If you really want to meet the people in your community just have your name listed as a honey bee swarm catcher, and that neighbor that just had a swarm land in their yard, now wants you to be their new best friend (and quick)!
"Hello, I have a swarm in my tree, can you come get it out?"
We've had this call a handful of times in the past few years, usually around dinner time. We gear up; gathering a hive body (or contraption that we make on a moments notice), some frames (already drawn out if possible), tree pruner, ladder, video camera etc.
Some beekeepers don't bother catching swarms for a number of reasons.
- No time
- Hassle
- Not enough equipment
- Too late in the season
- Too large of an operation
We haven't reached number five yet, so we try not to bring number 1 through 4 into our train of thinking. A new colony of bees is expensive, so even if it's late in the season we see a swarm capture as an opportunity to either--
a) if early enough in the season we put them in a new hive and see what they accomplish
b) if we have a week hive and it's late in the season, we'll merge the swarm with this weaker hive
c) if timing is right make, and we have a nuc box hanging around we'll make them into a 4-frame nuc to over winter.
Maybe someday we'll have reason number five to turn down a swarm call, but for now we say, "let the phone ring".
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