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Swarms

DON'T REACH FOR THAT INSECTICIDE! CALL THE BELOW "SWARM CATCHERS"!!

Spring and summer swarms are how honeybees create new hives. The bees are full of all the honey they can hold because they are looking for a new place to call home. They do NOT want any trouble, but swatting or attacking them can still cause stings to happen. PLEASE CALL US. We need more honeybees in North America!

For removal of swarms still "in nature":

NAME	PHONE	LOCATION - WILLINGNESS TO TRAVEL	EMAIL
Doug Eckert	(615) 566-0805 (local cellphone)	Missionary Ridge - will travel up to an hour to bees' location	dougeckert@hotmail.com
Chip Kelly	(423) 665-9101	Harrison, Ooltewah, Georgetown, Hixson - travel up to 1 hour	chipkelly@epbfi.com
Mitchell Bryant	(423) 280-4567	North Hamilton County, Soddy-Daisy - up to 30 minutes	sugarshoppe@comcast.net
Brian Hamilton	(423) 619-7238	North Chattanooga - 45 minutes	brian@foccee.net
Stewart Ledford	(423) 503-4698	Greater Chattanooga area and Sequatchie Valley	beelicioushoneytn@gmail.com
Derick Forester	(423) 413-5370	North Georgia, Walker, Chattooga, Dade County - up to one hour	foresterfarmsandapiary@gmail.com
Ken Lee	(972) 977-1844	Sequatchie Valley only	lee37327@yahoo.com
Bill Greene	(423) 413-3131	McDonald, TN - will travel to Ooltewah, East Brainerd, Collegedale, and Cleveland	b.greene@hotmail.com
Amanda Turner	(815) 370-6833	Brainerd - 30 minutes	mandaturnerlmt@gmail.com
Jenny Wright	(423) 618-7632	Chattanooga, N. Georgia	jwright52@gmail.com
Chad Poole	(423) 635-2665	Greater Chattanooga, Signal Mtn, Soddy-Daisy, Hixson	cjpoole@epbfi.com
Mark Herndon	(423) 802-0661	Chattanooga City, East Ridge, Red Bank and Lookout Valley	markherndon@comcast.net

Call the people in the above listing in order to have bees safely removed that are clumping on trees or fences or any open space. Bees that are clumping dozens of feet above the ground may require a boom truck or other measures to reach them, and therefore some expense. Other than situations like that, the persons listed below should be happy to remove your swarm at no charge to you.

Swarms will leave branches or fence posts on their own, usually within 72 hours, so contact us right away. Where they decide to settle can be a house eave or other place you find to be a problem. So it's best for their survival and your future happiness to call a beekeeper who will remove them before that can happen.

For removal of swarms that have moved into buildings:

Doug Eckert	dougeckert@hotmail.com	(615) 566-0805 (local cellphone)
Chad Poole	cjpoole@epbfi.com	423-635-2665

Once honeybees have made a home for themselves inside a building it can be a lengthy, troublesome and expensive process to get them out. We call these removals "trap outs" or "cut outs" because it involves either trapping the bees or cutting out some portion of an inside or outside wall, or both. The people in the above listing will tell you their level of expertise, provide an estimated cost, what that covers, and any insurance they may carry. We provide this listing not as a guarantee but rather as a service to our members.

BEE SWARMS

Despite sensational movies by Hollywood, bees generally swarm to reproduce themselves, not to attack anything. An attack is actually the last thing they want to get involved in. They have tanked up on all the honey and pollen they can carry as they try to make their way from their old hive to a new place to live. Swarms can stop temporarily in tree limbs or other odd places to rest as they send scouts out in search of a new closed-in place they can call home.

While we don't recommend handling a swarm, the picture to the right shows what is possible for swarms that are truly only focused on finding their new home.

One thing to be aware of, however: if your home is nearby, their new home could be some part of yours. Once bees move into your rafters or siding they can be difficult and costly to remove. This is a good reason to not wait. Once you see a swarm, call one of the swarm catchers listed below.

"Killer" Bees?

Another headline that has sold papers and TV air time is the tale of the "unstoppable" "Killer Bees" from South America. Part of the tale actually does read like a Hollywood script: a scientist on an isolated part of the South American continent accidentally released bees that he was cross-breeding with African strains to be more resilient against honeybee diseases and pests.

These "Africanized" bees thrived in their new environment but also proved to be very irritable and aggressive. Their stings were no more deadly, but they were more willing to sting and in greater numbers than other honeybees. They would follow their victims for hundreds of feet.

However, as they progressed from South and Central America through Mexico toward the United States these bees mixed with other honeybees in the wild and became more docile and improved the survival traits of the bees with which they mated. They also turned out to be unable to adapt to more temperate or colder climates. Few have ever made it as far as Tennessee, and none are known to have survived a winter here.