FFS Bee swarm

[bridgetjonesmassivepants]

DH is away working and his bees are swarming. I stupidly told him (as I am a caring wife and know how much he loves his bees)
My instructions are now to give them 5 minutes to settle and then don a bee suit and put a skep over them.

AIBU in thinking, 'I don't really want to do that!'

(Really know that I shouldn't have said anything but it is too late now)

Ugh. Don’t think I could! Any other bee fiends around you could call?

Isn't there another local beekeeper who would come and do it for you? I know people are usually calling them to come and collect a swarm and take it away but I'm sure they'd sympathise with a fellow beekeeper at risk of losing a swarm.

Google BBK swarm collectors - there will be some in the area who might be able to help

Nope, know of a local beekeeper but don't know their name / number. I'm going to check again and put on the bee suit...

Honestly it won't be difficult. I keep bees and I would hope my dp would do this for me in an emergency. Loosing a swarm is completely devastating!

Just make sure all the zips on the bee suits are completely done up, get the sleep over the main part of the swarm (as long as the queen is in the others will follow), and at the end make sure there are no bees on you before taking off the suit (this might take 5 mins).

Done it. Made slightly more difficult by the fact that DH had tied the skep to a branch almost next to the swarm so I had to undo several difficult knots with gloves on. (Quite a lot of cursing going on)

The swarm is now crawling into the skep so have done my bit.

Fuck that! Have you been trained to help him with the bees? I love bees, but I'm allergic to their stings so may over react!

You are a hero! Well done!

Fuck. That.

Wow. Hero!

We have a beekeeper a few doors down and they often swarm this time of year...for every new swarm he collects we get a free jar of honey. He makes over £100 for each one so he is quids in.

If anyone gets a swarm in their gardens - keepers sell them on so keep a phone number of the local beekeeper handy!

OMG, just reading this thread sent shivers down my spine.

I am absolutely petrified of them and even worse - if that's possible - with wasps. 😱

Very well done OP. No way on God's earth could I even live near a beehive let alone tackle a swarm, suit or no suit. I live pretty rurally and properties in the area have a reasonable amount of land so I live in dread of someone deciding to keep bees.

You'd be unlikely to know whether someone kept bees - they don't move about in herds like buffalo - every flower around you is being visited by some kind of bee multiple times a day, then they go home. Where home is has little impact on whether or not they visit your flowers. Bees rarely sting, if they sting you they die, it's a last resort / defend the colony strategy. It's wasps that are the evil stinging bastards - bee keepers hate them as they also kill bees. Wasps can sting whenever they want.

Swarming bees are full of honey and just looking for a new empty cavity to inhabit. They are so docile at this point that you can scoop up handfuls with your bare hands to move them into a new hive. I've seen it done, though I confess to being a wuss and using rubber gloves myself.

Well done! Love bees.

Well done op! You’re a braver woman than me!

Well done. You are amazing.