Spring Brings Bee Swarms

Spring is the busiest time of year for bees. They're busy re-stocking food and it's also the season when new colonies get started and established. Bees do this by moving half or their whole hive of inhabitants to a new home, creating bee swarms that can contain 10-30,000 bees. These can be seen as a nuisance and can require professional bee removal from an experienced bee pest control company. 

Why Do You Get Bee Swarms?

Honey bees can create bee swarms due to overcrowding and the natural need for division of the colony. The hive splits into two groups or more, with one group remaining in the existing hive. Another reason would be abandoning the hive completely due to lack of food and water, parasite or diseasepoor ventilation, persistent disturbance by animals or humans, weather changes or problems with the queen.

Worker bees are able to detect when it's time to swarm due to overcrowding of the hive or lack of pheromone production from the queen. The worker bees detect the need to swarm and will create new queen cells and allow the queen to lay eggs so a new one can emerge and take over the hive. In preparation for the swarm, the worker bees will also deprive the queen of food in order to reduce her weight so she can fly, agitate and prevent her from laying many eggs.

When Bee Swarms Become a Problem

Honey Bees and bee swarms are not usually a pest and will not do any harm as they aren't aggressive. However, bees can be a health risk to people with severe sting allergy (anaphylactic shock) and bee pest control or bee removal may be required in that situation.

Bees will usually set up their hives in shrubs, tree cavities and abandoned buildings. However, if bees swarm, then set up a hive in a building, when left undisturbed it can produce kilos of comb and honey - it's not unusual to remove over 40kg from buildings! The comb and honey fills voids and chimneys which can lead to damage to the property, which is when professional bee pest control or bee removal is needed.

Protection & Treatment of Bees

Honey bees and consequently bee swarms are essential for pollinating approximately 90% of our global crops and crucial to our survival! Many of our favorite foods like almonds, apples, blueberries, and other fruit and nut crops wouldn't even exist without these hard-working bees, which is why AJ Pest Control are very careful when it comes to dealing with bee swarms and bee removal.

Bees are not protected by law in the UK, however there are legal requirements and strict procedures to follow when treating bees and during bee swarm removal. AJ Pest Control work very closely with professional bee keepers and consider all options before any treatment is carried out for any bee pest control, bee removal or bee swarm removal. Send us a message or give us a call on 01799 542 505 and we'll be happy to advise and discuss your needs.