A swarm is the way a colony reproduces. The queen, along with a portion of the bees from the parent hive, set out on their own to find a new home. The remaining bees raise a new Queen.
A swarm of honey bees is an impressive sight to see. If you are fortunate enough to see one in flight, it will seem to appear out of nowhere as a small tornado or cloud of flying bees. If it decides to stop on your property, it will form a mass of bees, usually on a tree limb, but it could land on just about anything stationary. Don’t panic, swarming bees are very docile, since they have no home to protect. With that said, you should not attempt to handle the swarm yourself. Instead, you should contact a local beekeeper who has the right gear and expertise to remove it from your property. Also, unmanaged bee colonies, in the wild, find it hard to survive on their own due to various new parasites and diseases. By calling a beekeeper you will help the swarm survive.
The beekeeper may ask various questions which will help to apprise the situation.
Examples are:
How long has the swarm been there?
About how large is the swarm? (ie. size of a softball, basketball, beach ball)
What is the swarm attached to?
How far off the ground is the swarm?
What is the property address and are you the property owner?
Contact the closest beekeeper from the list below:
Anne Foster – (330) 317-7197 Shreve and surrounding area
Joe Kovaleski – (740) 632-7500 Jefferson & Harrison Co.
Tom Oakes – (330) 465-9832 Southwest Wayne Co.
Chris Merkle – (330) 828-2395 Orrville and surrounding area
Marion Yoder – (740) 485-6762 Big Prairie, Shreve, Loudonville, North Eastern Holmes County
Ethan Urfer – (330) 407-3642 Tuscarawas and Holmes County
Randall Westfall – (330) 464-1451 Wayne Co. & Stark Co.
Ken Shonkwiler – (330) 301-5811 Wooster
Sandy Chenal – (330) 720-4084 Rittman and surrounding area
Jay Stoltzfus – (330) 473-5145 Millersburg
Mark Fredrick – (330) 722-6484 Medina County Only
Victor Lawrence – (419) 606-0642 Ashland
Jacob Lawrence – (260) 243-0323 Nova
Ron Zickefoose – (330) 466-3642 Northern Wayne County
Glenn Turner – (330) 317-4529 – Muskingum County
Bill Hall – Happy Honey Bee Habitats – (614) 309-9980 Wayne / Holmes / Summit / Medina/ Stark/ Ashland Counties. Bill also specializes in cut-outs.