BeeSwarmed.org – The Best Way to Handle a Honey Bee Swarm

By Kandy Meehan, President of Home Rental Services

Have you ever encountered a honey bee swarm? They can be quite intimidating. Your fight or flight instincts will likely kick in and your first thought may be to spray them or swat at them. But that is not the best way to deal with a bee swarm. Bee swarms are not dangerous. And they are an important part of the food chain.

If you’ve never seen a bee swarm, they are a large, tightly packed cluster of bees hanging from a branch, fence, or other structure. Swarms can contain thousands of bees! A swarm forms when bees leave their hive with their queen to search for a new place to live. Hundreds of thousands of swarms appear every year. Without a beekeeper, only 1 in 4 survive.

Honey bees are crucial pollinators and are often protected due to their importance in pollinating food crops and wild plants. If you encounter a honey bee swarm, it’s a unique opportunity to contribute to their conservation by notifying a beekeeper. A beekeeper can safely re-home the bees.

What if you don’t know a beekeeper?

We assume that the majority of people don’t know a beekeeper personally. So how do you get in touch with a beekeeper when you find a swarm? That is the entire purpose of BeeSwarmed.org.

This website connects you with a local beekeeper who can safely remove a honey bee swarm and relocate the bees to a managed hive. Using BeeSwarmed.org is free! (In some cases, a beekeeper may quote a fair price if the bees are difficult to reach or if it turns out to be an established bee colony, not a swarm.)

Here is how it works.

1) Report the Swarm

See a cluster of bees on a branch, wall, or fence? They are not dangerous but need a safe home. Start by filling out a quick, free report so a local beekeeper can respond.

2) Beekeepers Respond
BeeSwarmed.org will alert local beekeepers who are happy to collect swarms to strengthen their hives.

3) Bees Are Safely Relocated
The swarm is carefully relocated to a managed hive where it can thrive!

Easy Beesy!

If you or someone you know finds a bee swarm, we hope you will notify local beekeepers using the free BeeSwarmed.org service. We recently had this happen with one of our tenants. After the form was submitted, a beekeeper contacted them in just a few hours!