The kids (age 3, 3, and 6) found this mini swarm of bees on our backyard fence today:
If it was wasps, I’d just destroy them with extreme prejudice. But these are bees, and bees have enough problems as-is. I’m worried they’re starting to build something there. I don’t really want a bunch of bees around the kids, and vice-versa.
How do I convince these bees to go … somewhere else? Any protips from real beekeepers?
I think there will be a few people on the look out for swarms to get ready for populating their new bee hives. If you spot anyone on the forum who lives close to your area you could PM them. Like Dexter said, they are fairly harmless if you give them a little distance. Welcome to the world of bees @codinghorror next thing you’ll be getting a hive 
Have you ever owned a three year old human? Or even worse, two of them at the same time? They aren’t… shall we say… reliable… when asked not to mess with the bees which are almost at their level, if they grab something to prod with, of which there is a lot in the backyard.
It’s not the kids I’m worried about. They haven’t quite learned that “no means no” yet 
We’ll see if the bees hang around for more than a few days first.
If you really want to help them then call some local swarm control. It looks like a small swarm headed by a virgin queen. They will have only three days of food in their tummies after which they will perish if they don’t find a new home. For a small bunch of bees, hanging around for a few days isn’t really an option.
Proceed with extreme caution. Those honey bees are dangerous…J/K lol
@codinghorror, if you do a quick web search for local bee keepers associations im sure they will have a whole bunch of people who will be all too happy to come and get some free bees.
What a fantastic photo!
Cool little swarm, hope it makes it being that small… They should move on in a few hours or days at most, unless they have made a home inside the fence or adjoining wall, it a bit hard to see in the photo.
A few dollars and a few minutes if time could give these bees a temporary home right where they are now. A 450 mm square of ply for a roof and another for one wall would give them a temporary home while you sorted some more permanent accommodation for them. A bit o 90X19mm batten to join the edges of the ply and your bees would have somewhere to stay right where they are on the top of your fence.
These bees have chosen your backyard for a home. You have been honoured!
Yeah these guys moved on in a day. Thanks for all the feedback everyone!
This was much better than the wasps’ nest. Man those wasps were persistent. I have no love for wasps, but I hope the bees found their way.
A beekeeper would probably remove those bees free of charge or know someone who wants to set up a new hive & gladly take them away. Honeybees in swarming mode are unlikely to attack because they have no nest to protect, also their honey stomachs are full of honey, it’s more difficult for them to sting you with a full stomach. HOWEVER, wasps are possibly just as, or even more beneficial to us than honeybees. All adult wasps feed on nectar, so they are all pollinators. All paper wasps & some other species collect grubs & caterpillars to feed their larvae on. Some collect spiders. Lots of wasps are parasitoids. So not only are they pollinating our plants, they are also biologically controlling a lot of the pests in our gardens. There are around a 100k species of wasp worldwide & we need them all just as much as we need bees.
WELL I SAT DOWN ON MY BACK PATIO AND TO MY SUPRISE I SEE THIS
MIND BLOWN IT JUST CAME FROM NO WHERE. IM STILL IN SHOCK
THIS IS IN SOUTH LOUISIANA
Is the swarm from your own hive? If not, is there another hive nearby? Do you want to put the swarm in a hive, or just move them on?, as the title of the thread suggests.
