Do you have a swarm of honeybees in your yard or at your place of business?  Would you like them removed safely by an experienced beekeeper?

The Alameda County Beekeepers Association maintains a list of beekeepers who would be happy to come to your home or business to the swarm or colony, live and unharmed--using simple retrieval methods, without any poisons or chemicals--almost always by the end of the same day for most East Bay locations.   

Please read the following information, and then click on "Swarm Call List" in the Main Menu to the left here to find one of club member beekeepers in your area. 

Swarms, Extractions, Live Removal and the Benefits to Beekeepers and to You

Established hives throw off a swarm of bees when it has become too crowded, so a group of bees from the colony, with a queen bee in the center, take off from the crowded hive and swarm to look for a new home.  This group may be as small as a golf ball or as large as a couple of basketballs, but is generally the size of a football, and before finding a place to rehive itself and establish a new colony, they come to rest anywhere from five minutes to a week in one location, clustering on a branch, bush, tree or massing together some kind of other structure like walls, chairs, fences, sometimes even cars!   

For most people, a swarm of bees looks scary, we know, but trust us, there is no need to worry.  If a swarm has recently arrived in your yard, they aren't going to bother you, if you don’t disturb them.  They are tired, hungry and probably as least aggressive as honeybees will ever bee.  So please—don’t spray them with anything , don’t throw anything at them, and if you can, keep other family members or neighbors from disturbing them either. 

As beekeepers, our interest is specifically in honeybees, and if you are seeing a large mass of bees in a classic swarm formation, like in the picture on this page, more or less, yes, these are honeybees!  However, if you are seeing small numbers of some kind of flying insects that look like bees, our beekeepers will be able to help you determine whether these are in fact honeybees or some kind of other insect, and if they are not honeybees, the beekeeper you call can usually help you determine what the best course of action might be.  Some insects are beneficial pollinators and it is often best leave them alone.  Others are destructive or aggressive and may need to be removed by a licensed pest control company. 

One of our long-time members, Stan Umlauft, operates such a pest control and removal company, AB Swarm Removal, and he can be contacted by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or by phone at 1-800-500-4747. 

If the honeybees you see are not hanging in a large cluster outside but are instead flying in and out through a small opening or hole in a tree trunk or from a structure on your property—the wall, eaves, or other feature of your house or place of business—this is not a “swarm.”   It is instead what we call an  “established colony” of bees that will need to be removed by way of a process that we call a “structural extraction.” Though an extraction is slightly more involved, requiring more work, time and expense than the removal of a swarm, nevertheless, bees in an established colony can be often be removed live as well, and ACBA does have beekeepers experienced in doing such extractions indicated on the Swarm Call List.