Swarm of bees lands at Illinois sheriff’s office. These photos might make you squirm

A swarm of bees landed at an Illinois sheriff’s office and decided to take a “tour” of the headquarters this week.

Warning: The photos just might make you squirm.

The bee swarm camped out on a sign Monday at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in Waukegan, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Naturally, the Sheriff’s Office offered up its best puns.

“‪We just couldn’t figure out what all the buzz was about!” the office posted on Facebook. “Guess they were just enjoying the swarm weather!”

The bees decided to land on a handicap sign in the parking lot. The mass of buzzing insects nearly covered the sign.

“A swarm of bees came by yesterday for a tour of our headquarters,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

Swarming is a process for bees to reproduce, according to the University of Georgia Extension.

The queen lays eggs during the winter, and by spring the nest gets too crowded. So, the colony anoints a new queen while the old queen takes half the bees with her. The swarm clusters on an object while scouts look for a permanent nest site.

The Sheriff’s Office didn’t wait for the bees to move along. It called for backup to remove the bees.

“After they got a good look around, they were safely transported back home by Willie’s Honey Company,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

Photos show a worker transferring the swarm into a bucket as bees fly around him.

“Swarms in the clustered stage are relatively gentle, and the risk of stings is low,” the University of Georgia Extension says. “Nevertheless, treat swarms with caution. A swarm usually relocates to a permanent nest — a hollow tree, abandoned beekeeper’s hive, or inside a hollow wall — within 24 hours.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Swarm of bees lands at Illinois sheriff’s office. These photos might make you squirm."