An estimated 40,000 bees have created quite a buzz at Brookfield Zoo Chicago.
The bees – rescued from one home in Naperville and another in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood – are now nestled in the Hamill Family Play Zoo.
DuPage County-based Illinois Bee Rescue was in charge of safely saving the bees and transporting the two swarms to the zoo, where they seem to have settled in nicely amid the indoor warmth. And they’re offering patrons a reminder of more temperate times as well.
“We’re hoping the bees bring some thoughts of spring and flowers to warm us up on these cold winter days,” said Jennifer Baader, senior vice president of government affairs at the zoo. “It’s a great addition to the Hamill Family Play Zoo because it focuses on our youngest learners, ages 2 to 10 who are just developing that knowledge of the world around them and experiencing things in their own backyards.”
Visiting in late December, Karen Faust and Connor Faust, of River Forest, were fascinated by the bees and their honeycombs behind thick glass.
“Some of them are so still. And some of them are still going inside and outside, which is surprising to me,” Karen, 60, said on Dec. 23.
The bees travel outdoors via a tube from the hives.
Her son, 21, is a junior at DePaul where he majors in environmental science.
“This is really cool. It’s good that kids can learn about pollinators,” Connor said. “Birds are pollinators. Bats are pollinators. But bees make up a huge percentage of pollinators.”
The hives are part of an immersive educational experience designed for children and families, featuring the observation station to safely watch hive activity, a play area where kids can pretend to be a bee and more elements of creative exploration, according to a news release from the zoo announcing the attraction.
Pete Soltesz, of Illinois Bee Rescue, gathered the bees and designed the observation area that was put together by zoo carpenters.
“The message the zoo is trying to convey is, come see these bees and enjoy the connection with nature and how fascinating they are. Then, try to understand how fragile all the pollinators — not just the honeybees — are in the environment. Take care to safeguard their well-being and their future,” said Soltesz, who added the zoo “nailed it.”
Illinois Bee Rescue, founded in 2013, has rescued countless bees over the years.
It often is the second or third company homeowners call for help, Soltesz said. Unlike other companies, they don’t kill the bees, but relocate them with beekeepers.
“It involves a unique set of skills between being a beekeeper and also being a carpenter,” he said. “To get the bees out of a structure, you have to be able to open it up to get in.”
Once they did that, they were able to safely remove the honeycombs.
They also used a special vacuum to gently gather the bees.
Later, bees and honeycombs are moved to another location where they are put into a hive.
From there, they were moved to the zoo, where Soltesz was impressed by the carpenters’ craftsmanship.
Soltesz, 60, of Villa Park, has been president of the Cook Dupage Beekeepers Association since 2010.
Keeping the honeycomb intact is very important, he said.
“We cut it out and rubber-banded it to frames. It’s almost like we’re moving their furniture. A bee spends its entire life building that home.
“We respect the work that they’ve done and we bring it with them,” Soltesz said.
Bees play a key role in all our lives, Baader noted.
“They’re such an important part of our ecosystem as local and regional pollinators, important for our local food system,” she said.
“We’ve been doing a lot recently as a society making it harder for bumblebees to thrive. We’ve developed a lot more land. More parking lots. Manicured lawns. Part of this is also telling if you learned about the bees and want to help them in your own backyard, you can plant a bee garden,” she said.
Goldenrod and milkweed are good for bees, she said.
Some zoo visitors may be surprised to see the bees so active in the exhibit.
“A lot of our native bees will hibernate underground. Honeybees are unique in that they stay active all winter long. They form this winter cluster with the queen in the center. They move around inside the hive activating their flight muscles to keep the whole ball of bees warm. … It’s important they have enough honey stores there to sustain their hives through the winter,” Baader said..
At the zoo, the warm indoor setting lends itself to bees being busy as they clean the hives and are moving stores of nectar and pollen and honey, she said.
If the outdoor temperature is warm enough, the bees will often use their exit tubes to get outside the building and fly around, even in the dead of winter.
“Right now, we have about 20,000 in each hive but that can get up to 60,000 in the summer when the queen is laying a lot more eggs and they’re building up the population,” Baader said.
Mike Martino, 25, of Western Springs,and Carrie O’Heron, 25, of Willow Springs, were unable to find the queen bees during their Dec. 23 visit.
Told that later, Soltesz chuckled.
“You know,” he said, “there’s a rumor going on at the zoo right now that the only time the queens come out is when I’m there.”
Martino noticed bees using a tube to get outside and fly around. Much more of that is expected in spring and summer, zoo spokeswoman Julianne Olivo said.
“We’ll have some new pollinator gardens with the opening of Tropical Forest next summer so, hopefully, they’ll be buzzing around even more,” Olivo said.
The bee exhibit can be viewed from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. at Brookfield Zoo Chicago, 8400 31st St., Brookfield. Community members can enjoy free days at the zoo on Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays through Feb. 27.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
