When Bees Move In, Who Ya Gonna Call To Move ‘Em Out?

Swarm Removal List

These beekeepers are willing to relocate HONEY BEES ONLY from your property to an apiary so they can continue to benefit our farms and gardens with pollination. Swarms of honeybees appear most often in March-July. These bees are attempting to find a new home. A swarm represents free bees to beekeepers and anyone on the list below would be interested in capturing them. A swarm that is not captured will colonize lots of places that are inconvenient to humans.

Make sure you understand what the beekeeper is agreeing to do before work begins. Some beekeepers will remove honeybees from within walls of structures but they may charge a fee for this service and may not perform structural repairs. Swarms can pause for a few minutes to maybe 36 hours. Are you sure they are still there? How high up off the ground is it? Are you sure they are honeybees?

How to Catch a Bee Swarm

Swarms sometimes land on a tree or shrub about head high where they are relatively easy to catch. If they are higher and you need a ladder be extremely cautious. As long as you can safely access them the process of collecting them is essentially the same.

Find a container

• This is almost always done in a hurry so you may want to put some gear together so you can grab and go. Some ideas include: an empty beehive, cardboard box, plastic tote or bucket. It has to have a lid and ventilation. Improvise. Cut holes in the container or staple screen material over the top to keep the bees inside during transport.

Suit up and get ready!

• Wear a bee suit in case the bees get agitated
• Bee brush to sweep them into the box, though a soft-bristle brush works in a pinch
• An old bed sheet to lay on the ground directly under the swarm to catch the bees that don’t initially make it into the box. If needed, weights to hold down the edges of the sheet if it’s windy

Dislodge the bees

• Hold the container directly under the swarm and give a strong shake to dislodge most of the bees into the box. Quickly sweep the remaining bees into the box before setting the box on the sheet directly below the location of the swarm. Shaking works well for branches but for fixed objects like a wall or telephone pole sweeping is the only option to dislodge the bees.

Stand back and observe

• You won’t get all the bees into the box with the initial shaking and sweeping but as long as the queen is in the box the remaining bees will soon follow. If the queen is not in the box the bees climb out and return to her. Just wait for them to reform into a single mass and then repeat the process.

Wait for the stragglers

• If you have the time, leave the box until dusk so that the scout bees will join the group as they return throughout the day. To encourage the bees to stay put it’s best to put the lid on the box while you wait, leaving it open just a tad to admit the stragglers. But if you’re in a hurry, go ahead and brush any bees from the sheet into the box and head home with your bees.

Set up the new hive

• Close the box leaving the ventilation holes open and transfer the bees into their new hive within 24 hours.