An open-air beehive in a camellia tree gave people crossing the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus an unusual reason to look up.

Between Foster and Girard halls, thousands of honeybees had built an exposed colony where students and other passersby could see it.

Beekeeper Rachael Clayton, called in to handle the beehive relocation, estimated that the colony held at least 65,000 bees.

She believed the bees had been building there since around June, giving the colony time to reach its striking size.

Unlike bees sheltered inside a tree cavity or managed hive box, this colony left its comb exposed to the weather.

Clayton said such a setup can develop during an extended stretch without rain, an especially notable condition in South Louisiana.

For anyone walking beneath the branches, the sight was hard to ignore.

Yet the honeybee swarm was more than a campus curiosity: its location raised a practical question about sharing a busy space.

University officials chose relocation rather than disposal, aiming to protect people nearby while preserving bees that help pollinate plants.

Clayton prepared to move the colony to Judice, where she keeps bees among several locations in the area.

A former university student with years of beekeeping experience, she brought both a local connection and hands-on knowledge to the job.

Mark Genung, a university biology professor, described a colony this large in a densely used campus setting as highly unusual.

He suggested the bees may have come from an established colony that became crowded and sent a group searching for another home.

Honeybees can remain active through winter, helping their colonies build strength before spring flowers provide more food.

That advantage may help explain the hive’s size, though its precise origin remains uncertain.

Some onlookers were understandably wary of getting close, but Clayton said local honeybees are not typically aggressive.

The decision to move the hive turned an unexpected encounter into a chance to protect both the campus community and its pollinators.

For Lafayette, the spectacle offered a reminder that a healthy landscape is shared with small, essential neighbors.