Why I Can’t “Just Catch the Queen”

“Why don’t you just catch the queen and let the bees follow her out?” 🐝 Because established colonies don’t work like swarms. 🐝 In a swarm, the bees are homeless and clustered together around the queen. But inside a wall or roof cavity, the colony is anchored to brood comb, honey stores, and thousands of workers spread throughout the nest. 🐝 And first… you actually have to find the queen. 🐝 That can mean searching through tens of thousands of bees while carefully dismantling the entire nest piece by piece. 🐝 Once exposed, the bees are gently removed using a specialised bee vacuum while the brood comb and honeycomb are carefully rebuilt into hive frames. 🐝 At the end of the removal, the bees are reunited with their brood and queen inside a new hive box. 🐝 Bee removals are far more than “just catching the queen.” — © @hinterlandbees