Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: Haddon on May 21, 2011, 06:18:36 pm
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Had a guy call this morning with a swarm he lived 55 miles away I thought about it and said I would come get it for 30 gas money he acted like I insulted him. I thought for three hours driving and work that just gas money was a good price.
What yall think?
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Hmmmmmmmm, $30 versus $5.99 for a can of Wasp and Hornet?
Depends on whether YOU want the Bees. And how badly.
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Depending on how bad you want a swarm of bees, I have gone further for less. If you decide to to go and get them be sure to ask if they are still there before you leave and maybe call when half way there. It would really suck to drive there and find out they flew off before you even left the house.
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:roll:
I know what you mean. Had a call a couple of days ago. A guy did a "nature study" with his kids. They sat there for most of the day watching "a huge swarm" first, gather and hang out on his house and then slowly move inside.
The next day, watching the "traffic" realized all was not good because they weren't coming back out to play. He started sweeping the 'net to find a local "swarm catching" beek. Called me and a couple of others. Didn't like what I said about the cost of doing a cutout, or reimbursing me for gas money to check it out for a better estimate.
Got someone to come over a collect a whole bunch -- not including the queen -- after blocking the entrance. He called me back today, "Can't you just call them out?"
Gave him another beek's name and phone number..... Bye, bye. :-D
Mike Tuggle
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You did insult him. Do you think he's a welfare recipient? It should have been at least 1.50 per mile, and only if they are on the outside. If they move in, it's 300 minimum. Then he wouldn't think you were looking down on him.
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.I try and tell yall people wont pay a thing here. I could set my starting price for cutout at 300 and retire because I would never do another :) :). Right now they flip when I say 150.
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most people do swarms for free. i leave the donation to the gas tank up to the person who calls. i do mention it.
if i can't get a swarm, i do my best to help them find someone who can. i probably wouldn't go 55 miles for the swarm, but i'd spend 1/2 an hour helping them find someone closer.
it pays to leave people feeling good. i get referrals just from people i have spent time talking to on the phone. last year i talked to a lady and the next day she was walking her dog and a neighbor mentioned a swarm. i got the call.
while cost must factor into a hobby, we should realize that most of us are not going to make money. we may not break even.
it's great if you get some or all of your expenses for swarm calls covered. guess we all have different reasons for picking up swarms, but as Wayne said...raid is cheaper...or like the call i got....fire extinguisher :-D
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Im getting to the point that if its not extremely close or on my way going somewhere else, I dont even want to fool with swarm calls anymore (and this is only my second season) Ive left work, missed a baseball game or two to go get my stuff to retrieve these "huge honeybee swarms-must be a gazillion bees" only to find out that either they 1) was a swarm the day before,now they are a colony in a tree or house 2) yellow jackets in a water meter box or 3) vanished into thin air. Ive asked all the specific questions only to be greatly disappointed when I got there. I like the idea of free bees as much as the next, but dont like coming up more empty handed than not. Buy some packages or nucs as you can afford them and put some swarm traps out and split, split, split til you get the numbers you want.
No more chasing them for me. Diesel costs a fortune
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I'm about like Kathy. I refuse to travel over 20 mile for a swarm, I try to get someone else to go who's closer. If they insist I come, then I do charge mileage.
If it's a removal, then yes, I charge dearly.
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I like the idea of free bees as much as the next, but don't like coming up more empty handed than not.
No more chasing them for me. Diesel costs a fortune
Their are no free bees. :roll:
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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He called me because I was the closest I know of one beek that might have been 10 miles closer because he lives ten miles from me in some what that direction. I don't mind helping people but I am helping them they are not helping me. Now I love a swarm but still I am doing you the favor. The fact that I love a swarm is the reason I don't charge extra for the swarm itself. But the time is why I say no deal now I have a new daughter hives of my own that need working a yard that needs mowing and a garden that needs tiling. I have to justify everything with the wife and if I am spending time I best not be spending money chasing swarms.
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Put that swarm in a 5 frame nuc, let them draw it all out (say 30 days), then sell your nuc for $90 to $125. Not too bad of a thing, just be sure to tell the buyer they are not getting a new queen with the deal, but a proven queen at best.
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Free bees are like free dogs.
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Free bees are like free dogs.
i have had some really good free dogs.....and some really good free bees :-D
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i never charge for a swarm; i want the bees. and i get plenty of swarms + i like catching swarms. in fact i usually give them a jar of honey, but i was raised in the country so usually see things a little different from most city folk
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If a swarm is located a good distance away and you are concerned that if they leave before you arrive it will have been a wasted trip, tell the customer you will come at dark if they are still there.
Just keep tabs on them by phone.
Charging depends on how much you want the bees and how much the customer wants them gone.
Its always nice to be very polite, even if you feel they should pay you what you believe the trip/bees are worth.
Have an agreement if at all possible before you leave the house.
...JP
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I got me some free bees two days ago :-D
A lady at work called me to ask if I knew of anyone who would retrieve bees. I gave her a name and number and said I didn't have the equipment to get them out of walls. She said it was a swarm on a tree. I asked her to give my number to the lady and she called me immediately. When I asked how high it was in the tree she said about THREE FEET!
I rushed over there and there was a nice swarm on the side of her tree trunk about shoulder height to me (so about 4 feet) and I brushed them into a box and took them home and hived them. The lady said the other person she called wanted $175 to remove the bees - they must have thought it was a cutout or they were ripping off this old woman. :-x
A few of the girls got into my car from the trunk, so I had to use my husband's car the next morning since it was my turn to drive the carpool. I should have taken mine and see if they noticed. :evil:
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A few of the girls got into my car from the trunk,
that's how i discovered that my seats fold down :evil:
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I got a call from a co worker a few weeks ago about a swarm 4ft up in a tree I had to scramble to make hive equipment and stayed up late to get ready had to drive 40 miles round trip I wasn't planning on charging, I talked to him for a while after the capture I ,told him I didn't have an extractor yet, A week later he had a 2nd swarm, he called but I was sick so I told him I couldn't catch that one he called another beekeeper ,he told him about how I was starting out and this beekeeper said he had extra extractors , I got a 300 dollar extractor for 50 dollars , This swarm call was well worth it to me the bees are doing great, I have a nice extractor, I have more opportunities for swarms, more experience and it was fun doing it.
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A few of the girls got into my car from the trunk,
that's how i discovered that my seats fold down :evil:
This just happened to us last Saturday coming back from that Fire Department Swarm. Shawna says there are bees coming into the car from the trunk. They must have gotten through between the seats on the fold down side.
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i just cranked the AC up and went on my way. the back window was full of bees. wonder what the people around me thought?
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I think Kathy hit the right marketing approach: "Retrieving the swarm is free, but some gas money would sure be appreciated" - doesn't sound as much like a "fee" as helping someone help you. (same thing either way, except the psychology and the voluntary part.)
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I will get a swarm that is only a few miles away for free. (some people want you to pay them...)
If it's much of a drive at all I skip it. And you have to learn to ask the right questions:
1) how high is it (take their answer and double it)
2) how large is the swarm (take their answer and half it)
3) did you spray it (it doesn't matter that they said "no", the question is, did they hesitate when they said "no")
4) how long has it been there.
5) describe it (you often find out they are NOT talking about a swarm at all, but a colony of something living in something, often a nest of yellow jackets...)
6) if it's not a cluster on something (swarm) but "bees" flying in and out of something, get a description. Ask it's shiny and yellow and black. :)
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ask them to send you a pic of what they are looking at.
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>ask them to send you a pic of what they are looking at.
I like that. I need to move into the 21st century and ask for that. :)