Caitlin Bateson
336-350-5645
caitlin.bateson@gmail.com
Honey

Chuck Couch
336-382-2207
chuckcouchjr@gmail.com
Honey

Ira Poston
(336) 314-0499
igposton@gmail.com
Wildflower and Sourwood honey. Lip balm ( peppermint, pina colada, orange creamsicle)

Mike Ross
336-214-4219
mross953@hotmail.com
Local and Sourwood Honey, including chunk honey with comb.
Beeswax and propolis

Jennifer Welsh
(336) 343-9250
Honey

Welcome to Alamance County Swarm and Bee Removal

Honey Bees in Swarms

If you are requesting that a swarm of bees (honey bees ONLY) be removed from your property in Alamance County, North Carolina, and surrounding areas, please contact:
             Jeff Telander at 919-618-8094.
He will call the nearest available local beekeeper to collect the swarm.

Honey Bees in Structures

If honey bees are seen coming and going from your home, tree or outbuilding this requires more technical removal options called “Trap Outs” or “Cut outs” and most beekeepers all charge for this service as explained on Forsyth County Beekeepers webpage HERE. They have also posted a clear and very informative Bee Removal FAQ. After reading the information, please contact Jeff about possible removals in Alamance County.

Depending on the task, such as of a swarm removal versus an established colony housed in a structure, beekeepers will sometimes charge for the latter service. You can find out why HERE?

We only remove honey bees and NOT carpenter bees, yellow jackets, wasps, hornets, or bumblebees. Here is a useful Bee Identification Guide.

Questions that Jeff may ask!

1. Are they honey bees?
2. Are bees entering a structure or in a mass outside?
3. When were they noticed?
4. What has been done?
5. Has any pesticide been used?
6. Has anyone else been called?
7. Has anyone been stung? Might indicate an aggressive (dry) swarm.
8. How large is the cluster/swarm? Basketball or softball size?
9. Where is it, specifically?
10. How high up are they?
11. Do you plan to call someone else?
12. Do we have permission to collect the bees?
13. Is this your property? Give me specific directions to get to the swarm site.

Bees from my apiary in Burlington were foraging on both nectar and pollen found in the open flowers of Climbing Aster (Ampelaster carolinianus)

Honey Bee Nectaring on Climbing Aster flowers

Here is a “honey” of a bee book that can be a guide to the identification of some of the more than 500 “other” North Carolina native bee species visiting the flowers in pollination gardens or flower beds. This book is published and distributed by UNC Press for NC State Extension and is described as follows:

“Identifying bees on the wing is known to be tricky. The Bees of North Carolina: An Identification Guide is a beginner’s resource designed to help quickly and generally identify native bees in North Carolina. Developed by experts at NC State Extension, it provides an overview of some of the most common groups of bees in the state. The guide will help users learn to recognize bees according to key characteristics and, eventually, according to their overall appearance.”

Thanks are due to authors Hannah Levenson, Graduate Research Associate, Entomology & Plant Pathology at NC State University and Dr. Elsa Youngsteadt, Assistant Professor, Extension Urban Ecology Specialist, for this excellent publication. The authors mention that even in December and January, you may often see Small Carpenter Bees (Ceratina), Sweat Bees (Lasioglossum) and Metallic Green Sweat Bees (Augochlora) out foraging with your honey bees on warm days.

The guide is available now to download as a FREE pdf file HERE

Paperback copies will be available from UNC Press for $14 in January 2020 and are available for pre-order HERE

Here are a few selected images of native bees that have visited our Burlington apiary and garden.

Female Cuckoo Leafcutter bee (Coelioxys) on Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

Mining Bee (Andrena) on Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)

Long-horned bee (Melissodes bimaculatus) on Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)

Metallic Green Sweat Bee (Augochlora) on Cranesbill Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

Sweat Bee (Halictus ligatus) on Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

American Bumble Bee (Bombus pensylvanicus) nectaring on Giant Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

At noon on Sunday, November 24, 2019, bees were flying and foraging on the Climbing Aster (Ampelaster carolinianus) in the apiary. This not only included honey bees, but also Bumblebees and small native bees. Honey bees were nectaring and gathering pollen. This member of the Asteraceae plant family is a native perennial vine that produces abundant pale purple to lavender flowers beginning in late October. It grows with support from a trellis or fencing to 4 to 5 feet tall, and frost does not seem to impede the flowering. It attracts both bees and butterflies well into November here in the Piedmont of NC. The plant does better in full sun, but will survive in partial shade.

Pollen gathering honey bee on Climbing Aster (Ampelaster carolinianus)

In flight honey bee approaching a Climbing Aster flower (Ampelaster carolinianus)

Under “Resources,”  I have posted links to four presentations presented at the 2018 National Honey Show in Surrey, England by Dr. Clarence Collison. He writes monthly column “A Closer Look” for Bee Culture magazine. He is an Emeritus Professor of Entomology and Department Head Emeritus of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS.