Call 000 when a wild European honey bee swarm is putting public safety at risk. NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) gives that rule for an unsafe swarm, not for every bee in a garden. Leave a quiet cluster on a branch, fence or letterbox alone. Do not spray it, hose it, or knock it down. To move those bees alive, call a registered beekeeper while the cluster is still hanging. If the bees are already in a wall cavity, roof void, meter box or chimney and have started comb, a licensed pest management technician is the call for the building.
Leave the cluster alone unless the risk is public
A swarm in transit is a ball of bees resting while scouts look for a cavity. The ball is usually less defensive than a colony guarding brood and honey. Close nearby windows if bees drift toward openings. Keep children, dogs and anyone with a known bee allergy well clear. Hosing, smoking or tipping insecticide at the ball scatters bees and can push them into wall voids. DPIRD's guidance on how to deal with a swarm says to call 000 immediately when a wild European honey bee swarm poses a public safety risk. A cluster that does not block a doorway, playground or footpath can stay put while you identify it. A hanging swarm a registered beekeeper can still box stays on the live-move path. Honey bees defending a wall entrance in Bankstown, or sitting where people must pass, need pest control in Bankstown rather than a letterbox swarm catch. It does not replace 000.
Swarm on a branch versus bees in the structure
A swarm on a low branch, fence or shrub is what registered beekeepers catch. Bees that enter a wall cavity, roof void, meter box or chimney and build comb are an established colony. Comb, brood and honey change the job. Boxing a resting swarm is not opening a sealed void. If bees have only just started a gap under the eaves, act before that gap fills with comb. Do not seal it while bees are inside. Trapped bees look for other exits indoors. A swarm still hanging on a shrub in Yagoona can go to a registered beekeeper the same day, before comb starts. Once bees in Yagoona move into a wall or eaves gap and start comb, bee control in Yagoona is the job, not a box under a hanging cluster. Note how many days they have used the gap, and whether wax is visible. Bees that defend an entrance are not a quiet ball on a branch. An established colony blocking a Condell Park doorway needs quick bee control in Condell Park, because hosing the cluster only drives bees further inside. It does not replace 000, and it does not replace a beekeeper for a calm swarm in the open with no comb.
Registered beekeeper or licensed pest technician
DPIRD permits registered beekeepers to catch swarms anywhere in NSW. Taking a swarm into a hive is livestock and biosecurity work, including Varroa checks. A caught swarm may already carry Varroa. Leave the cluster whole for the beekeeper. A licensed pest management technician fits a colony in the building, defence at a nest entrance, access that needs building work, or a site where a live move is not safe. Fee or reward pest work in NSW is licensed pesticide work, not hobby swarm collection. Report the cluster or the gap, how long the bees have been there, any stings, and whether the site is a school, strata common area or busy footpath.
Native bees are not a swarm to destroy
Many NSW native bees are solitary or live in small groups, and many sting rarely beside a European honey bee. Blue-banded bees, teddy bear bees and carpenter bees in a garden are not a honey bee swarm. DPIRD's bees and wasps identification advice says to report a suspected exotic species to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881, by the online form, or to [email protected], with a photo. Do not kill the insect in case it is native. Fuzzy, stocky bees using a wall, roof or meter box on a Padstow street are a cavity colony. A solitary native bee in a garden hole is not. Comb already inside a Padstow wall should not be sprayed from the garden, and that cavity is bee control in Padstow. Spraying every bee-like insect can kill natives and still leave the colony in the wall.
A papery nest is a wasp nest
Insects returning to a grey papery ball under an eave are not a honey bee swarm. European honey bees look fuzzy and stocky. Many wasps look smoother, with a clearer waist. Smoother wasps returning to a paper nest under a Lakemba eave are wasp control in Lakemba, not a honey bee swarm a beekeeper can box.
Before you call
Stay clear. Do not spray, hose or hit the cluster. Call 000 if public safety is at risk. Note a hanging swarm or a cavity with comb. Photograph from a distance if the species is unclear. A resting swarm you want moved alive goes to a registered beekeeper, not to a guess that kills native bees. A colony in the structure goes to a licensed pest management technician, with the building and the risk described. Report a suspected exotic bee or wasp on 1800 084 881, and do not kill it first. A registered beekeeper can often move a resting swarm alive. A nest in a wall turns on access, comb and safety. Use 000 only for public safety. Match the next call to the cluster or the cavity on the property.