Just a small swarm of honey bees.

If you find a swarm arriving in your garden:-
 

1. DON’T PANIC !   Swarming bees may sound and look frightening but they are at their most harmless because they have very little to defend and are away from their hive.  Often they are only with you for a few hours whilst they find a new home and fly off.
2. Leave them to settle down and keep a sensible distance.
3. Call for a beekeeper – see the list below. Tell the beekeeper as much as you can. You will be asked questions that help the beekeeper to decide what it’s best to do and whether you have honey bees or some other insect such as bumble bees or wasps.
4. Enjoy watching the beekeeper at work putting the swarm in a container to take away.
5. Make a donation to the Beekeepers Association.  A beekeeper is not paid and is doing you a favour since the bees may be a nuisance to him or her, due to the expense, time and trouble of fetching and checking them, and also treating for diseases before they can safely be put with other bees.  A commercial firm may charge you as much as £40 to remove a swarm, if they will do it at all.
6. Don’t expect beekeepers to do anything about swarms in inaccessible places. Our insurance does not cover us for taking risks and we can not undertake any structural work to get at bees, for the same reason.   

If bees set up permanent home in your property (they choose cavities such as disused chimneys, compost bins, bird boxes, and hollow trees) you have a bigger problem. However, with the disease problems nowadays bees require active help from a beekeeper to survive. Wild colonies get no help and die out after a while.

In a movable container they can usually be shifted completely, but if you think they are setting up home in your chimney the best course is to quickly make a smoky fire that puts them off and drives them to move out. Don’t leave it too long or make a big fire or you may end up with melted honeycomb dripping down into the hearth and soaking into the brickwork!

Beware of a swarm that has been caught out for days in bad weather. They can’t fly to a new home, they run out of food and can’t go finding more.  As a result they may become very defensive and may attack people who interfere with them.