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ABKA
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Dealing with Swarms
If
you wish to contact a local beekeeper for assistance please remember
that the beekeeper is not insured against personal injury or damage to
his equipment. Assistance will only be given if you undertake that the
beekeeper will not be responsible for any damage or injury that may
inadvertently occur in the attempt to remove the bees. Nobody should
remain in the area when the beekeeper is working unless looking out
from indoors with windows and doors closed. When possible, we will do
our best to assist with the collection of Swarms of Bees, but we are
not under any legal obligation to do so.
When you have a swarm of bees first spend a few moments gathering some
useful information before
you try to ring up for help:
You will be asked:
- Are they Honeybees: This may seem
strange but
beekeepers
can only collect honeybees. They will not normally deal with anything
else. A large
cluster of insects about the size of a football hanging or surrounding
something say a branch, is likely to be a colony of bees, especially if
you have earlier seen a large cloud of flying insects.
Insects
going in and out from the eves of a roof are more likely to be wasps.
Large furry insects coming from a hole or from under a shed are likely
to be bumblebees.
- Are they in a visible cluster: This
is important to
the person collecting the bees; In this state they are often easy to
collect. Once they have found an enclosed place like an empty
disused chimney they are difficult to extract alive, especially if
they have been there for more than a few hours.
- How long have they been there: Bees
swarm and then
form a temporary cluster while scout bees look for a permanent home.
This can
take from a couple of hours to a few days, but typically takes 1-2
days. Bees tend to swarm late morning or early afternoon on sunny days.
Ideally the beekeeper will collect the swarm and place it into a
temporary hive, leaving it until dusk to ensure bees have returned
before removing it.
- Can the beekeeper access the bees: Be
able to
describe where the bees are and how the
beekeeper can access the bees.
- Can you
give the beekeeper
a contact
phone number.
Beekeepers You can Contact
Beekeepers you can contact in the area to find whether there is a
beekeeper that can help you with
a swarm and give you advice.
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Branch
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Contact
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Telephone
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Bath
district
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Pete Davis
Terry Hardy
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07720 321 627
01225 858 723 |
Blagdon
& Clevedon district
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Phil Clemente
"Beeline"
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07957 855 841
07890 223 934 |
Bristol
district
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Brian Steadman |
01179 445 741
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Keynsham
district
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Dave Hardy
Eric Martin
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07816 927 770
01179 856 024
01225 874 799
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Weston-super-Mare
district
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Mark Tilley
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01934 822 210
07976 637 131
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