Search Results for: swarm

Swarm and Honey Bee Removals

Swarms of honey bees can look frightening, but honey bees are usually not aggressive at this stage of their life cycle. The swarming bees lack a hive to defend and they are more interested in finding a new nesting location for their queen.

Before calling a beekeeper to collect a swarm or colony from your property, be sure you are dealing with HONEY BEES. Honey Bees and Yellow Jackets are often confused — beekeepers will not retrieve yellow jackets. Use the photos here to help identify if you have honey bees.

Yellow Jacket

Honey Bee

Beekeepers are often called to capture swarms. There are various methods to capture a swarm. In the first few hours after a swarm arrives and forms a cluster, it is relatively easy to capture the swarm in a box. Some beekeepers use swarm traps with pheromone lures to attract swarms.

It is best to call a beekeeper as soon as possible since there’s no way to know how long they will remain.

Area Swarm Removal Services

Alamo Honey Farms (Southwest MI) Provides honey bee cutout removals from homes and building structures. We hold a Michigan Builders License and are fully insured for your protection. Phone: 269-998-7690

Bee Snug Honey & Hive– (Kalamazoo, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal in Allegan, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph Counties. Also honey bee cut-outs and removal of honey bees from buildings for a fee. Cell Phone: 269-330-2305, the best way to reach me! Email: [email protected]

Shannon Bigham (Dimondale, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal Ingham, Eaton, Jackson counties. Also for a fee, removal of established colonies in buildings. Phone: 517-646-0745; Email: [email protected]

Ken Hoekstra at J & K Apiaries (Hopkins, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal in Kent and Allegan Counties. Cell Phone: 269-217-6401; Home Phone: 269-793-4611
Email: [email protected]

Darryl Hosford (Berrien Springs, MI) Swarm removal in Berrien Springs and surrounding towns. Cell Phone: 269-208-2085; Email: [email protected]

Charlotte Hubbard (Schoolcraft, MI) Free outdoor honey bee swarm removal in Kalamazoo and St. Joseph Counties. Cell: 269-910-0962 Email: [email protected]

Holger Junge (Battle Creek, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal in Calhoun, Eaton, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Hillsdale, Branch and Barry Counties. Removal of colonies from structures and trees for a fee.
Phone: 269-788-2336; Email: [email protected]

Robert Johnson (Clarksville, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal in Ionia County. Also honey bee cut-outs and removal of colonies from buildings. Cell Phone: 616-841-1083, the best way to reach me! Email: [email protected]

Wayne Kramer (Richland, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal in Northern Kalamazoo, Southern Barry and Southern Allegan counties. Sorry – no bees removed from walls of buildings or trunks of trees.
Cell: 269-377-2247; Home: 269-383-8411

Tom Mitchell (Kalamazoo, MI) Honey bees removed from buildings for a fee by a licensed building contractor. Kalamazoo, Allegan, Van Buren, St.Joseph, Barry and Calhoun Counties. Free removal of honey bee swarms outdoors in the Kalamazoo area. Cell Phone: 269-207-2418 Email: [email protected]

Jim Smothers (South Haven, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal for Van Buren, Allegan, Berrien, and Ottawa counties Home phone (269) 639-7462; Cell phone (269)767-2916; Email: [email protected]

Jack Tomanica (Nunica, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal in Muskegon, Ottawa and Kent Counties. Phone: 231-853-6371

Matt & Teresa Tucker Sugar Bear Apiaries (Coopersville, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal and will cut out honey bee colonies from trees and buildings. Will work in Ottawa, Kent and Muskegon counties. Phone: 616-638-0213; Email: [email protected]

Kelly Vander Kley (Matawan, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal in Mattawan, Paw Paw, Schoolcraft, Vicksburg, Mendon, Kalamazoo, and nearby areas. Cell Phone: 269-720-4341; Email: [email protected]

Greg Willis (Vicksburg, MI) Free honey bee swarm removal in Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and surrounding areas. Phone: 269 760 9979; Email: [email protected]

If you don’t find a beekeeper on this list who serves your area, please call your Michigan Beekeepers Association District Representative who will help you locate a local beekeeper. Click the link for a list.

Vendors (Bees, Equip, Supplies, Training)

The following vendors, in alphabetical order, have generously paid for listing on our site. Appearance on this list does not constitute an endorsement of Kalamazoo Bee Club for any goods or services presented below. If you’re a supplier interested in listing, we LOVE being able to refer our many inquiries about where to obtain items to this robust page. Please contact us to learn more. Thank you!

Alamo Honey Farms, Southwest Michigan nucs & queens

All of our 5-frame honey bee nucleus hives (Nucs), are locally raised and wintered right here in Kalamazoo county of southwest Michigan. Our nuc hives include a proven overwintered queen bee with her brood and bees. Buyer’s choice of deep or medium frame size. Due to our winter weather, pickup in mid May. We also provide swarm removal and cut-out services.

AWS Bees, LLC

We are your trusted packaged bees supplier. We are the exclusive Michigan distributor of certified stock from Olivarez Honey Bees from California. Our offerings include 3-pound packages (with queens) of Italian and Carnolian, Saskatraz, and the newest breed from our distributor, the Randy Oliver Queen. We also offer queens of the three breeds (Italian and Carnolian and Saskatraz) as well as discounted rates for bulk package orders of 50 or more. Visit our website for an order form, information regarding the Randy Oliver Queen, pricing, and other helpful videos and information: awsbeesllc.com.

Delivery is expected on around April the 10th and our sanitary drive through pick-up process will be in Swartz Creek.

Reach out to us by email or phone.
Email: [email protected]
Dave Anthony: 810-621-4371
Leo Stevens: 810-639-3640

B-Funnel by J. Woods

www.b-funnel.com,
[email protected]

The B-Funnel is a new tool that is used to install package bees. It is an alternative method developed to take some of the stress out of the process. Visit our website more information.

Beeline Apiaries & Woodenware, LLC

Your local beekeeping supplier: just 30 minutes south of Kalamazoo! We are a family-run business, manufacturing a full line of quality beekeeping woodenware, carrying protective clothing, beekeeping tools, beginner’s kits, feed, medications, and much more.

Order your 2024 spring bees now! We have strong Italian 5-frame nucs and Wilbanks Italian 3 lb. packages for pickup at our Mendon facility in late April or early May. Order online, give us a call or stop in! Check us out at www.beelinewoodenware.com!

Our annual Open house Sale Day is on March 23, 2024 from 8 am to 4 pm. 15% off store wide, plus time to talk bees with experienced beekeepers, tours of our factory floor, and more! We hope to see you!

We also offer seasonal bee classes in April, July and September. Each day includes hands-on experience in the bee yard, inside slide presentations, good question and answer time, and a free hot meal! Sign up online here: Michigan Field Days Beekeeping Products – Beeline Apiaries & Woodenware (beelinewoodenware.com)

Call (269)-496-7001 or email [email protected]

Our store is located at 20960 M-60, Mendon, MI 49072, and open 8-12 am and 1-5 pm, Monday through Friday.

Blueray Concepts LLC

Blueray Concepts, LLC is a full-service Graphic and Website Design Firm. We have over 30 years of experience in graphic design and can help you design, illustrate, and develop your logo and information on labels or stickers, as well as print them and cut them to any shape, whether you need one or thousands. We can also help you design and develop any other printed materials you need to market your brand. We do Dye Sublimation, Laser Engraving, Custom Commercial Embroidery, and more. We have clients all over the world and are highly recommended. We are a small company located in Monroe, Michigan.

[email protected]

(313) 486-9904 Ext 1

www.bluerayconcepts.com

Dadant and Son’s, Albion, MI

517-629-2860, toll free 877-932-3268
[email protected]
www.dadant.com
704 N. Clark St., Suite 3
Albion, MI 49224

Our company is still family-owned since 1863. We offer a complete line of beekeeping wares. We cut our own Ponderosa Pine (wooden ware). Handmade smokers and stainless steel equipment also. Anything and everything for the beekeeper.

We also offer 3# packages, 5-frame nucs and mated queens.

Honeytree Nursery

Mike Connor, 616-293-5318; [email protected]; Shelbyville, MI; honeytreenursery.com

Owned by a Certified Arborist and beekeeper, Mike Connor, Honeytree Nursery’s goal is to plant pollinator trees and care for trees using the safest methods and as little chemicals as possible.

Kalamazoo Valley Community College

A variety of classes for beekeepers, those possible interested in beekeeping, gardeners, homesteaders, nature lovers. We have an apiary with hands-on / in-hive instruction when safety and weather allows.
Click here for a complete listing of other programs.

Lam’s Honeybees and Beekeeping Supplies

DonLamBees.com;
616.335.2707

One-stop shopping, especially for beginning beekeepers. Our equipment features top quality Amish built woodenware, along with beekeeping tools, protective gear, meds, honey harvest and books at reasonable prices.

In April and May we offer 3# packages of fast building gentle Italian bees with northern genetics, for pickup in Holland, Michigan. We also have strong five frame nucs available for pickup in early May.

A mentoring relationship comes with every purchase. We’ll take the time to answer your questions and guide you through what you need now and what you can add later, and are just a phone call away throughout the season. We also host helpful workshops for the Holland Area Beekeepers Association during the summer.

Napoleon Bee Supply, LLC

(517) 499-0439; 6800 Brooklyn Road (M-50) in Napoleon, MI 49261

MAILING ADDRESS:
P.O. Box 442, Napoleon, MI 49261

We are located approximately 8 miles North of Michigan International Speedway. We carry all Bee equipment and supplies needed for Seasoned and New Beekeepers. We also sell Local Honey and Maple Syrup, and a variety of gifts.

Currently, we are taking orders for 3lb package Bees. This year they will be High Quality Italian Hybrid Bees crossed with Carniolan and Buckfast. Michigan over-wintered Nuc’s are also available in Italian or Carniolan. Bee day will be in mid May for both Nuc’s and Packages. Look for our upcoming classes.

Check out our E-COMMERCE site at:
napoleonbeesupply.com/

Sunshine & Sweetpea’s Apiaries Spring 2023 Nucs … with Jester EZ Nuc Box

Five deep frames with mated, laying Queen. Kalamazoo Bee Club members: Nucs can be picked up in the Kalamazoo area, site TBA. Reserve yours at sunsweetapiary.com.

Wicwas Press

Kalamazoo-based publisher of the Essentials series of books for beginning and advanced beekeepers about bee biology, beekeeping history, stories from beekeepers, recipes, and more!

Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping (by Drs. Dewey Caron and Lawrence Connor) is a major textbook of Apiculture (beekeeping). Beekeepers and bee clubs use it to teach other beekeepers. This is the third major revision (May 2022). It explains bee and beekeeping basics in a manner meaningful to people who lack an extensive background in biology. It is not over simplified, providing a meaningful source of beekeeping information for the informed beekeeper.

This comprehensive textbook eliminates the need for many beginner books while adding essential details of bee biology necessary to becoming a successful beekeeper and student of the honey bee. Features many new full-color photos by the authors, selected beekeeper-photographers, as well as new color drawings.

wicwas.com

Email: [email protected]
Phone:(269) 344-8027

Swarming with gratitude for our sponsors!

Drone Level

Honey Bear Level

Learn what these sponsorship levels mean, and how you can help support pollinators, especially the endearing honeybee.

Bee School 2018

February 18, 2018 By Charlotte Hubbard

It’s over, but not easily forgotten …

And yes, the bride did ride in on a cloud that day

Two years ago, on the third weekend in February, my son married the wonderful Kristen.

I’m really glad he made her my bee-loved daughter-in-law and really really glad they did it two years ago on the third weekend in February, even though it meant I missed Kalamazoo’s Bee School. If they’d waited two years and done it this weekend, I would’ve missed Kalamazoo’s best bee school yet, held February 17.Continue Reading

July Meeting Recap

July 22, 2017 By Charlotte Hubbard

“Spellbinding” is just one of the words I heard describing the nearly two hour presentation by Dr. Meghan Milbrath at the July Kalamazoo Bee Club meeting. With her frank, witty and friendly delivery, Meghan’s advice–backed by experience and research—offered something to all levels of beekeepers. “If I’d heard this talk my first year, I would’ve killed fewer bees,” a third-year beekeeper shared with me afterward.

Just a few of the dozens of key points Meghan offered:

When you can’t find the queen, you probably don’t need to buy another. Meghan went over the rationale and timeline for when a colony goes queenless, highlighting that understanding basic bee biology and patience are key. “The problem is typically not in the colony, but in the beekeeper’s expectations,” she noted.

Queens in the making

Bearding!

August 18, 2016 By Charlotte Hubbard

(Subtitle: No, they’re probably not about to swarm.)

I’ve received quite a few calls from panicking beekeepers lately, concerned about the swath of bees hanging out on the front of the hive.

It’s called bearding, and it is one of my most favorite things about beekeeping. As I recently explained in a recent Facebook post (you can find me on FB under ‘Charlotte Hubbard, Beekeeper and …’), bees do it because they’re at peak population. When the foraging bees return from the fields late afternoon, they just hang out on the “front porch” so the house bees can try and keep things cool inside and dry down nectar into the honey we all love. The foragers will hang out there all night, catching up on the day … hoping for a breeze, discussing politics or the Olympics. Sometimes, if you look closely in the mornings, you might find find little beer cans, chip bags, and a list of places to pollinate the next day. 🙂

Booming Bees?

June 7, 2016 By Charlotte Hubbard

There is SO much happening in hives this time of year. Colonies are expanding, and the weather has allowed for massive nectar (soon to be honey?) collection. We’ve been busy mentoring newbees, and taking calls and answering texts about similar issues.

Hopefully your colony is booming. Here are some amazing statistics to consider. According to Dr. Larry Connor, who spoke at to Kalamazoo Bee Club last week, a full deep frame of bees yields 5,000 – 6,000 bees. A vibrant queen in a thriving hive will lay a frame every 2-3 days. The package you installed contained only about 10,000–so as that queen reaches her peak laying, the hive’s growth is exponential (and awesome!) It is a fun time of year with colonies expanding so rapidly. It means swarms, lots of nectar gathering, queen cells, and splits to be made to increase the number of hives. (We had some mentees with such powerful nucs that yes, we’ve already split them. They doubled their number of hives their first two months of beekeeping.)

Love this queen! A bee-to-be in practically every cell. Where there isn't the brown flat cap of worker brood, there's typically a larva, or honey, or pollen.

Love this queen! A bee-to-be in practically every cell. In a cell where there isn’t the brown flat cap of worker brood, there’s typically a larva, or honey, or pollen. This wall-to-wall laying pattern is delightful to discover.

Spring Build-Up and Inspections

May 23, 2016 By Andrea Villarreal

spring inspections

Wednesday night Anne Marie Fauvel, beekeeper and educator from Grand Valley State University, spoke to the bee club about spring her spring to-do list. Below is an overview of the information covered.

This time of year new beekeepers are always anxious to get into their hives, but aren’t entirely sure what they should be doing or looking for. Anne’s presentation covered two important components for this time of year: why a spring build-up in important and what to look for during spring hive inspections.Continue Reading

Some Things for Which I Bee Thankful

November 25, 2015 By Charlotte Hubbard

Background: I began keeping bees with a death threat hanging over my head. My husband Tom had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and needed me to care for his two bee-loved colonies while he aggressively fought the disease.

Wanting to support him however I could, I bee-grudgingly took care of his doggone stinging insects, and in the process, fell head-over-hive tool in love with them.

When Tom passed about a year later, the bees helped me grieve by giving me frequent challenges and the occasional sweet reward of honey, and motivating me to focus on the future and plan for next season and future. I will forever be grateful for the assistance from these angels with real wings.

With the holiday of Thanksgiving almost upon us, I’m reflecting on other bee-related things in my life for which I’m immensely grateful. They include:

BEES: as without these vital pollinators, our dinner table would lack pumpkin pie, cranberries, applesauce and blueberry muffins. They’re also helpful for pollinating brussel sprouts, but frankly—I think we can do without those.

STINGS: I marvel at inter-species communication—like when my dog climbs next to me and places her paw on my leg; or when the bees buzz loudly about me, but then settle down and check me out with amused curiosity. It is magical when they perch on my hand and gaze at me (with lots more eyes than I have) while I gaze back with a mere two eyes. I swear they smile.

Initially it was unnerving to discover they’re just as curious about us as we are about them, but now I appreciate those shared moments.

However, I do hate it when instinct kicks in and they misinterpret that I’m a threat. Stinging kills the one (or seven) doing the stinging, and really hurts the one getting the sting (me). But, the occasional sting makes me appreciate even more those moments when I know the bees and I are connecting on a mystical, peaceful level.Continue Reading

On Mentoring

November 15, 2015 By Andrea Villarreal

Recently I attended the bee school planning meeting. As we wove on and off task (as meetings tend to do), the topic of mentors came up. The members in the room represented a variety of age- and experience-levels, but we all agreed that finding a good mentor is crucial to beekeeping success.

We wondered why it’s been so difficult to start a mentor group. Is it because newer beekeepers (keepers for 3-5 years-ish) are afraid to offer advice? Is it because new beekeepers are afraid to ask? Is there a perception that mentoring is time-consuming? Continue Reading