Swarms

Help! I have a swarm of Bees at my house/garden!

Firstly, don’t panic.  Honey bees (Apis melifera melifera) swarm in fine weather in the summer as a means to reproduce.  For a period of time after leaving the old nest, honey bees will cluster and send out scout bees to find a suitable new home.  It is during this period that its easiest for a beekeeper to collect the swarm and introduce them to a nice new hive in their apiary.

Honey bee swarms can be collected free of charge by some of our association members.  As we specialise in honey bees only, we are not able to assist with bumblebees or wasps.

In order to help us quickly establish if you do in fact have a honey bee swarm, take a look at the pictures below which show the differences between them.

Sometimes honey bees cluster close to the ground in the most unusual areas (on gates, fence posts, door frames etc), but more often than not they like to cluster on a branch of a tree in the garden.

Providing the swarm is easily accessible and it is safe to do so, our beekeepers can assist in the removal of the bees to their new home.

Please contact us at the numbers below as soon as you have found a swarm of bees. Time is of the essence when dealing with swarms as Honey bees may only hang around for a few hours before heading off to settle in their new home as selected by the scout bees.

If they take up residence in your chimney or roof, then it becomes a much more difficult task to safely remove them as can be seen below from a new house build where the bees decided to take up residence before the new owners!

Association beekeepers willing to collect honey bee swarms

If you cannot make contact with any of our members above and the situation is urgent then please notify the team at www.swarms.ie where they will attempt to connect you with a local beekeeper.