Swarm Call

[GSF]

Just wanted to get some experience or opinions on this. I had a swarm referral today at a drycleaners in Montgomery. After conversing with them I went over there after work. The people were somewhat apprehensive about the bees. "They were outside on the panel box, then they moved inside". The maintenance man had sprayed about a half or a whole can of wasp and hornet killer on them that's why they moved inside.

Anyway I politely declined and explained why. My thinking was that if I brought them home #1) they all might be dead tomorrow, more so than that #2) I was concerned about cross contamination with my existing hives. I did see the bees in a double softball size cluster. I got to thinking that the queen was probably still alive. But I still had my concerns. Did I make the right call or did I give up too easy? I figured that I took the lessor of two evils.

[Moots]

I wouldn't have touched it with a 10 foot pole!  :-D

As a matter of fact, I got a call today when the women told me she had been spraying them, I told her there was nothing that I could do to help her and explained how she could better handle it next time.

[GSF]

Thanks, that's reassuring. Man, I kept thinking about that cluster of bees and the queen. Sometimes ya just gotta walk away.

[10framer]

gary, that's why i pretty much quit doing cut outs. 

[Jim134]

gary, that's why i pretty much quit doing cut outs. 

  IMHO
  Cut outs are about getting paid for your time the bees just a bonus



         BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :)

[iddee]

As Jim said, cutouts are for the cash. I give most of the bees away in exchange for a newbee helping with the cutout. They get experience and bees, I get money. We are both happy.

Since I have several parking places for bees and wouldn't have to take them to my beeyard, I would have dropped the swarm in a nuc and parked it somewhere for a few days. If I didn't have other places to put them, I would have left them.

[rbinhood]

As Jim said, cutouts are for the cash. I give most of the bees away in exchange for a newbee helping with the cutout. They get experience and bees, I get money. We are both happy.

Since I have several parking places for bees and wouldn't have to take them to my beeyard, I would have dropped the swarm in a nuc and parked it somewhere for a few days. If I didn't have other places to put them, I would have left them.

I'm with iddee on this one......I've caught several swarms and done cut outs where they have been sprayed and placed them in a location away from my other bees and they have survived and done quite well......these are survivors of a different kind, if they survive the spray they have a good chance of making a strong hive over time.

[Michael Bush]

Before I even pack the car to go, I asked if they have been sprayed.  They always say no.  Then I explain that if I get there and I smell insecticide, I will bill them and then I will leave without doing anything.  That's my fee for showing up and I have no use for the bees if they have been sprayed.  Then it often changes to "I might have sprayed them..."  I have never figured out how you "might have sprayed" bees... but I tell them to call the exterminator.

[johng]

I like to ask what have you done to try and get rid of them? A lot of times they will say OH I have been spraying them but, they just come back a couple weeks later. Before they even realize what they said. If you straight up ask them if they sprayed them a lot of times they will lie. I don't normally mess with sprayed bees. And I am way passed doing cut outs for free.

That swarm most likely moved on the meter box because there was a hole behind the meter and they were there to move into their new home. Most meter boxes have a hole behind it where the wire goes in. If not sealed up tight the bees will move in. I have had several cut outs that were using the hole where the wire went into the house.

[Michael Bush]

>I like to ask what have you done to try and get rid of them? A lot of times they will say OH I have been spraying them but, they just come back a couple weeks later. Before they even realize what they said.

I like that.  Thanks.

[BeeMaster2]

That is a great way to find out with out alerting them what you are fishing for, John.
Jim

[10framer]

i never charged for cut outs.  i figure with my luck someone will decide to sue for the damage to their property no matter what they agreed to to get the bees out (think the same kind of person that will lie about spraying).  i still do one now and then if i think the person is really concerned about the bees.