Deprived of visitors, the castle of Chambord (Loir-et-Cher) is currently of absolute tranquility.
The reason why a queen and her colony of bees had started to squat on a facade of the building, inside the courtyard, on one of the towers of the keep.
It was therefore necessary to call in a professional to recover the swarm.
Direction the hive.
The evacuation of the squatters went well.
A beekeeper from the Sologne Black Bee Conservatory released a little smoke before transferring the thousands of insects with his bare hands to a crate.
"In this period of swarming, they are not very aggressive, they still have nothing to defend", explains Etienne Guillaumat, director of hunting and forestry at the Domaine national, who indicates that these moves are regular during this period. .
Workers who see themselves as lords
Last year, a swarm had formed on the railing of a terrace.
“They appreciate the warmth of the tufa,” he observes.
Since 2015, the gardeners of Chambord have been planting honey flowers, such as borage, cornflower, and sainfoin in order to promote insects.
In partnership with the Regional Conservatory of the Black Bee of Sologne, the Estate has also installed beehives to reintroduce this stocky and hairy forager, dark brown, often dominated by the yellow bee, more productive and therefore more frequent. in Europe.
"It is a less productive bee than its counterparts, and it tended to disappear," says Etienne Guillaumat.
Last year, the gardeners of Chambord collected 150 kg of honey produced by these workers who already see themselves as owners.
