What to do with bee swarms: Southside Beekeepers Club
SPRING has arrived and so have bee swarms — but keepers are urging people not to destroy them, because bees are our friends for a range of reasons. Here’s what to do if you come across a swarm.
South East
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Swarming season has started — but don’t bee alarmed.
The Southside Beekeepers Club, based in Frankston, is urging the community to get in touch if they discover a swarm of bees this spring.
Group member Chrissy Robertson said each year at around this time, bees divide their colonies and create swarms, with about 20,000 bees clustered together.
ROBOT BEE TO FERTILISE FLOWERS
“Our community will start to see swarms, but these bees are very docile, they have engorged themselves on honey, they’re not trying to harm us they’re looking for another home,” Ms Robertson said.
“What we would like people to do is ring Southside Beekeepers Club and we will send a representative out to collect the bees and give them a new home.
“This is an alternative to ringing an exterminator which would cost about $200 and would see the bees are killed.
“There will be a cost for our service, (still to be determined), but it will be much less than an exterminator and the bees will be able to live on to continue pollinating our vegetables and doing all the good work that bees do.
“We just want to make sure our bee population is thriving and growing.”
Ms Robertson said the group was recently called out to a case in Frankston where a swarm was found on a footpath.
A group representative was able to successfully relocate the bees.
Founder of Save the Bees Australia – Bee The Cure Simon Mulvany, of Blairgowrie, also urged people not to phone an exterminator if they find a swarm.
“Bees are a barometer of the health of an area and bees are having a hard time in a lot of areas around the world and Australia,” he said.
“They’re a creature we should honour and respect and it doesn’t make sense to exterminate a creature that helps keep us alive.”
Mr Mulvany has an app, Bee the Cure, that allows people to report the address of a swam, which then alerts five of the closest beekeepers.
For more information, visit southsidebeekeepers.com or phone 0413 104 191