Catching Swarms of Honeybees

Some of our beekeepers also remove swarms of honeybees. These are usually a football sized globe of honeybees hanging on a branch, post or other object. In reality, they are there for possibly a day or more, waiting to find a suitable nesting site, usually a hollow tree or inside the walls of a house. Beekeepers like to collect the swarms, because we can stock a beehive with them.  For help in removing a swarm of honeybees, contact Andy at 262.662.2843.

Our beekeepers are mostly hobbyists, with full-time jobs. We would like to come and get the swarm of honeybees, but may not always be able to come right away. Please understand that collecting swarms is not a public service. We normally do not have the time, energy and tools to get these honeybees out of your home, buildings or other structures, or to retrieve swarms 30 to 50 feet in the air, or out of a hollow tree.

We do not deal with hornets, wasps or yellow jackets. That would be for the exterminators, and they are in the phone book.

Yellow jacket nests are normally in the ground, with a hole about an inch across. The underground nest itself is usually about soccerball sized. You can wait till near dark, and pour a pail of soapy water down the hole to deal with them. 

A wasp nest is usually grey in color, about basketball sized, and in the small limbs of a tree. You might wait until about almost dark when the wasps are in the nest. You can carefully wrap a plastic bag around the whole nest at once, clip the branch it's on, and close it up. Then spray starting fluid (ether) into the bag opening. The wasps will be dead in a few moments. Or simply spray hornet killer into the opening, which is generally on the lower part of the nest. 

Wasps and hornets and honeybees may find a small hole on the outside of your home or bulding, which leads to the inside of the wall, soffet, attic or other space. They will be more than willing to move in a create a nest. It is important in the spring, or other time of the year, to make sure that you caulk, tuckpoint or seal up these holes. It is amazing where we have taken critters out of.

You can also make a wasp & hornet trap. A gallon milk jug, filled with 12 ounces of beer, and another 12 ounces of fruit juice. They will come running.

Wasps, hornets and yellow jackets give our honeybees a bad name. They do have a place in nature, as little carnivores. Kind of like the junk men of the insect world. They eat protein, larva and other critters. They are really bad in the fall, when food supplies run low, and appear to be everywhere.