HELP! I think I might have a swarm!
Before contacting anyone, please read this page.
ADBKA maintains a list of swarm collectors who may be able to provide assistance with the removal of a swarm or settled colony of honey bees (access permitting). However, if you are troubled by other types of bees (including bumblebees) or wasps, you will have to contact a pest control company, as swarm collectors can only help with honey bees. To reduce the possibility of a fruitless call-out and further delay to resolving your concern, we strongly recommend you try to identify what type of insect you have in your home or garden.
Go to the Beedentify website below and follow the instructions. This should be able to differentiate between honey bees, other bees and wasps.
Was the conclusion that your problem bees are honey bees? Then press the button below.
What information will assist the swarm collector?
Be prepared to provide as much of the following as possible:
- Bee description (size, colour, markings)
- Location of bees, particularly height above the ground and any other access issues
- How long they have been there
- Your name and contact number
- Clear directions to the swarm site (in addition to address and postcode, OS grid reference or what3words are ideal)
- Photographs, if safe to do so
While you are waiting for the swarm collector to attend:
- Keep people, children and pets away from the swarm
- If there is any possibility of passers-by disturbing the swarm inadvertently, direct them away
- DO NOT disturb the swarm by trying to move it on or by spraying it with insecticide
- If you must move around the swarm due to its location, do so calmy and quietly
If you have identified wasps, a pest controller should be able to help.
If bumblebees or solitary bees, leave them alone if you can as they do a great deal of pollination. They should not harm you if you do not disturb them and will be gone in a few weeks. Bumblebee nests are near impossible to relocate successfully. For more information, visit the Bumblebee Conservation Trust at https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT SWARMS AND INSECT IDENTIFICATION
What is a swarm?
Swarming is the natural reproductive mechanism of a colony of honey bees. About half the colony and the queen bee leave the hive and set up a new home elsewhere. The remaining bees raise a new queen.
Swarming takes place in two stages. In the first stage, the swarm flies away en masse from the hive and clusters – typically on a tree branch or fence post. The cluster may be anything in size from that of a grapefruit to that of a football. The bees may stay there for anything from a few hours to a day or two whilst scout bees find a new nest site.
A flying swarm or a cluster can look and sound scary – a mass of buzzing insects – but it is not dangerous. Honey bees are not normally aggressive and the swarm, with no home or honey to defend, is entirely focused on finding a new home. If you don’t disturb them, they shouldn’t bother you.
Their ideal new home will be large enough for them to build combs to rear brood and store honey. This photo of a wild honey bee nest in a tree gives an idea of the space they need – roughly the size of a wastepaper basket, or larger. A hollow tree, a chimney, or a cavity wall might be ideal. Occasionally, and very rarely, honey bees do not find a suitable home in time and build their new nest in the open, as in this photo.
Honey bees, bumblebees, solitary bees and wasps
Honey bee – Apis Mellifera
Honey bees are quite small (about 18-20 mm long), slightly hairy and are muted in colour, varying from orange-brown to very dark brown or black. You may see brightly coloured balls of pollen on their hind legs.
Honey bees are usually only defensive when defending their nest site and are not aggressive when foraging.
Bumblebee – Bombus Terristris
Bumblebees are bigger and bulkier than honey bees and are noticeably furry. There are more than twenty species of native bumble bee, all of which vary in size and colour. For more information about bumble bees, go to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website.
Bumblebees usually nest in small holes. These are commonly located below ground level, especially in dry locations such as under sheds or garden furniture, or at the base of trees, or in compost bins. Like honey bees, bumblebees are not normally aggressive and only become defensive when they, or their nest, are disturbed.
Bumblebees are important pollinators that rarely sting or attack people or animals. Their nests should ideally be left alone. The bumblebee colony, apart from the queen (who will find a new nest site), will die out at the end of summer and will cause no further problems
Solitary bee
e.g. Mining bee – Andrena species
There are many species of solitary bees that will usually be seen in spring and early summer. It can be quite difficult to distinguish some species of solitary bee from honey bees. One clue is that there is a kink in honey-bee antennae, whereas solitary bees’ antennae are straight.
They make their nests in small holes in walls or trees, or burrow in the ground or banks of earth. Although they make individual nests, there may be aggregations of such nests at particularly good nesting sites. Like all bees and wasps, solitary bees are beneficial to the environment. They pose no risk to humans and are likely to be only active for a few weeks. Leave them alone if at all possible.
Wasp – Vespula Vulgaris
Unlike honey bees and bumble bees, wasps are not hairy. Their smooth bodies are brightly coloured black and yellow. They are a little bigger than honey bees.
Wasps are more aggressive than bees, especially in the late summer when they are looking for sweet sustenance.
Wasps typically build a characteristic ‘papier-mâché’ nest (‘bike’) hanging in sheltered spots – for example, underneath the eaves of roofs, in attics or in sheds. If a wasp nest is not a nuisance, it can be left until the autumn when the colony will naturally die out apart from the queen, who will find a new nesting site to overwinter. The nest will not be reoccupied.