Background:
Inevitably, bees swarm. These errant colonies end up in odd locations, and if not captured quickly can end up infesting homes: an outcome that is unpleasant for many reasons.
So, as beekeepers, we must capture them quickly, and hopefully capture them all.
Here's a system I developed for the Calgary Beekeeper's association about 10 years ago. Previously, incoming reports from the public would would go to one individual who was burdened with calling around to find someone to respond. Often, beekeepers would be dispatched on false-alarms, such as wasps or bumblers. It was effort intensive, error-prone, and slow.
Around 2013, we saw an increase in these calls, and previous methods were not working - So I created this process which reduces effort and errors, improves response time, and is scalable.
The Calgary Beekeepers Association has been using this system for 10 years now, and Vancouver's Beekeeping Association has been using it for 5 years. Tribal knowledge of this process has been handed down in the Calgary Association, but nuances have also been lost, learnings have been learned, and refinements made. I'm publishing here as a guide, and welcome other associations to adopt this process.
As Bruce Lee said: Take what you need, and discard what you don't.
Overview of the process; Reporters, Coordinators, and Responders:
1) When a citizen sees a swarm, they will either call 311 (Municipal information) or contact the club directly through the website. Both paths direct to a dedicated email swarm-coordinator email address.
2) These reports are received by the club's swarm-coordinator at a dedicated email address. They are reviewed to ensure they're actually honeybees, and not bumblers or wasps.
3) The swarm coordinator sends an alert to the swarm team, with the most important details: "Swarm in Edgemont on an apple tree 10 feet up".
4) A member of the swarm team replies to the alert, "claiming" it. The dispatcher confirms their claim to the rest of the group, and privately messages the responder with the reporter's details.
5) The responder deploys to capture the swarm, and updates swarm team with the outcome, such as "Edgemont capture complete", or "Swarm moved on", or "Too high to capture".
In ideal situations, we can have someone onsite within 20 minutes of the initial report being made - Sometimes even less.
Intent and Guiding principles:
1). Get homeless honeybees off the streets before they become home infestations (Cutouts). This is paramount.
2). This process is streamlined to facilitate fastest possible response time, while preventing trips for non-honeybees.
3). The transparent and and semi-equitable distribution of swarms among members, based on their ability to respond quickly.
4). The first-to-claim system has an element of gentle competition built into it, to facilitate improved response times.
Specific notes:
Reporters:
Reporters are the general public, who have spotted a swarm in a public place, or homeowners who have had one arrive in their yard.
In general, they'll take one of three actions: They'll call an exterminator, they'll google for beekeepers, or they'll call "311", our City's catch-all help line. Exterminators will identify a swarm as honeybees and refuse to action, then redirect the caller to the Beekeeping Association website, or 311.
Our association's swarm-reporting webpage has some pictures of wasps and bumblebees minimize false-reports.
Our association has worked with 311 to provide them with basic questions to ask, and after vetting, they'll forward the report to our association's email address.
Whatever the source, all paths will eventually lead to the association's swarm-response email address.
Swarm Coordinators(Intake and dispatch):
The swarm coordinator is primarily responsible for communication, both in terms of intaking the intial report, and in dispatching to the swarm team.
- There should be a dedicated email address for the swarm-coordinator role, separate from the Association's general mailbox, allowing separation of information and duties.
- Swarm coordinators can set their phone to give a loud, high-priority notification when emails come in to the dedicated email address.
- There should be more than one coordinator, for transparency, responsiveness, and coverage.
- Swarm coordinators validate that the report is neither wasps, nor bumblers. If it's not initially clear, they can ask these follow-up questions:
When did it arrive? (Swarms arrive suddenly)
Is it under a step, or in a tree? (Swarms are usually high, bumblers and wasps usually low)
Is is 10s of bees, or 1000s? (Bumblers come in 10s, honeybee swarms in 1000s)
- A communications tool should be chosen that allows group chat, but also allows the swarm coordinator to manage membership. Currently we are using a "Whats-App" group, and it's working well.
- Dispatched Alerts, at the very least, should contain neighborhood and briefly describe height/setting: "Swarm in Edgemont, 8 feet up apple tree". "Swarm in Bel-aire, wrapped around a spruce, 15 feet up".
- After receiving a claim of a swarm, the coordinator confirms the claim with "Daniel has claimed".
- After confirming a claim, the swarm coordinator should send all known information to the responder. At the very least, there should be a description of setting, an address, and a contact # of the reporter.
- The swarm coodinator should not rubberstamp swarm squatting. Even if there's been a delay in claiming, a swarm should be fair-game until someone is ready to deploy. A reasonable exception would be in the evening, when arrangements need to be made for an early morning recovery.
- Swarm coordinators should be allowed to take a few for themselves, as compensation for their efforts. This is done at their discretion, perhaps based on their ability to respond quickly, or perhaps claiming a swarm that others have been slow to claim. Or..... just because!
Responders (swarm team):
The swarm responders are responsible for deploying to recover the swarm.
- Should be beekeepers of no less than two years, and ideally have some experience or confidence in swarm catching. Only the confident and capable should be on the team.
- Should only claim a swarm if they are confident they can action it with the information provided.
- Going out on a call is inherently a leap of faith, and a responder must be able to confidently adapt to an unknown and dynamic situation despite being provided a minimum of details. If they are not comfortable doing this, they should not be on the swarm team.
- Should not pollute the group chat with non-dispatch related traffic.
- Should not "Swarm squat".....That is, claim a swarm with intention to go later. A claim that is willing to "Go now" takes precedence over a claim to "Go later".
- Responses to claim swarms should be clear and unambiguous. "I can go now" Is preferred over "I think I might be able to go if it's ok". Let's not leave the coordinator guessing. A clear and decisive claim takes precedence over a vague and indecisive claim.
- If a difficult to capture swarm has gone unclaimed for 30 minutes, someone can claim on a best-efforts basis: "Looks unclaimed. I can give it a shot".
- After being send the specific details by swarm coordinator, responder should briefly touch base with reporter, and invite reporter to call them if anything should change on site, such as swarm departure.
- Should report outcome of the capture back to the group. "Capture in Edgemont completed". "Edgemont Colony 20 feet up, inaccessible". "Edgemont Swarm moved on". "Edgemont - Other beekeeper already onsite". "Edgemont - Infested a column - Kicking back to coordinator to handle as cutout". Be specific with district, as there are often multiple swarms in progress at the same time.
- Should keep swarm catching equipment already in car, or be able to capture without equipment. If you have to go home to get it, you can't respond fast enough, and should not be claiming.
- Should not attempt to capture a swarm more than 20 feet high. Safety first, always. No bee colony is worth an injury. If a colony is inaccessible, it will move on in a few days, and hopefully to a more accessible spot where they will be seen and re-reported.
- Should pass on claiming swarms that are far away - Let someone closer have a shot! If still unclaimed after a few minutes, it's fair game.
- If they've already recovered several swarms, a swarm team member should delay their responses to further alerts. Let a few minutes pass before responding to let others have a shot.
- Should conduct themselves responsibly and in a manner that reflects well upon the club.
- Assume all liabilities in regards to the swarms they respond to, and understand the club is only passing along a lead.
Miscellaneous notes:
- Cutouts: Every year, our Association deals with a handful of cutouts, and it struggles yet again with the how, and the who. It's my recommendation that the club create a sub-team of folks able to handle cutouts, so experience and tribal knowledge can be built. Also, we should build some basic documentation: A primer for homeowners to outline their choices, a release form for homeowners to sign, and guidance to team members on how to do a cutout. I have prototype documentation I've used for myself, and will be glad to share if the association creates a cutout sub-team that can develop it further.
- Ideally, swarms should be claimed within minutes, if not seconds. If swarm alerts are going for more than a few minutes without being claimed, swarm team should have more members added.
- Swarms more than 20 feet high should not be attempted, and perhaps, not even dispatched. Hopefully they'll move on in a day or two to a more accessible location, and someone will re-report them.
- Cherrypicker lifts have been considered as a method for too-high swarms, but in the past, I've had immediate access to one, and it still didn't help. Cherrypickers can't be moved quickly, and onsite-access is also an issue. As per above, it's just best to let inaccessible swarms move on.
- Bait hives: Some believe an inaccessible swarm will relocate themselves to a bait hive placed under them. But swarms don't think that fast. Their decision making process is slow and cumbersome, and they're already evaluating their choices by time you arrive. Even if your box is attractive, it's probably missed the deadline to be considered.
- In the early season there is much enthusiasm for swarm catching. As the season wears on, there is less. But we still need to get those bugs off the streets. A team needs to be big enough to keep momentum through the season.
- On selling swarms: Some object to the selling of captured swarms. It's less than ideal, but doesn't necessarily conflict with our primary objective: Getting homeless bugs off of the streets. Also, this practice is partially addressed by recommendation that frequent-catchers delay their response claims to give others an opportunity. In the end, people worry about this more than it happens. If it becomes a real problem, coordinators can address at their discretion.
- Coordinators are encouraged to log dates, times, and locations in a spreadsheet. Over time, this becomes useful data that can be visualized, to look for patterns in the when and where of swarms.
- My stretch-goal dream would be that prospective responders have to take care of a cutout to get on swarm team. Having to collaborate with a homeowner to resolve such an unpleasant situation inspires a beekeeper to play an enthusiastic role in its prevention. It would also solve the difficulty of finding people to do cutouts.
- On occasion, Beekeeping Organizations hear of swarms in neighboring municipalities. To save ad-hoc legwork, Organizations should maintain a list of regional contacts for swarms. Over time, we inevitably develop contacts in our region, and these should also be added to the regional contact list. There is a risk that the contacts can grow stale, something is better than nothing.
Appendix: An example exchange.
(Swarm coordinator Joe receives an emailed report from a homeowner in Edgemont, sends alert in swarm team's Whats-App group)
[12:30] Joe Jones: Swarm in Edgemont, 10 feet up an apple tree
[12:31] Mark Smith: I can go now
[12:33] Joe Jones: Mark claims Edgemont.
... (Joe sends the original report directly to Mark)
... (Mark calls the reporter and briefly let's them know he's on his way)
... (Mark goes onsite, captures swarm)
[14:20] Mark Smith: Edgemont capture complete
[14:25] Joe Jones: Thanks Mark.
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The author has caught well over 60 swarms, and has occasionally annoyed other beekeepers with his ability to anticipate and predict swarm behaviour. :-)
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