Wisborough Green Division

During the spring and summer beekeepers deal with a lot of enquiries from the general public about "swarms" or "bees", and the purpose of these notes is to help those non-beekeepers who are confronted with the problem.
Please read the Identification Notes, and try to make your own assessment about what you have before calling a beekeeper. As a guide, many calls before the end of June are for bumblebees, and after that they are for wasps due to the nest rapidly expanding, but of course there are calls for honeybees as well.

Don't panic. Move quietly away and make sure nobody is in their flight path. The only reason they are likely to sting is if they are squashed or threatened. They should settle, and in a few minutes will form the normal swarm as in the images here. When they have settled they should be no problem. Warn others not to go near them. In reality by the time you have read this the bees would have settled, but the same advice applies when they move on.

A swarm could settle only for a few minutes before flying away, or it could be several days. In general swarms only fly between mid morning and mid afternoon. Contact one of the people on the list below as soon as possible, but please give them the following information:-

• Your name.
• Telephone number.
• Where the swarm is and how accessible it is.
• Will a ladder be needed, and can you provide one.
• Clear directions on how to get there, together with postcode if asked for.

If the swarm flies off after you have contacted a beekeeper please let them know in order to save a journey. Please remember that most beekeepers are amateurs and may not be able to attend immediately. The removal of swarms is an unpaid service unlike pest control companies where a callout will attract a fee. Although a charge is not made a contribution towards travelling expenses would be appreciated, whether they are bees or not.
It is much easier for a beekeeper to collect a swarm when it is clustered than when it is in a new home, so don't delay. In general bees in buildings are very difficult to remove, especially chimneys, as it usually involves dismantling something. Bees in buildings are very rarely a problem, and within reason would probably be best left alone. All honeybees now have a parasite (Varroa destructor), and a newly swarmed colony is unlikely to live more than about three years before dying out.