Councils poor advice

[Anduril]

This year I have had numerous calls from residents asking me to go and identify the insects annoying them, they are not sure if they are bees or wasps. The Council have given them my number expecting me to help the residents in this way because their resources are stretched due to staff cutbacks. I even had a call asking me to remove two bumblebees from the persons living room.

 

[crispin jackson]

i was called out to do a swarm removal from a wall cavity in South Africa only to find it was actually a Cape Spitting Cobra that needed relocating and they were sure i wouldn't have come, had they told the truth. Ironically i used to catch snakes often and that was cheaper than the time it takes to do a swarm removal, so i charged them for a swarm removal and removed the snake for more money than had they been honest to start with

 

[madasafish]

Charge a callout fee. I do : £20.
Deters idiots.

 

[YorkshireBees]

Charge a callout fee. I do : £20.
Deters idiots.

That's one way to tackle it. I have had a problem (since the cuts) with my local council giving my number out to everyone calling about "bees".
I actually had to stop answering the phone during the height of tree bumble bee mating as it literally never stopped all day!
Personally I'm not after collecting swarms anymore as I have enough good stock to breed for increase / replacement and now only ever collect swarms when no one else is available. I will be contacting my local council to remove my name and number from their list.

 

[Eyeman]

Get a cheap pay as go mobile and make sue that is the only number they have.
Switch on when available and switch off when not.
Problem solved

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Most calls I receive are for bumblebees (Bombus Hypnorum mainly) and I explain that I do not collect them. Most people are happy with my response and they will leave them alone if at all possible. Unfortunately the council has gotten hold of my number too

I am a reluctant collector of swarms and generally I find that swarms are best re-queened from my own stock as they invariable have problems of some sort - bad temper mostly.

Is is very annoying when people swear blind that they have honeybees - "oh yes they have been in a bird box for weeks and they are swarming around the entrance and you have to collect them".

It can be difficult to be polite sometimes!

 

[MartinL]

Is is very annoying when people swear blind that they have honeybees - "oh yes they have been in a bird box for weeks and they are swarming around the entrance and you have to collect them".

It can be difficult to be polite sometimes!

So do what comes the easiest!

"What £20 call out fee, I won't pay"

No problem, I'll just leave them here by the front door, Bye!

 

[Karsal]

I had a callout last week and from the ladies description they were definitely bumble bees not honey bees.
However she was adamant they were honey bees so I called round on the Saturday morning. They were in fact bumble bees and I presented her with an invoice for £20 and a full factsheet about bumble bees and she was happy to pay me and apologised for wasting my time.
The reason I charged her was that I attended a swarm of honey bees the week previous and a pest controller had been there just before I arrived. He asked for £50 up front then went over to the swarm and returned to the lady and told her that they didn't touch honey bee swarms and left £50 richer. I picked up the swarm for nothing. It will be passed on to a new member wanting bees if all is Ok with them.

 

[birchdale]

Last year I responded to a call out to collect 'a huge prime swarm of honeybees'. Got to the address and was met by owner who then took me to see the 'massive' prime swarm........as you can guess it was the size of a wizened grapefruit.

The owner then informed me that he had googled prices for a bee colony and knew that they were worth £250 and if I wanted the swarm that would be the cost!!

I declined his kind offer, saying the swarm was the largest I had ever seen and was far too large for me to handle.

Next day I went out to collect a similar sized swarm, got back and rang the owner to ask if the massive swarm was still available. Apparently not, as they had flown away that morning.....how sad......

 

[nantmoel]

This year I have had numerous calls from residents asking me to go and identify the insects annoying them, they are not sure if they are bees or wasps. The Council have given them my number expecting me to help the residents in this way because their resources are stretched due to staff cutbacks. I even had a call asking me to remove two bumblebees from the persons living room.

Have you telephoned the council to ask them to remove your number? Because in the last week or so they are ringing me! God I get some time wasters, the conversations starts with "RCT has given me your number" Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Anduril]

Have you telephoned the council to ask them to remove your number? Because in the last week or so they are ringing me! God I get some time wasters, the conversations starts with "RCT has given me your number" Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

No I haven't asked them to remove my name. The conversations start the same as yours and 90% of the callers are pleasant. The 10% are very demanding, but after explaining to them what I will deal with and what I won't they have no choice but accept what I say. I think a small percentage end up ringing other beekeepers. One today was bees going into the guttering and in through the tiles. Apparently a beekeeper had turned up but said he couldn't climb ladders, could I come out. I gave them details of pest control beekeepers and that ended the conversation. One bemoaned the quotes from the Council £50 and rentokil £300, can I come out as the Council said I do it for free. Also today I was very. busy ferrying my kids round to various after school events, phone call could I pick up a swarm. After explaining I could not do it unfortunately, could they ring other swarm collectors, the response was oh I will kill them. I would have loved to collect them but today of all days I was busy. As far as I am concerned I am a volunteer and cannot always please everyone.

 

[Briarfield]

I can assure you that the politeness of the callers on swarms is stupendous comprised to my day job providing NHS services.


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[meetballuk]

i got call monday for bumble bees under a shed, told him was to fare but if he had no luck i see what i could do.
he called ppl from swarm control said the bees would just leave!
he really didnt want them killed and pest controller wanted £85.
offerd me fuel money
i scooped the nest which was about 2 foot by 1 foot of yellow tails. put them in a box and cleaned up the straglers.
he insisted i take £40 for the work as his wife was so releaved they wernt gonna be killed.
Im really bad at asking for money but ppl are very pleased that their not being killed and are happy to pay something. after all its is fuel and your time which isnt free

 

[B+.]

I was in the apiary last night sorting out a cell raising colony when someone texted me for advice. It went like this:...

Text: Hello. My name is Jo. I got your details from online. I have a bees nest in my garden...in my sons punchbag. Do you charge for collection?
Me: Sorry I am tied up today dealing with my own bees.
Text: Yeah. Thats cool. Didn't expect you to come out this evening but was wondering if you were available anytime?

To be honest, I was busy and resented the intrusion into my time with yet another idiot who couldn't be bothered to phone so thought she would text (what is it with some people?)
I was about 10 miles away so there were plenty of beekeepers nearer her. I got fed up with the texts and phoned to tell her this. I also told her it should have been done the previous day when they arrived. This mañana attitude was the wrong approach.

 

[alldigging]

I've asked for photos where they are describing bumble bees but refusing to believe it - and ask them to email it over. That way you can send them the links to the bumblebee conservation site.

The only rude person so far was an American who wanted the bumblebees in a bird box on her shed moving. When I made some suggestions as to leaving them alone she got hysterical and told me she had bees all over her garden. On the flowers and everywhere and that it was unacceptable I wouldn't come and collect them all. She then proceeded to tell me that in American they treat their bees better and would have come straight out to collect them.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

She can always return to America....

I suggest they look at the Bumblebee Conservation site too.

 

[GoEnviro]

One today was bees going into the guttering and in through the tiles. Apparently a beekeeper had turned up but said he couldn't climb ladders, could I come out.

That was in Aberdare?

Why do these beekeepers not clarify the situation before arrival - recognise they are beyond their skill set and leave it to people that can do it.
All that happened there was that the bees were left in situ for a longer period so making the problem more difficult and consequently more expensive

Does the WBKA insurance cover for incompetence?

 

[Anduril]

That was in Aberdare?

Why do these beekeepers not clarify the situation before arrival - recognise they are beyond their skill set and leave it to people that can do it.
All that happened there was that the bees were left in situ for a longer period so making the problem more difficult and consequently more expensive

Does the WBKA insurance cover for incompetence?

I ask these people a lot of questions, to the point of using auto suggestion. When I find that they are not honeybees or ones I cannot tackle I pass them onto you or your competitor.

 

[MartinL]

She can always return to America....
.

I would have been a little more abrupt!

See they're telling us we can't leave the Europe thing because they'd need translators if we left!

 

[GoEnviro]

I ask these people a lot of questions, to the point of using auto suggestion. When I find that they are not honeybees or ones I cannot tackle I pass them onto you or your competitor.

Sorry Anduril - my comment was more about the elderly gent that could not climb a ladder than it was yourself