Notifying the Neighbors about swarms

[Pond Creek Farm]

My neighbor and her daughter came by to sell girl scout cookies (we of course bought several boxes). They told me of a swarm that was in a tree last spring, and they thought it might be one of mine.  I told them that they should have called, but then I came to the conclusion that I need to tell my neighbors that a swarm should trigger a call to me (which will result in a quart of honey in return).  I live in a rural area, and my closest neighbor is 1/4 mile away, so we do not talk often.  I think this year, I will go around and advise everyone that if they see a swarm that they should call me.  There is a commercial guy who keeps hives in the area as well, and I would love to catch a swarm or two off of him and would es pically like to recover swarms from my own hives.

[BjornBee]

If you are in a agriculture zone, registered as required, and anything else needed to keep hives, then I don't think there is anything wrong with handing out your number in case they find a swarm. (I said "a swarm" and not necessarily a swarm from your hives) You may want to contact the local township office and make sure your name is on file for swarms called in.

Certainly for those keeping hives in the backyard and in places where bees may cause a problem, you may not want to go this route.

[buzzbee]

I'm not your neighbor ,but I saw a swarm. Send me honey please! :-D

[Michael Bush]

I'm with Bjorn.  I'm not sure I'd insinuate that a swarm is necessarily from my hives.  First, it very well may not be.  Second, it may move into their soffit and they will want me to pay to remove it.

[Pond Creek Farm]

I agree on the telling them that the swarm is from me.  When they told me that they thought the sarm was mine, I pointed out that the swarm was most likely from the commerical guy or could even be feral and that I would have been glad to have gathered them up.  (I was pretty sure none of my hives had swarmed, but I had no way of knowing for sure)  Knowing that there are swarms out here, however, just got me to thinking that more eyes looking for them might help me catch one. 

[johnnybigfish]

Yeh, I was thinkin along the same lines as MB......The guy who was selling the place from me down the road got on the fone and called me to tell me MY bees were in HIS house and he wanted me to get them out. I had just gotten my bees at that time, and I also knew the bees had been there for a few years, because Roxanne(the woman who lived there) told us about it!
 I told the owner that they werent my bees, cuz my bees were still in their boxes in my back yard!
 That pretty much settled that issue. Then, the contractor asked me if I knew anybody who would get them out!!..I called a guy from the bee club, and he came out......and poisoned them all!
There was actually, come to find out, 2 hives...one on the west side, and one on the east side of the house!
 Well....anyways,...you get what I'm sayin....sometimes its best to not tell nabors..or they might take you to court for YOUR bees in THEIR house, wether theyre yours or not.

your friend,
john

[JP]

I have to agree that admitting fault is not the way to go, since you don't really know for certain whose bees they are. I think you did the right thing by trying to help the guy out John.

I've had a few swarms in my neighborhood that people came to me about and I just went and caught them.


...JP