swarm charges

[iombeeman]

what are peoples views on charging for swarm collection.
i ask for voluntary contributions for my time and petrol, and also for my assocation.no one on the isle of man seems to charge!
comments please

 

[Hivemaker.]

Never charged for collecting a swarm in my life,but have had several that think the swarm they have in there tree or whatever is worth some fantastic ammount of money and the beekeeper should be paying them for them.A jar of honey maybe,but pay money, never,against my particular religion.

 

[BKF Admin]

I charge one cup of tea.

Never had anyone refuse payment yet.

 

[grizzly]

The number of people who are aware of the value of the bees on their property is increasing, so i have heard stories where people try it on.

I think its reasonable to cover your expenses at the very least, any other service provider would do the same. However i wont charge until i feel my skills and professionalism are commensurate with the job in hand.

The Bees themselves will be my initial bounty.

 

[Bcrazy]

Sweetums dear boy!

How eloquent:

However i wont charge until i feel my skills and professionalism are commensurate with the job in hand.

From an apiarist peer.

 

[user 382]

Usually just a cuppa and a chat - most people find it fascinating when you explain why they swarm, etc. One guy even asked if he could video me removing a swarm form his garden. I always decline (well at least once )the offer of money.

 

[Chris B]

Generally I don't charge anything. But I might change tack next year e.g. ?30 call-out charge which I'll waive in the event of a nice swarm. I get loads of nuisance calls for wasps, flies, etc. and it takes time to tease out information on the phone to filter them out. It's a huge disappointment turning up to wasps and ?30 for beer and curry on the way home would be a fair compensation

Regarding people asking money for a swarm - aren't they committing an offence by offering wild animals for sale?. I've always understood the legal view of bees to be wild, only becoming domestic upon capture. So they can't sell them unless they capture them first? Can anyone elaborate?

 

[BKF Admin]

Usually just a cuppa and a chat - most people find it fascinating when you explain why they swarm, etc. One guy even asked if he could video me removing a swarm form his garden. I always decline (well at least once )the offer of money.

One of the swarms I collected in the summer had an audience of over 1500! and was filmed.

Although the audience was captive because it was a local secondary school and they all wanted to see what the bee man was doing.

I had to go upto the large glass windows in the main hall and shout through the window what I was doing,I dont usually use smoke for a swarm just a little sugar water but as it was a performance I felt I should use all the props I had to hand

 

[Mosquito]

If you charge to collect a swarm, You are not covered by BBKA insurance.

That why I ask for voluntary contribution.

 

[FROGDOGDIVER]

Regarding people asking money for a swarm - aren't they committing an offence by offering wild animals for sale?. I've always understood the legal view of bees to be wild, only becoming domestic upon capture. So they can't sell them unless they capture them first? Can anyone elaborate?

Hope this helps its a quote from current UK and Northern Irish law:

A person cannot steal a wild creature not tamed nor ordinarily kept in captivity, unless either it has been reduced into possession by or on behalf of another person and possession of it has not since been lost or abandoned, or another person is in course of reducing it into possession.

This would cover when out shotgun shooting. If say you shot a duck in the act of shooting and killing that duck you have reduced it in to your possession. It then becomes your property.

In relation to a swarm I would suggest that as we cannot show where a swarm came from. It could be wild or it could be from a local beekeeper who will no doubt have long since lost or abandoned it as there is no way to prove where it came from. If you came across the swarm or were told where it was and decided to reduce it in to your possession by capturing it then it would be lawfully yours. The problem could come from whoever called you if they had claimed to have been in the act of reducing it in to their possession it is lawfully theirs and could rightly charge for the swarm.

No doubt good people skills and some common sense before anyone commences work would help. What would most members of the public want with the bees after they have gone to the trouble of calling you out to help them, failing that a bribe of a bribe of a jar of honey might help.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[Poly Hive]

Setting the BBKA position aside, as I find myself doing more and more often. However I digress.

When a member of the BFA yes I did charge and for a very good reason.

Time.

My time.

I used to rush of and see if I could get them, and after many disappointments, got to realise the way to go was to say, yes I am interested but they are liable to go by the time I get to you, usually 20 odd miles away, so call me back if they are still there at 5pm and I will collect them.

I charged £10 for fuel and time which I thought then, some 10 years ago was perfectly reasonable and still do.

As I posted else where altruism is wonderful, to a point. Beyond that it becomes sane and reasonable to charge.

Further on this matter consider your insurance position, and the "customers" when contemplating removal from inside walls, chimneys and the proximity of power lines. There is nothing wrong in saying "No thanks", and a lot to be gained.... The rest of ones life comes to mind here.

PH

 

[hedgerow pete]

I feel realy very embaressed for posting this and i know i am going to get in the neck big time, but yes i do charge!!!
put the rope down and let me explain, then lintch me afterwards.

We usualy start with a phone call from them , i explain that i will come around as soon as i have finished work, usualy around 6pm ish. the usual questions are asked , where are they , how high up ( yes i do , do tree's. another hanging offence) we then try to explain that i charge £20 to remove bee's but if it is wasps when i get there i will destroy them for £40, but either way from when i start to when i have finished i will either remove or kill everything. the prices are obtained from what everyone charges around here council charge £45 for a wasp nest, also all the locals and i realy dont mean to be racalist but its true, if you dont get payment up front they will haggy about the price afterwards and that realy bugs me big time. secondly i have the ability if i want or when i choose too, i can simple ask to use the loo and then i leave there money by the sink. either way i always try to inform them the usual is behind the patio glass doors with the kids on the inside i can explain what i have in my hands evan wasp nests can be interesting knowlege is the far strongest weopon that i know, as for the impossible well that is just personal preference's not insurance. if you can do it safely then do it by all means
i took some bees out of a chimney 45 up last year, the owner had quotes from everyone and at a last point called me he hired the scafold to be put up for me and i collected the bee's for him scafold hire was £450 i was £40 cheapest quote was £1300 he saved £850, well happy i thought he was going to shake me arm off when i came down, as for the toxic subject of tree's, last year i answered a call from the local council they had a bee swarm in a tree 10 foot up did not want to kill it as it was opposite a eco warriers house and did not want bad publisity, so i turned it around for them i accualy had this guy suited up stood next to me he loved it, spent most of his time talking to the bee's ( what a loonie eh. i never do that much)the council parked one of there transit vans for me under the tree called all the press and anyone else, i then chain sawed the tree open so we could remove them, thing is that was by far the most aggresive sawrm i have ever delt with and this eco bloke loved it !!
now then talking of tree's where s the rope

 

[Bcrazy]

I charge for call outs to swarms, and why not?

Where money is offered or requested prior to collection then I know that my expences will be covered.

I admire the ones who don't charge but there again they don't need the money!

Regards;

 

[hedgerow pete]

my biggest problem with not charging is most swarms i have ever delt with are either of poor quality or equaly poor temperment and i just requeen and get rid of them fast. i want my bee's to come from my breeding plans not someone elses cock ups. Secondly i have never had a easy swarm all the books say swarms are three foot off the ground hanging directly below where a bee box will go or will all fly into the bee nuc as you walk into the garden mine are 10 mfoot up or in a chimney pot on the roof!! or its the biggest wasp nest you have ever seen and i mean it was massive and the guy "goes are you sure there not bees" i have evan had people want to charge me to have there bee's collected!!

 

[VEG]

Just out of curiosity how do you kill the wasps?

 

[hedgerow pete]

depend what i am dealing with and how quick i can get away with,
1, cheap but slow asda fly spray 48pence a tin only usfull in a confided space over wise you waste loads, throw four in a loft after selataping the lids on and then smash the nest with a bloody long pole and slam the loft hatch down quick

2, co2 best used in an emergancy, i get hold of the odd old fire extinguisher from work always have one near the hives or very near childred or newbies. the cold will either stun or kill bees or wasps the air goes cloudy so we escape away from them you can spray it directly on top people, frost burn proberly, anna shock started and can be delt with all most straight away

3 wall paper paste, robin starch, boiled leamons, potatoe water, hair spraythese are all starches and are great for working with eco people, chemical free and very cheap they all work on the princible of starch dries and freezes the wings and bodies soliddont for get they are stilla live so i normaly use a henry vacuum cleaner and hoover them up before diposing of them. last one try methalated spirit ot paint thinners both will evaporate the wings instantly, no more flying problems just hoover time again.

that any good for you, i used to work as a pest control man for a compainy , i can kill most things for you and normaly with out the aid of strong exspensive chemicals

 

[Poly Hive]

The ant killer Nippon is very effective for wasps.

PH

 

[hedgerow pete]

very true but when you are about to part with £40 you want them out now not in two or three weeks, quickest way is to disturb the nest have all that will fly or sting killed and then just cut the paper nest out put the lot in a black bag remove all the dead wasps, slurp the tea show the kids what is inside the paper ball if they are worried do it the other side of the patio windows and off home

 

[BKF Admin]

i can kill most things for you and normaly with out the aid of strong exspensive chemicals

How much is it please to do my wife ?

 

[Poly Hive]

Nippon in my experience kills completely over night.

PH