23/08/2022
It is coming up to that time of year again, and my usual yearly message is getting more important each and every year, specially now with varroa mite incursions, and a small jump in the number of beekeepers after CoVid
SWARM SEASON!
Bees are going to start swarming in Victoria sometime in the next six weeks (and earlier in warmer areas, or areas that have had a good season.)
And every time swarm season starts, someone will ask somewhere in social media, what they should do about a swarm that has turned up in their front yard.
And, just about every time, you will get someone with a helpful (note: sarcasm) comment, “Don’t worry about it, they will move on soon enough.”
Please. Please, no, no, no, and furthermore, NO!
If a swarm turns up in your garden, call a beekeeper, and if you don’t know how to find a beekeeper, try swarm report Melbourne on Facebook, or swarmpatrol.com
“Bees are important, we should just let them be.”
No. Bees are important, we should look after them.
Here are the reasons you DO NOT just let them move on:
1. If they move on, they might make their home in the wall or roof of someone’s house, or in their garden shed, and be a problem (a lot of beekeepers will pick up a swarm free, or at very low cost to the homeowner. Once it moves into a wall or roof, the cost of dealing with it is guaranteed to go up)
2. They might move into a tree hollow, which means they might displace native, hollow nesting animals, such as possums, birds, and native bees
3. If you have watched the news at all this year, you have possibly seen something about the varroa mite. Australia has had the healthiest bees in the world, due to being isolated, and having excellent quarantine. This has meant we were the last country in the world without varroa mite, (yes, even New Zealand got it before us) and the country least affected by colony collapse. If bees are free to move into unmanaged spaces, such as house cavities, trees, pots, empty boxes etc, they will not be watched to ensure they aren’t harboring varroa mites, hive beetles, wax moth, American foul brood disease, european foul brood, nosema, chalk brood. . . and any other parasites, pests or diseases. People keep their cats inside to save indigenous fauna, let’s manage bees for the same reasons.
4. If people who care “just let them move on” they may end up swarming to somewhere where someone DOESN’T care, and they will get sprayed, or they might end up in a school or childcare centre
