The Southern Adirondack Beekeepers Association (SABA) can help you if you have honeybees that have swarmed (see photos above).   Swarms are a part of the natural reproductive cycle and occur most frequently during the spring and early summer, when bee colonies increase in size to the point where some of the bees leave to find a new home.  After the bees leave the hive, they will land on a branch or some other object and form a cluster – a swarm – before they finish the move to their new home.  The swarm may stay in one area for a few hours to a couple days.  During that time, skilled beekeepers can capture the swarm and give the bees a new home.  Due to a non-native parasitic mite that attacks bees, swarms left to fend for themselves in the wild often die off within a couple years.  Let our beekeepers give your swarm a new home!

Call to provide the swarm information:  (518) 38-SWARM (518-387-9276) and clearly and slowly provide this information:

• Your name
• Phone number (please repeat your phone number in the message)
• Address of the swarm – street, city/town, county
• Swarm Location – on a tree branch, on a fence rail, inside a wall, in a hole in the ground, etc.
• Size – softball, soccer ball, etc.
• How long it has been there

PLEASE, do not call this number for anything except a swarm of honeybees.
PLEASE do not call this number if you have already called somebody else about this.
We are delighted to be able to offer this service to help the public, but don’t want to be tripping over anybody else.

WHILE YOU WAIT.   While a honeybee swarm is relatively harmless, it can be a frightening sight to people.  Swarms should not be sprayed with water or disturbed in any other way.  It’s best to clear the area until a beekeeper arrives to make the removal.

Our beekeepers can also offer guidance on extractions from homes, buildings, and other structures – that is a generally a service where a homeowner will need to engage a professional with carpentry skills for a fee (we can’t always do it but can almost always help you locate the right person).

Please note that reputable exterminators will not kill honeybees and often refer homeowners to find a beekeeper.  Conversely, beekeepers are not exterminators and will not remove other insects.  Please make sure that you have honeybees, and thank you for your interest in helping this important pollinator.

PLEASE NOTE:  Our beekeepers may be contacted in regards to removing honey bee swarms.  These member beekeepers are all acting privately, as a service to the public, and are not specifically endorsed by SABA.