Swarms

What is a swarm? 

Bees swarm when they feel overcrowded. It is a natural occurrence especially in spring. A swarm occurs when the queen bee, accompanied by several thousand worker bees leaves the nest or beehive and searches for a new home. Upon leaving the nest or hive, the swarm will often only travel a short distance (up to 100m) and gather on a nearby tree branch, house eave or other handy structure while scout bees travel further afield to locate a permanent site.

If you have a bee swarm in your backyard or local area please do not try and kill or interfere with the bees.  Swarming bees are quite passive as their focus is on finding a new home and they will have filled up with honey before leaving but if you don’t know what you’re doing and you attack them, you are likely to anger the bees and get stung. The bees will not harm you if they are left alone!

What is a colony?

A colony is an established group of bees.  Bees found in roofs and behind walls, within logs etc that have made honeycomb and have laid brood are colonised.  Removing a bee colony is more complex than collecting a swarm and may need a beekeeper specialised in removing colonies.

Swarm collection and colony removal

Many amateur beekeepers will collect swarms in their local area as a community service. The beekeeper will need to know the exact location of the swarm, its size and how long it has been there. They will need to be able to get a bee box (also known as a mini hive or nucleus hive) to the swarm and may leave the box there for a day or two. They will probably collect the bee box at night. Remember to check to see if they charge any fee to cover expenses.

Click here to find a swarm collector in your area, click here