Swarm Catching

If you see a swarm of bee's (see the sample photos below), please call Dean at 780-953-4531 for swarm recovery.  We are located in Leduc Alberta but will drive up to an hour away or more covering places like Edmonton, Devon, Calmar, Rolleyview, Millet, Westaskewin, Wizard Lake, Pigeon Lake, and Camrose.

SWARMS

Honey bee swarming season normally occur in the spring when the colony populations outgrows its living quarters and during the strong nectar flows. The old queen and about half the bees will emerge from the parent colony to find a new home. The parent colony has made preparation to replace the old queen prior to swarm emergence. The old queen normally starts preparing 3 weeks before she leaves by building new queen cells to take over her hive.

She also looses weight for a long flight to find a new place. She takes half her hive with her, leaving the rest to continue managing the old colony. She sends out scouts to find a suitable new place to call home.

Along the way a swarm may stop to rest for a day or two.

When a swarm is happening and the bees are on the move, you will see the sky filled with flying bees as shown in the photo above. When they gather at a resting place, they form a ball or a mass like on the wall, a branch, a fence post, or even a car. If queen swarm cells are formed in the hive (as shown above), this is evidence that a swarm is about to happen.

If you see a large amount of bees flying together in the air, balled up in a tree or on a fence or building, please call Dean immediately at 780-953-4531 so he can come and get them into boxes to start a new hive. It is very important to find them before the retrieval becomes a more complicated "cut out" (when they make their home in your wall).

Corah Aparies