of bees. Now, we're not talking about Africanized honeybees, we're talking about European honeybees.

[00:01:52]They tend to be at their most docile when they're swarming. That's why you'll see a lot of beekeepers who don't even use gloves or a veil when capturing a swarm. I react very strongly. Um I have what's called a moderate localized reaction. So, if I get stung on the finger, my whole arm will swell up. So, I wear long pants, long sleeves, my gloves, and a veil if I'm capturing a swarm. As a beekeeper, I see a swarm of bees as a good omen, not a harbinger of doom, but a good omen of growth and expansion and springtime and you know, all of the good bounty of spring. So, I'm going to take that good omen for us, not for the regime. I love the fact that it happened on the eve of all roads lead to the south, the big protest that happened today in Alabama. When you see a swarm of bees, that's the beginning of a new colony, right? That is a queen and her workers going off to start a new life, a new adventure.