Local bee hive site opportunities
We are always looking for suitable sites to locate beehives, so if you are interested please call us on 01297 441272
Great Looking photos
If you have some good photos of bees on various flowers and bee swarms that you don’t mind us using we would love to hear from you.
Please send photos to photos@swarmcatcher.co.uk
Bait hive tips
Attractant – you can drop all your old queens into a bottle of lemongrass oil then place old comb in swarm trap with a few drops of oil on the old frame
Lemongrass oil (Cymbopogon citratus) by itself or if you want to mimic the Nasonov pheromone slightly more accurately (citral, geraniol, and nerolic+ geranic acids) it’s roughly 10 parts lemongrass oil, 5 parts geranium oil and one part lemon oil and if added to a small amount of warmed beeswax and olive oil and allowed to cool it creates a putty that attenuates the release of the oils.
Additional reading by Diane Elizabeth Drinkwater on bait hives and swarm behaviour can be found at
Swarming Honey bees – the process
Tom Seeley, author of “Honeybee Democracy”
Professor of neurobiology and behavior, reviews the history of behavioral studies of foraging honeybees and explains the process by which swarming honeybees choose a new home in his November 17, 2011 lecture to Cornell Association of Professors Emeriti (CAPE).
Part 1 of a 10-part video tour by Prof. Tom Seeley at Cornell recorded in 2010. An introduction to “why bees swarm”
Tom Seeley, author of “Honeybee Democracy,” and professor of neurobiology and behavior, reviews the history of behavioral studies of foraging honeybees and explains the process by which swarming honeybees choose a new home in his November 17, 2011 lecture to Cornell Association of Professors Emeriti (CAPE).
Juliana Rangel at the 2015 National Honey Show “The Behavioural Ecology of Swarming in Honey Bees”
Bee Removal and Re-homing
If you have a bee swarm or bee colony where its not meant to be, contact a bee removal specialist, someone who understands all the consequences of not doing it correctly, not just an exterminator who will kill the bees and charge you for it – there’s usually a lot more to consider when poisoning a honey bee nest than just the law.
For situations the beekeeper can’t help then call us – we specialise in these problems.
We cover all of England, Scotland and Wales and will cover France & Ireland if requested – 01297 441 272