Swarm Removal and Relocation

Once a appointment is scheduled, a technician will arrive and perform an onsite evaluate, identifying the types of tools needed to capture the swarm. As the capture process begins, special care is taken to locate the queen bee. This is an essential part of the process, not only for the complete capture of the swarm, but also to ensure the survival of the colony. 

Once the queen is identified, it is carefully secured using a "queen clip", a small device meant to hold the queen without causing harm. She is then placed in the capture box, where her pheromones encourage all the other bees to follow. Once the swarm is safely acquired, it is sealed and transported to our one of our apiaries. 

After the swarm arrives at our BEEmmunity, they will be moved into their new forever-home where they can grow and continue to pollinate the local fruits, vegetables, trees, and flowers. 

... and you have successfully saved a colony of bees!

DO NOT SPRAY SWARMS OF BEES!

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BUT WHAT ARE  SWARMS?   

A swarm is a collection of bees that has left the colony in search of a new home. Swarms are nature's way of ensuring the survival of the honey bee species through splitting and usually occurs in the spring as a result of overpopulation of their current hive, but can occur throughout the summer. 

On the queen's command, around 50% of the hive will temporarily relocate to a random location, generally within 200 yards of their current hive.  Once planted, they will cluster together as scout bees are sent to search for a new place to call home. The scouts return to do a waggle dances for the queen to share the potential hive locations (dancing one way that bees communicate). 

Once the queen decides on an acceptable cavity, the whole swarm will move in. The bees that remain in the original colony will create a new queen and continue to thrive, thereby turning one colony into two and continuing the propagation of their species.