We had a recent situation where we found a small swarm of bees clinging to an apple tree in our Rye apiary.  This was a big surprise since none of our hives had any signs of throwing a swarm  and the cluster was very small.  Furthermore, the coloring of the bees also was a bit too dark since the majority of our bees, in this apiary,  are the orange colored Italian honey bees.   The cluster was small and hardly noticeable but it held together on a branch in a tight arrangement.  Upon closer review, the bees looked to be a tad lethargic and hungry.  Some forager bees were coming back with pollen to feed the hive but there did not appear to be any work to look for a new hive location.  Our guess is the swarm may have tried to enter an existing hive that one of the scouts had found and was beaten back and needed to retreat to a tree branch.    

We need to 

We received a call earlier in the month asking us if we could help remove a hive of bees located in the side of a house in Hampton, NH.  Knowing we were dealing with an established colony it wasn't going to be an easy job getting them out.

The bees were located above the second story of the home and they had set up a hive in the soffits.  After locating the entrance we needed to remove some of the trim of this very old house.  We removed the trim very carefully and smoked the bees to keep them docile.  This hive had a very nice temperament even though we had broken into their home.  Once we accessed the hive we found these beautiful round wax combs that were likely only a month or so old.  The space was long but not tall so the small round combs had the look of Ross Rounds.  I was able to remove the queen and get the bees into a nuc box.   The bees were then carefully brought to the base of the house where the nuc was to sit for a day so we could collect the bees that were out foraging. 

After a day we were able to swing by the house and grab the nuc.  From there we moved the bees to an apiary in Hampton Falls that was over 3 miles away.  The hive was a late-season swarm and did not have the bees to make it through the winter.  This hive will probably be combined with a stronger hive in the fall.

Feel free to call us ff you have a swarm or a colony of bees living in your house.  We will do everything in our power to try to help any pollinators that may be living in your home and help relocate them to a farm or apiary where they can help our local farmers.

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