Lots of bees. That’s the second thing Brad Platt noticed on his beach on Old Mission Peninsula after the August windstorm last year. The first thing was the huge pine tree that had been broken in half, leaving a jagged stump some 20 feet tall.

When Platt looked up at the top of the stump, he couldn’t miss the bees flying in and out. Platt realized the large hollow tree was home to a colony of honeybees.

Turns out it was a lot of bees – not hundreds, not thousands, but tens of thousands, according to local beekeeper Eric Lackie. “For our area, it’s one of the largest natural colonies I’ve seen – at least 120,000 bees,” Lackie says. “I can’t even put my arms all the way around [the tree]."

Though Platt realized the stump must go, he wondered about saving the hive.

So today (Saturday), Lackie will – very carefully -- remove and relocate the bees to his own property in Acme.

The bees are using two holes to enter and exit the hive, the upper just a few feet below where the tree was snapped off. Lackie will first saw off the upper portion of the stump, down to the top of the hive. Then he will slice a face of the tree off, from the bottom up. The honey is located at the top of a hive, so if he was to start at the top, the bees could actually drown in honey.

And much honey does he think there is in this hive? “I’m expecting about 100 pounds of honey,” Lackie says.

Lackie has only been in the beekeeping business full-time for four years, but he’s been around it most of his life. His uncle was a beekeeper, and when he moved from Acme to Bois Blanc Island, he asked Lackie if he would take over the business.

Lackie has imported bees from the South but has had difficulty keeping them alive over the winter. He hopes to use these bees to jump-start his hive.

Platt says he and his family have continued to use their beach while remaining wary of the bees. Lackie adds that’s typically the case with bees as opposed to wasps or hornets. Honeybees are not aggressive, where yellowjackets (a type of hornet) and their kin often are. Wasps and hornets are predators who can sting repeatedly, where bees typically die after stinging once, and sting only after being threatened.

Lackie hopes that anyone experiencing an infestation will determine whether it’s bees or hornets, and if it’s the former will contact a beekeeper, particularly considering the recent die-off of bee colonies.

“They’ve played a pivotal role in history,” Lackie says, his voice taking on an almost evangelical tone. “You’d read and write by light from beeswax candles. Honey was the original sweetener.”

They also of course play a crucial role in pollination; cherries and blueberries are 90 percent dependent on pollination by honeybees, while almonds depend entirely on the honeybee for pollination at bloom time.

Lackie also loves being around the insects. “It’s almost a mystical, spiritual experience. You have bees buzzing around you. It’s a huge driving force of energy.”