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WATCH: Business is buzzing at this Ford dealership as bees create hive on tyre

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This hive of bees began building a hive on the tyre of a Ford dealership in Blackheath.
This hive of bees began building a hive on the tyre of a Ford dealership in Blackheath.
screen grabs of video: supplied

The sweet deals at a Ford dealership in Blackheath, Johannesburg seem to have attracted bee-zarre clientele this week.

A colony of bees relocated their hive onto the tyre and wheel arch of a Ford vehicle at the Paul Maher Ford branch in Beyers Naude Drive, Johannesburg. The vehicle in question was on display outside the showroom.

Trevor Saayman, sales manager at the branch, told News24 they first noticed the colony late on Wednesday afternoon.

Saayman called in bee removal and relocation specialists Bee Movals, which relocated the colony on the same day.

"No one got stung, even though we had lots of allergic people and customers here in the showroom," Saayman said.

A new home

Len Boucher, managing director at Bee Movals said the colony was between 10 000 and 15 000 strong.

His team used a device called a bee-vac to draw them into a container at a very low pressure.

The bees were then moved to one of their apiary sites.

"The normal modus operandi is not to harm the bees during the process, to remove them as quickly and safely as possible, and that's what we did," Boucher said.

The colony was rehoused in a proper hive in Northcliff.

"If we'd left them undisturbed, they would have stayed there and made that [the car] their new home," Boucher said.

Danger

He said bee colonies could be dangerous, especially if people didn't know how to behave around them.  He warned people against disturbing the colony - by swatting them, or spraying Doom on them.

"It's a very dangerous thing to do. Doom has a particular effect on bees, it makes them 'woes' [wild]," he said.

He added that Doom would only kill a couple of hundred bees in a colony of about 10 000.

"There is not enough Doom in the can to protect you."

"Rather call a beekeeper or specialists to do the job."

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