How to deal with a swarm

Session 5

Advice you can give to your Neighbours

When a swarm of bees arrives on your property there is no need to panic! Despite the thousands of bees buzzing around, they are not on the attack.

Consider yourself as fortunate to be able to witness one of nature's wonderful performances - all they are doing is looking for a new home.

The bees enjoy their time outside, full of joy and excitement - to sting is not on their mind at all.

However, if the swarm has been interfered with prior to the arrival on your property, the bees might be agitated and not so joyful anymore.

Keep children and pets inside the house until the flying bees have clustered onto a bush or another object.

After the swarm has clustered and most of the bees have stopped flying, it is usually safe to be outside the house.

Keep children and animals well away from the swarm.

Arrange to have the swarm removed by a beekeeper. When the swarm is in an accessible location, collecting it is fairly easy. Capturing it becomes more difficult once it has entered your walls or roof.

Wear footwear to protect your feet in case bees have settled or are crawling on the ground.

Do not attempt to move the swarm by hosing it, throwing stones at it, smoking the bees or taking any action to make the swarm move.

Do not spray the swarm with fly spray or any other pesticide.

Any interference with the swarm will only aggravate the bees and encourage them to sting in defence.

Interfering with the swarm will make it more difficult for a beekeeper to deal with the bees.

Back

tba