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But it was not clear where these 20,000 Midtown Manhattan bees came from. So I went in search of their hive.
First, a conversation with an expert
New York legalized beekeeping in 2010, and the practice has "grown exponentially" since, said Andrew Coté, founder of the New York City Beekeepers Association and owner of Andrew's Honey. Mr. Coté is a media savvy beekeeper: his Google name, and many articles on swarms include his quotes.
This is a man who, last year, was hanging on a 17-story ledge at One Times Square to save 30,000 bees.
The City's Department of Health and Hygiene lists 374 hives registered in the five boroughs of New York. Mr. Coté, who manages the apiaries all over The city said that there were probably many more and that each hive could shelter between 10,000 and 75,000 bees.
He said the hot dog bees probably came from a hive on a hotel roof; he said the same thing about those bees at One Times Square.
The nearby New York Hilton Midtown and InterContinental New York Barclay have rooftop hives. But the hives at InterContinental Times Square, located at 44th Street and Eighth Avenue, were closer to the site on August 28th, at 43rd Street and Broadway.
It was a good advance.
Then a trip to see hives
Apis mellifera, or western bee, enters its breeding season between April and June. It is at this point that swarms are the most common.
When bees breed, their colony divides into two, said Jay Evans, head of research at the Bees Research Laboratory of the Agriculture Department of Beltsville, Md. Half of the colony stays in the hive with a another queen to a new house.
But at the end of August, swarms tend to occur because of overcrowding and overheating of beehives, he said. Evans said. So bees simply been too hot?
Alex Aubry, the executive chef of The Stinger in the lobby of the InterContinental, beekeeping integrated into its functions. He said that he was initially nervous with insects in 2016, when he joined the restaurant that serves cocktails and food mixed with honey hives on the roof.
"To be a beekeeper, you have to be certified," said Aubry, who now finds the job relaxing. "They teach you how to handle bees, take care of them, look for them. Make sure the queen does not leave. If the queen leaves, everyone is gone.
Mr. Aubry was adamant that the Times Square bees did not come from his urticaria.
"They came from the Hilton, "he said. "It was not ours. We always check.
Mr. Aubry then described the interview that he and his sous-chefs provide, adding that after hearing about the swarm, he and a sous-chef quickly determined that their queens were still nestled deep in their respective hives.
Mr. Aubry invited me to the green roof of the InterContinental and left I borrowed a beekeeper's suit so that I could see the insects up close. The roof had plenty of space for a large garden of flowers and herbs. The bees buzzed in four wooden speakers.
Of course, I was not able to make an assessment one way or the other to find out if it was missing.
Mr. Aubry said he thought the swarm came from the Hilton because "one of the guys from Hilton" told him that the hotel had looked at his bees and that the queen was faded away.
The New York Hilton Midtown, located at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue, houses: according to Food & Wine magazine, about 450,000 bees. This is also 11 blocks north and an avenue to the east of the hot dog cart. I walked in the heat of the summer to learn about the hives, but I could not communicate with the bees responsible during my visit.
Then, the swarms education
I visited two of Mr. Coté's hives on a green roof at the top of Ballet Tech, a dance school located north of Union Square in Manhattan. The, I've learned – to my surprise – that he manages the bees at the Hilton.
He said thato his knowledge, the Hilton bees had not spun and that would have been "far enough" for them to travel. He maintained that hot dog bees could come from the Intercontinental.
Was the tracking of these bees at the source even possible?
"I would say it's very difficult," said Dr. Thomas Seeley, professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University, and an authority on bees. "There are more colonies of bees than those of these hives. Especially in this area, where you have very tall buildings, they could be very high and nobody would even notice them. They just need a crack in a wall.
"He's right," Coté said when I relayed Dr. Seeley's assessment. But Mr. Coté added that the day before the swarm, the six hives of the Hilton and the seven hives of One Bryant Park had been inspected and that there was no sign of it. swarming.
Mr. Coté said that it made sense that the bees come from a nearby apiary, probably the InterContinental. So he went with an inspector from the Department of Health to see The Stinger's honey sources.
"I checked the four hives," he said, adding that he had seen recent swarm cells in three of the hives.
Of course, unless someone is actively watching the bees climb on the umbrella of the hot dog cart, there is no way to be 100% sure of their provenance.
But "I can say that they swarmed last week and I can say that a hive sprouted last week near the hot dog cart and I can say that other swarms were not reported in the region, "said Coté.
"I'll bet the farm on it. And I actually have a bee farm, so I should know.
In the end, beekeepers do not agree
Mr. Aubry of InterContinental did not agree with Mr. Cotsuspicions of.
"My four queens were in each hive," he said, "and the only thing each hive needed was water. The bees were not from us. Not at all."
Daniel McAteer, director of safety and security at the hotel, said the health department had not issued a violation of the InterContinental and that claiming Times Square bees came from The hotel was a "guess and speculation".
That's enough. Case not completely closed.
"If you ask 10 beekeepers, you will get 11 reviews," said Coté in one of our previous conversations.
So what happened to the bees?
Bees get the care they need, in an apiary owned by Michael Lauriano, the police officer who sucked them.
The Twitter account @NYPDBees also posted a photo of his new home, which is under a Sabrett Miniature Hot Dog umbrella.
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