Former federal agents turned beekeepers protecting bees with friendly competition

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A swarm of bees usually isn’t a sight anyone wants to see, especially in or around their home. Two former federal agents turned beekeepers in Oklahoma City said they’re always buzzing to help remove them safely.

"I think our issue is don't kill bees,” Beekeeper Mike Favors said.

It’s a simple message, and when a swarm is just hanging out on a fence, like they were Wednesday, Favors said they’re generally not a problem.

"You shouldn't be scared of bees like this,” he said.

Beekeeping has become a way of life for him and his partner Doug McClain in retirement. The two former federal agents of over 20 years have turned from a life of fighting crime to buzzing around town removing swarms together. 

 It’s not always a tough job though, especially in the scenario mentioned on Wednesday.

"It doesn't take long to scoop up a ball of bees like this,” Favors said. “Maybe 30 minutes, sometimes, maybe an hour."

According to Favors, bees in that state are just waiting to find a new home, maybe a tree nearby or otherwise. The real problems come when they try to make someone else’s home their own. It’s something so horrifying you may have to see it to believe it.

"Somehow you get all this honey in your walls and it makes a big mess,” he said. "I've seen pictures of honey running out of electrical outlets."

Rodents and other bugs can be attracted to it, but luckily it wasn’t the issue on Wednesday. They didn’t even need normal gear and just scooped them up slowly.

"We remove them in a way that we can save them and put them in our in our apiary,” Favors said.

That’s a place to re-home and rebuild their colony. It’s something Favors said is important for a bee population facing challenges across the country. Coming together to protect pollinators while running separate honey selling businesses on the side is quite the sweet gig for them and is one that even goes beyond just the bugs themselves.

"This is half the fun of meeting people, talking about bees,” favors said.

They are both 50/50 business partners who split costs and honey down the middle, but sell the honey under their own names. Mike’s honey label is called Honey’s Honey OKC, while Doug’s label is The Honey Guy OK Blue Ribbon Honey.

They have competitions to see who can sell more honey and Favors said it’s just like their days in law enforcement where they used to see who could work the best cases or get promoted first.