Swarm Collection  

At Broads Bee we will collect swarms of Honey Bees which may have come to rest in your garden, or school, or where you work within range of our base in the Norfolk Broads. There is no charge for this service, indeed if we have some in the truck, you'll probably get a jar of honey from us when we visit!

What should you do if you have a swarm?

Firstly, don't panic!  Honeybees are at their most docile when they're swarming.  They don't have a home or resources to protect, so they're very unlikely to be aggressive.  That said, don't approach the swarm, they do still have stings, even if they're unlikely to use them.  Next, phone us, or send a Whatsapp or text message to 07944 709890.  We'll ask a few questions.  You'd be surprised how often people mistake a bumble bee nest that they've just dug up with a honeybee swarm!  We'll need to be able to reach the swarm, so if it's in the top of a hundred foot tree we may not be able to help.  Once we've got some information we'll come and see you and safely gather up the bees into our equipment and take them away to be rehoused somewhere safe.

Why should you phone straight away?

If you do nothing then the swarm will eventually move on.  That's not necessarily a good thing though...  It could well move on into your chimney, or your roof, or the walls of your shed.  This could be bad for your property, and bad for the bees, not to mention expensive if you need to get them removed later on.  They'll stay put for a few minutes to a few days, so the sooner you phone or message us, the sooner we can get there and take care of them for you. 

Swarm collections are normally pretty straightforward, sometimes they come with a twist though!

What is Swarming?

Swarming is how honeybee colonies reproduce. When a colony get's strong enough, the existing Queen Bee will leave the hive together with about half of the bees.  They'll set out to find a new home whilst the bees left behind raise a new Queen to carry on the colony.

In the air the swarm will look like a cloud of bees, but they'll settle down pretty quickly into a big ball of bees hanging off a tree, or a fence or something like that.  They'll stay in that point whilst 'scout bees' leave the group to go and scope out a new home.  Over a few hours or sometimes days the scout bees will return to the group and literally argue their case with the other bees, until they come to an agreement and set off again, altogether to the new home. There they will try to build up the resources to survive another year and then, if they make it, will probably swarm again the next year and make another colony!

It's important, where possible, to get a beekeeper to come as quickly as possible to rehome the swarm before it can find an inappropriate place to build a new nest.  Beekeepers shouldn't charge for collecting a swarm from a tree, but it can get very expensive to get bees removed once they've made a new nest in your cavity walls or chimney!