Program tries to save bees that swarm

When honey bees swarm, they act like they just ate a big turkey dinner.

Swarms of thousands of bees, engorged with honey and lethargic while leaving their former colony, often result in pest control getting called.

But rather than exterminating the honey bees — whose population is in decline — Abell Pest Control has created a national registry at Abellsavesbees.com to connect homeowners and businesses with local beekeepers willing to relocate the bees, often at no cost.

“We’re trying to do the paradigm shift,” said Chris Lesperance, branch manager of Abell Pest Control in Windsor. “All of our people that work for us, we know quite a lot about insects, quite a lot about rodents. And we’re into saving what we can, and we’re into the environment, and we’re fairly knowledgeable.

“Once we started putting this word out, it came to be that a lot of people wanted to jump on the bandwagon.”

In Windsor, Abell Pest Control has already relocated around half a dozen swarms from city residences, and a handful from businesses.

Global honey bee populations are dropping as habitat loss, climate change, mites and, potentially, agricultural pesticide use kills the pollinating insects.

“The more we can do to raise awareness about the importance of honey bees the better the chances of protecting them,” John Abell, president of Abell Pest Control, said in a statement.

“One out of every three bites of food we eat is a result of honey bees, so they play a huge role in our daily lives and the pollination of our crops,” Abell added.

The first step in relocating the swarm is verifying that the swarm is made up of honey bees, rather than bees or wasps.

“And then basically we put out a call to beekeepers in our area,” Lesperance said.

“We have two or three that I’ve been working with over the last few years who are pretty active with us.”

A beekeeper will go to the swarm with a small beehive that has already housed bees in the past.

Beekeepers can go up to the tree with minimal protection — generally a suit — because the bees are so lethargic.

The beekeeper will shake the tree, directing the honey bees into the hive.

“If we’re lucky and the queen goes down into the hive when we’ve shaken it, then over the next 24 to 48 hours we come back,” Lesperance explained.

That’s when the beekeeper closes up the hive and transports it to a natural new home, often in the county.

As part of Abell’s honey bee program, the company is donating $25,000 over the next five years to a new scholarship at the University of Guelph Honey Bee Research Centre.

And it will provide an introductory beekeeper training course in 2018.