Buzz, buzz, buzz… Late last summer, a colony of bees was discovered in a crate at the Pepperl+Fuchs site’s pallet warehouse in Katy, Texas. Today, on May 20, World Bee Day, Andrew, 2nd Warehouse Shift Lead at the location, looks back on the joint rescue operation he carried out with his uncle.
As global insect biodiversity continues to decline, every effort to save an insect population is of great importance. “Bees – especially wild bees – are among the most important pollinators of all”, Andrew, 2nd Warehouse Shift Lead at Pepperl+Fuchs in Katy, explains. “Their loss would have drastic consequences for our environment and agriculture. When a bee colony was discovered right here at the site last year, it was immediately clear to us that it had to be safely relocated and rescued. Even though rescuing honeybees alone will not solve insect decline, it is still incredibly important to take responsibility, even on a small scale. My uncle came to our aid, as he has been a beekeeper since his youth and has extensive knowledge of bees.”
The great bee relocation
Andrew’s uncle brought a special swarm-catching box and transferred all the combs into it – not just the honey, but also the brood, including the so-called eggs and larvae. The queen bee was also carefully placed inside the box. “Once the queen as in the swarm-catching box, the rest of the colony followed her in almost automatically. Through a behavior known as “fanning”, the bees released pheromones to signal the way to the queen to their fellow bees. We left the box there until the evening so that even the last foraging bees could safely move into their new home,” Andrew recalls. With an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 bees, it was an impressively strong and healthy swarm that had apparently been inhabiting the crate for quite some time. Although every bee rescue comes with its own challenges depending on the location and surroundings, this operation fortunately went largely smoothly.
Arriving at the new home
Today the bees live on Andrew’s grandfather’s property in Sealy, Texas. They have found their new home in one of the front fields, near an old barn. And they are not alone there. “I’ve been beekeeping since 2018 and I’m still actively involved,” Andrew explains. “My own bee colonies are also located on the property.” The “Pepperl+Fuchs”-bee colony has settled in well and continued to develop. By the end of 2025, around 11 kilograms of honey had already been harvested. Friends, family, and Andrew’s colleagues at Pepperl+Fuchs have already had the pleasure of tasting the honey and experiencing its excellent quality. Since that harvest, Andrew and his family have been focusing primarily on helping the colony grow. For the coming summer, it is planned to form an offshoot, allowing the rescued colony to develop into two new, strong colonies.
Picture Gallery
Happy World Bee Day!
