5 posts tagged “swarm removal”

It's swarm season again. Swarming is the way bee colonies reproduce. The swarm is looking for a good place to start a colony. You can help them.

The Alameda County Beekeepers' Association members are available to capture swarms. Some members may charge; others do it because they want the bees.

NOTE: If you see bees going in and out of a hole, such as in a wall or tree, this is no longer a swarm, it's a new colony. For these jobs, please call Stan Umlauft at A&B Swarm Removal, 800-500-4747. He's a club member who will do everything he can to save the bees.

When You Call the Beekeeper, the following information is useful to have available:

1. Your name, address and return phone number for the day you are calling.
2. When did the swarm arrive, and where it is located on your property  *We can only go on to property with the permission of the owner)
3. How big is the swarm?  Softball?  Football?  Basketball?  Larger?
4. How high is the swarm, and do you have a ladder available if needed?
5. Is it possible to clip or prune the plant where the swarm is located?

Please note:  The individuals listed below will be contracting with you directly for the removal of the swarm or colony.  ACBA does not endorse, sponsor, guarantee or assume any liability for any work they may do, and it is ACBA policy to allow the individual to determine whether or not to charge for their service and if so, at what rate.  

We can refer you to beekeepers and professional swarm removers who will -- if at all possible -- relocate swarms of bees.

Call our swarm coordinator, Robert Hapke He knows all the beekeepers, who's available, and who is best suited to handle your situation.

Call Robert at 510-393-1762.

The bees are already swarming this year. It's a natural part of their lifecycle, in which a successful hive splits in two. The swarm goes out looking for a good place to start a new colony. During this odyssey, they may pause en masse, while scouts scour the area.

You'll know a swarm when you see it. When they settle, it looks like a solid mass of bees that may be the size of a softball or a soccer ball. They often land on trees or walls, but they may settle anywhere.

Swarming bees are not aggressive. They're trying to conserve their resources until they've found a new location. Think of them as a family stranded overnight in the airport: tired, hungry, but determined to complete the journey.

Aside from all the pollination they do, the swarm you see is valuable to a beekeeper. The Alameda County Beekeepers Association can help you help the bees by removing them to a safe place, usually a beekeeper's available hive.

If you find a swarm, don't be afraid. Do keep kids and pets away from it, but don't fear that they'll rise up and attack you. Instead, call our swarm coordinator, Denise Qualls. She knows all the beekeepers, who's available, and who is best suited to handle your situation.

Call Denise at 510-885-1014 or email her at denise at pollinationconnection dot com.

Happy spring!

Swarm season is almost over, but clusters of bees hanging onto walls, eaves or branches are still to be found.

If you see such a cluster of bees, be happy. A swarm is the natural way of reproduction for a colony of bees. When the colony is strong and healthy, it produces a new queen. She takes flight with an entourage of worker bees in search of a new home. The swarm collects to rest while scouts go out to look for a cozy cavity in which to establish the new colony.

In other words, these bees have successfully fed themselves and fought off the various pests and diseases that attack honey bees.

With luck, the swarm will find a new home close to forage but not too close to humans. Unfortunately, in our urban environment, what seems like a good place for a hive may be in the wall of your house, under your workshop or even in an unused garbage can.

You can help the swarm survive by calling a beekeeper, who will remove the swarm and establish it in a hive. Some will do this at no charge. However, later in the summer, when everyone's hives are full, they may ask for a fee. But the fee will be much less than an exterminator's -- unless the bees have taken up residence in a wall or are in a hard-to-reach place.

Please! Don't call for pest control until you've tried some beekeepers.

To reach Denise Qualls, the swarm coordinator for the Alameda County Beekeepers Association, call

The San Francisco Chronicle recently had a wonderful account by a homeowner who -- with the help of a beekeeper -- relocated a massive hive from under his shop floor.

Read it here: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/16/HOGI2QF2TP1.DTL