# Free bees



## Daddy'sBees (Jul 1, 2010)

Got ya!!!  There is no such this as free bees where I live. Even swarms cost money. Let me explain.

People always want me to remove bees for FREE! Are they crazy? I got another call today.

Once I acquire some bees via a swarm, cut-out, or other, I must have a new hive to put them in. New as in I didn't own one more hive until now! Let's face it, to take these bees through colony size and growth, harvesting, etc. I must have a large hive and some kind of super, etc. for them. ..... How much is this investment for all this new wooden ware? Let's say you got a full size lang...2 deeps, 1 or 2 supers, foundations, and et.al.. Cost: $110 maybe

Secondly, I must, as a responsible beek, requeen to break any AHB gene influence she may be spitting out. If it is a swarm, then you need to replace the old gal anyway.
Cost: $40 includes queen and express shipping to here from up north

I'm out $150.00 for free bees!!!

Let me see, every time I get a call to remove bees, it costs me $150. How many people really think I can keep this up and for how long?

I got an idea. Let's all go done to the big box hardware store Saturday morning early. Spend $150 OF YOUR MONEY on latex paint. Drive 45 minutes to a house. Spend all day painting it until all the paint is on the house. Let's come back regularly and wash the paint job free of dust. How many people will do this on their weekends for FREE?

No, I charge for my time, gas, expertise, yada, and the above $150. My cut-outs aren't free, they start at $250 and go up to $750 for large difficult jobs(Ex. stucco walls). On swarms, I split the $150 with owner. I eat $75 and the owner forks over $75.

In summary: There is no such thing as free bees.

:lpf:


----------



## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

I make my own equipment from free scrap wood. I don't have to requeen out of fear of AHB up here in the frozen north.

So unless I value my time catching a swarm instead of sitting home, numbing my brain cells watching "Jersey Shore" at your $150 bucks, those are pretty much free bee for me.

If you buy a package, wouldn't you have to have all that woodenware? So that $70 buck package of bees costs you about $180?

Interesting accounting methods.

Wayne


----------



## WilliamsHoneyBees (Feb 17, 2010)

Woodenware costs money if you buy bees or not. Package bees in my neck of the woods is 70 bucks. A swarm costs me gas to get there. Most of the time I get calls that are 2 miles down the road. I drive further than that to get to my bee yards. If you can get $75 to remove a swarm good for you! :thumbsup: I will take free swarms everyday of the week and twice on wednesdays! 

-Dan


----------



## bigbearomaha (Sep 3, 2009)

got to dis agree, the bees are free, the equipment is not.

one is not necessarily the same as the other.

I feel ya on the ahb issue, I don't have that issue here either.

now, free to me in terms of money, check. Free to me in terms of time invested (to pick up a swarm) well, I find the bees worth the the time.

besides, I think it's good to invest something into the bees, be it money or time. It gives your interaction with the bees some perspective.

Just my two cent.

Big Bear


----------



## Daddy'sBees (Jul 1, 2010)

Ok then what about your cut-outs? Are they free? I have em asking for free work... Remove them from my house, please.


----------



## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

Not me. Tooooo much work to cut them out for free. it takes me about 4 hours to do a simple cutout, string the comb into the hive and get all the bees. PLUS you have a second trip out to pick up the hive after the foragers and leftovers finally go into the hive a couple days later. SO you have gas times 2 round trips plus 4+ hours work. Charge for cutouts! 

i charge about 150 for a simple one 4 hours work, and it goes up. IF i cut out of a tree, i DO NOT take the tree down unless its no where near a house building or power line. 
I charge to cut out of a tree plus usually i take the wood especially if i cut it up.

Again its all about how much work i have to do. My time is not free. And the work is not worth the 80 dollar package of bees to do it for free.


----------



## WilliamsHoneyBees (Feb 17, 2010)

I avoid cutouts. A few people asked me to do cutouts this year and I told them they would have to contact another beekeeper and it would cost them around $300 and they gave me this look . 

-Dan


----------



## bigbearomaha (Sep 3, 2009)

nope, charge for cut outs now. I used to do em free.

if one is doing cutouts and is charging for them, gas and equipment and tools, time, etc.. should be figured into the price one charges. So that if the bees survive cut out or not, those issues you have been paid for.

Big Bear


----------



## wkinne (Jul 17, 2010)

I built a really nice Bee Vac and a friend of mine and I do removals of all kinds. Our base fee is $350 and we tell them it will be less if it is easy ( which we have only seen once, them little buggers always seem to find very hard to get at locations for home) and more if it is really hard. I tell them on the phone that if it is not worth the $350 to them to call some one else, no one has complained about the price and just begged us to do the job.


wkinne


----------



## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

pine_ridge_farms said:


> I avoid cutouts. A few people asked me to do cutouts this year and I told them they would have to contact another beekeeper and it would cost them around $300 and they gave me this look .
> 
> -Dan


Yeah i have heard it before. They then tell ya they'll just spray the crap out of them and i warn them why that would not be a good idea.


----------



## afss (Mar 19, 2009)

yes but once that colony is producing honey for you you are making money and if it produces 50-100 lbs then you are up 200 -400 dollars in profit. in the first year, every year after that you are further ahead and can sell nucs etc if you wish. I'll take free bees any day over having to buy nucs.


----------



## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

I also avoid cut-outs and refer them to other beekeepers, I just cant justify the time to do them and got tired of haggling with people over the cost to do them, everyone thinks your getting "free bees" that will produce millions of pounds of honey. Swarms I dont charge for and will run to get them, dump them in a box and put the feed to them, those are "free Bees" which will produce a profit in the form of surplus honey.


----------



## bigbearomaha (Sep 3, 2009)

I look at it a little differently.

honey bees are dying out big time. There are multiple causes and many pests. The more bee colonies that can be kept alive, the better in my way of thinking.

If that colony in a wall doesn't have to die in order to remove them from some homeowners wall, then i find it justification enough to give them every chance at survival.

That alone is the value to swarm collections and cut outs to me.

At the same time I can try to keep as many honey bees as possible alive, I can provide a valuable service to property owners by doing a proper complete removal and cleanout of a hive from their property instead of leaving the wax and honey to do damage later as a regular exterminator will.

There is no guarantee that honey bees will survive a cut out. The service is what I am getting paid to do. In the process of that, I can try to determine if the bees can be successfully relocated or not.

If those bees survive the cutout and successfully rebuild, I was paid for my time and work at the house, to me, the bees are indeed a free happy consequence of the effort.

I am sure others think of it differently. and that's fine too.

Big Bear


----------



## Daddy'sBees (Jul 1, 2010)

*Ditto your thoughts Big Bear!* It was well thought out and presented so well. Yes, I agree with others here. Most beeks don't want to do cut-outs. I actually love trying to save a hive that otherwise would be needlessly destroyed. It is a valued service for all three; the bees, the client, and my enjoyment/satisfaction. I try to save as many hives as I can and am always looking for and edge to improve transplant survivability. 
:waiting:


----------



## HONEYDEW (Mar 9, 2007)

or worse yet you can have the bees and all I want is a couple of quarts of the honey you'll get from them.....squze me? I take away the " bee problem " for you, and pay you for the privallege....:scratch:


----------



## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

afss said:


> yes but once that colony is producing honey for you you are making money and if it produces 50-100 lbs then you are up 200 -400 dollars in profit. in the first year, every year after that you are further ahead and can sell nucs etc if you wish. I'll take free bees any day over having to buy nucs.


Their not free if you have to do 4 -6 hours labor in getting them along with spending anywhere from 25 -50 dollars in gas to go get them. cheaper to go buy a nuc.


----------



## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

Ok, I really am confused here. WHy would anyone work for free. First of all a homeowner is going to have to shell out the bucks one way or another. IF they spray the bees and kill them, their going to have to pay for removal of all the stuff inside. thats going to cost them. SEcondly if they hire a exterminator to come in, its going to cost them 2 -3 times more than a beek. 

Third, my time is worth money. If anyone could do it that would be a different story, but here i am one of the few that suffer from insanity going out and cutting out insects that can inflict pain, and make life miserable. That is worth money. I have a ability that someone needs, you bet i am going to charge for it. I'm no fool to turn down 200 -500 dollars. 

Plus when the homeowner fubars the whole thing when they try to do it themselves, that just doubles the cost.


----------



## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

On the flip side, when a homeowner called about a swarm 40' up in a giant white pine, I told him I don't do ladder work, but he might find a beekeeper who does.

I suppose I may have killed someone's deal when I told him that he didn't have to pay anyone a penny to solve the problem, that in a couple of days, he'll look up and they'll be gone.

Wwayne


----------



## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

waynesgarden said:


> On the flip side, when a homeowner called about a swarm 40' up in a giant white pine, I told him I don't do ladder work, but he might find a beekeeper who does.
> 
> I suppose I may have killed someone's deal when I told him that he didn't have to pay anyone a penny to solve the problem, that in a couple of days, he'll look up and they'll be gone.
> 
> Wwayne


LOL i hear ya wayne. its kinda unnerving to climb up 40 feet with a box in hand and thousands of potential stings above you.....


----------



## afss (Mar 19, 2009)

wolfpenfarm said:


> Their not free if you have to do 4 -6 hours labor in getting them along with spending anywhere from 25 -50 dollars in gas to go get them. cheaper to go buy a nuc.


Its not free, its an investment. you get the bees, you pay for them with labour, they in turn produce honey for you. its no different than you buying a nuc. you can pay 150 for a nuc (locally, no idea what they go for else where) or you can spend 3-5 hours of your time as sweat equity to get something better than a nuc. 

Yes they are not free, you are working for them, but its not like they are costing you any more than if you had to obtain the bees from another method. If you want to charge and can thats great, I probably will charge for some of them too.

But thats not the point. Like it or not the point is you are NOT working for free, you are working for the bees that you remove, they have value, they are worth something and it can be quantified. If you plan to throw out the bees and comb honey etc then yes they have no value but if you hive them and make a colony from them they they have value. If you make cash ontop of that, great, but if you don't you still aren't working for free!


----------



## honeybees (Oct 19, 2009)

the bees are free, what you do is your choice. the day you became a bk you took on certain responsiblities. one of them was to insure their safety, even if that means going out and buying equipment. i do this as a hobby, not looking for any reward or compensation (would be nice), i do it because i want too. i just picked up a swarm this past week, what a nice one it was. the exterminator was the next call they were gonna make. i gathered my stuff, sucked up the little darlings, put together a new home for them, put a reducer on the front entrance, so they don't get any ideas, checked on them yesterday and i am happy to report they are coming and going, nice big chunks of golden rod they are hauling in. and next year they better have some honey in there for me.


----------



## bigbore (Feb 25, 2008)

*Free Bees* are bees that cost nothing to get, no time, no material, no gas, no sweat, etc. 

Having said that, cheap bees are bees that cost you less than buying them would. I have never seen "Free Bees" I have found lots of cheap bees. Last spring, I picked up 12 swarms from within 30 miles of home, or work. They still cost me time, and a little gas, so they qualify as cheap bees. Cutouts are not cheap bees, nor are they free bees. I will spend at least 4 hours doing a cutout, and that is 4 hours of my time I could be doing other things, such as building boxes, frames, bases, outer covers, inner covers, etc. 

I am willing to do cutouts because, I am trying to use a ferel bee genetic for my base line. I want those bees from that wall, or that soffit area, or that tree. I want them, but I don't need them. I have enough to graph queens from, and drones to bread with. Every hour I "spend on that, I have to justify with my _Lovely, Understanding, Kind, Sweet, Considerate, Caring _wife. and we value time very highly. I figured up roughly that it will take $250.00 to get everything for a hive, and feed them to put on weight to survive winter. So any cutout I do, I am already investing this much into them. If they fail to survive winter, I am out half of it. I can't afford to loose that much money, so If you want me to remove them. I start at $250, and the longer it takes, or harder it is, it goes up. I am willing to go through a lot before I raise the prices, but If it is really miserable, I will. 

I value 4 hours with my wife and daughter for a minimum of $125, and ask you to help with the expenses I will face trying to get them through the first winter. Most exterminators won't touch honeybees around here. Something about a $5000 fine for knowingly killing ferel honeybees? I tell the people what they will face if they don't remove everything, and that If I suspect they were "sprayed" before I got there, my price just doubled. If they want me to see if I can help them that is fine, but if they want to handle it I don't want to be bothered to clean up after them.


----------



## beekeeper1756 (Mar 20, 2010)

I just had a phone conversation with an older man who wanted me to drive more than 50 miles one way, 100 miles round trip and do this cutout for free.

He was shocked and said "I thought you'd just come out here for free just to get the bees". I smiled and said "I have a bee yard full of bees, I have all the bees I want. I do this as a service". He refused to budge and I politely held my ground.

At one point he said "I've got all these old abandoned houses out in the country, you can have all the wild bees you want..." 

Bless his heart. I told him "I have to charge for my mileage, equipment and time". He just couldn't understand why I was going to charge him. Oh, by the way, I told him my fee for all the mileage, work, etc. was $100.00. I thought he was getting a deal at that price.

Oh, well...


----------



## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

afss said:


> Its not free, its an investment. you get the bees, you pay for them with labour, they in turn produce honey for you. its no different than you buying a nuc. you can pay 150 for a nuc (locally, no idea what they go for else where) or you can spend 3-5 hours of your time as sweat equity to get something better than a nuc.


Again wheres the investment?? Come on now, 3 hours labor is = 150 dollars. 2 round trips in gas another 50 dollars. thats 200 dollars. 1 nuc = 100 dollars and 15 min to setup in a hive. that is a no brainer. The investment is in the 100 dollar nuc. 





> Yes they are not free, you are working for them, but its not like they are costing you any more than if you had to obtain the bees from another method. If you want to charge and can thats great, I probably will charge for some of them too.


??? Again, time is money. I don't work for anyone for free. 



> But thats not the point. Like it or not the point is you are NOT working for free, you are working for the bees that you remove,


Ok your paying 200+ dollars labor for a 100 dollars worth of bees. Now i call that bad business practices. 



> they have value, they are worth something and it can be quantified. If you plan to throw out the bees and comb honey etc then yes they have no value but if you hive them and make a colony from them they they have value. If you make cash ontop of that, great, but if you don't you still aren't working for free!


You make absolutely no business sense. 

WHo in their right mind would pay 200 dollars for a 100 dollars worth of product.


----------



## afss (Mar 19, 2009)

wolfpenfarm said:


> Again wheres the investment?? Come on now, 3 hours labor is = 150 dollars. 2 round trips in gas another 50 dollars. thats 200 dollars. 1 nuc = 100 dollars and 15 min to setup in a hive. that is a no brainer. The investment is in the 100 dollar nuc.
> 
> 
> You make absolutely no business sense.
> ...


OK, 3 hours for 150 bucks, 50 bucks an hour, i don't know what you do for a living but it isn't what i do! lets be realistic and say 25 an hour. so 25 an hour for 3 hours is 75 dollars, 50 bucks in gas ok, so now its 125.

a nuc locally costs me 150 and i have to spend 40 in gas to go get it so thats 190 . So for me i am ahead by getting a cut out. so I am in my right mind i would suggest its you expecting to get 50 an hour for labour who is not.

again i don't care if you charge, i think its great but the point is the bees have value. If thats all you get it can be comparable if you set a realistic hourly rate and then figure out how much gas you would need. So you can do the job for no money and still do well.


----------



## wolfpenfarm (Jan 13, 2009)

afss said:


> OK, 3 hours for 150 bucks, 50 bucks an hour, i don't know what you do for a living but it isn't what i do! lets be realistic and say 25 an hour. so 25 an hour for 3 hours is 75 dollars, 50 bucks in gas ok, so now its 125.


Don't sell yourself short. Unless there is a ton of beeks up there that undercut you. lets put it this way, 50 a hour is reasonable rate. No one else is going to go out there and cut out a hive of bees. Your pretty much it. And i have worked long enough to know that 50 a hour is cheap for my time. Like i said don't undersell your time or skill, you have to take that hour of time off your life,so get as much as you can for it.




> a nuc locally costs me 150 and i have to spend 40 in gas to go get it so thats 190 . So for me i am ahead by getting a cut out. so I am in my right mind i would suggest its you expecting to get 50 an hour for labour who is not.


dang, your kidding? 100 here, and they pretty much delivered to me.



> again i don't care if you charge, i think its great but the point is the bees have value. If thats all you get it can be comparable if you set a realistic hourly rate and then figure out how much gas you would need. So you can do the job for no money and still do well.


You know this year i turned away cutouts because they wouldn't pay, and i still barely got all the ones we had lined up done. I suppose i could get more if i didn't charge but where do i get the time to do them? For me it's a no brainer, take 150+ for a cutout plus the bees, plus the tree if its in a tree, or do it for free. hmmm not hard decision to make you know


----------



## afss (Mar 19, 2009)

wolfpenfarm said:


> dang, your kidding? 100 here, and they pretty much delivered to me.


I wish, 150 is a 4 frame nuc in a cardboard nuc container, some charge taxes on that at for me its over an hour each way to get them. Our borders are closed, no bees in so its a captive market if you want them. Having said that i bought 2 nucs to start and have been splitting my own and catching swarms since that. 

I agree no one else is going to provide the service and there aren't a pile of beeks locally but also there are a lot who will just kill the bees and clean up later if faced with a bill.

Down the road as i become busier i will probably charge for it, but for now its helping me grow my yard and learn. I admit its a fair bit of work and time and i suppose as i get to what ever number of hives i decide i want to max out at i too will have better things to do than spend hours trying to to get them out of a wall, not sure i would even attempt a tree.

Don't get me wrong i see where you guys who charge are coming from, my only objection was to me it read as if people were saying there is no real value in the bees themselves and to me because of local costs and because of the survivor genetics there is value to them.

i think we are all on a similar wave length just looking at the situation from different spots on the path depending on your goals for stock numbers and with different economic factors influencing the view.


----------



## NY_BLUES (May 14, 2009)

afss said:


> Yes they are not free, you are working for them, but its not like they are costing you any more than if you had to obtain the bees from another method. If you want to charge and can thats great, I probably will charge for some of them too.


Do about 10 cut outs for free and see how many colonies you have when you are done, I am gonna guess less than 10. Not all colonies will accept your new home for them, some will abscond, and some will just plain die out, no matter what you do. 
Always charge a base fee at least. 

I started out not charging, and now I start at 150, and go up from there. Its not worth it to do a cut out, have time and money into a cut out, for the bees to up and leave the next day.


----------



## beekeeper1756 (Mar 20, 2010)

opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:


----------



## bigbearomaha (Sep 3, 2009)

I notice that most of you saying that the bees are not free because you had to work doing the cutout, transportation, etc.. to get the bees. I also notice almost all of you saying you are getting paid to do this. What are you getting paid for?

You are receiving money to do the work, transportation, etc.. involved in doing the removal aren't you?

Would you receive that money if the bees did not survive the cutout? I am guessing you would.

So, if you were compensated for the related costs of removing the bees, how is it the bees are not free? After you got the money for doing the work, did the customer ask you for money back to buy the bees?

sorry, I don't buy it for a minute. Not only did you get paid to provide a service to a customer, if you got lucky, the bees survived the cutout and those are bees you didn't have to buy. 

Trying to count the work you did that you got paid money for and counting it as cost for the bees is not good math.

but, whatever floats your boat.

as long as more bees are staying alive is what really matters.

Big Bear


----------



## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Any swarm calls we receive from our clubs website, are asked to give a $50 donation to the club. This is our club policy. 
If they can't afford it I take less, & have done it for free. But I always let them know the $50 is requested, not mandatory. Of course I'm a representative of the club when I take a call through them.

Some of our local beeks have told me that they have made $1500-$2000 for cutouts. I think their a little high myself.


----------



## dixiebooks (Jun 21, 2010)

I got a call for a swarm once. The guy wanted me to pay him $20 to take the swarm away and they weren't even on his property. They were in an adjacent right-of-way and resumably came from one of his old dilapidated hives. -james


----------



## EastSideBuzz (Apr 12, 2009)

Bee's are worth 50-70 bucks if they live and dont leave. I think we did 25-30 swarms (that is on the low side) and maybe 10-15 of them turned out to bee good for me. several left some died out etc. Couple people gave us money for our troubles but, I rarely asked. Next year might be different to cut back on the gas and yellow jacket calls. But, it was a learning experience and we are not afraid to get into a tree now to get them.


----------



## Chappie (May 8, 2010)

Most of the posts I read on here seem to come from folks that use bees to make a living or at least a few bucks.
I haven't seen too many that have the passion to do what they can to save our bees and other pollinators. Of course if you are a beekeepers you are doing your part to help save the bees.
That is where I come from. Since I am able to chase bees to do cutouts or swarm captures for free, I stay pretty busy. This year alone I have collected 107 swarms and counting.
Most of the swarms were given to new beekeepers to help them get used to handling bees and practice their skills on finding the queen, eggs, mites, and just learning how to manage a bee hive. I mentor for one year and then I expect them to be on their own.
It has helped many who would not be beekeepers now if they had to spend their hard earned money on bees to get started.
Since starting 4 new bee clubs I have seen them grow and many new beekeepers are hooked on bees and will continue with this facinating hobby or maybe even become commercial beekeepers.
I chalk it up to an investment in our future as us old guys are becoming fewer and fewer. Now with failing eye sight, I need the young and strong folks to take over and help keep the bees alive.
It is nice to know that when I need a strong back to come over and lift a full super of honey from the hives all I need to do is call one of the new beekeepers that are willing to help me more than I have helped them.
Keep it going !! The more you give away the more benefits you recieve.
Have a wonderful beekeeping day, 
Chappie


----------



## queenking (Oct 24, 2007)

ive done about 30 cutouts this year. i still have about 5 to 6 more cutouts to do but im going to wait till next spring to get them. i love my job and i wuoldnt ttrade it for any thing else. im very low on frames that is why im waiting till next spring.


----------



## hemichuck (Oct 27, 2009)

I've picked up a lot of swarms and done a few cutouts and even trapped out or cut down a couple of bee trees.I don't usually charge for swarms but I do charge for cut outs.My son helps me do the cut outs and I usually just let him have the cash and I keep the bees.I am just doing them for the experience and good PR with the people who call.I've sold a lot of honey while picking up swarms.I like the fact that the bees get a chance to live and I feel like I am kind of a spokesman for the importance of saving the honey bees.From a monetary stand point it can get expensive but I've never had a hobby yet that was totally free. I did a cut out for a lady over 50 miles away from my house who had been calling beekeepers for 7 years trying to find someone to get them out.She willingly paid me $850 when I only ask for $500 because she was so happy to get the bees out of her house.I understand why the commercial guys wouldn't do cut outs or pick up swarms because they probably have little time to do so and they can make all the splits they need.But for us small time hobby guys I think they can be a lot of fun and you will defiantly have some good stories to tell at the beekeepers meetings.


----------



## papa bear (Nov 1, 2005)

i had a call from one guy that wanted bees removed and sqawled when i told him that i would charge him 25$ an hour ( about half what i usauly charge) to remove them. he claimed he couldn't afford that since he was poor and as he unloaded his 5 cartons of cigarettes, and four suit cases of beer. to go watch his big screen tv. 
next guy, who restored vintage cars and collected Harley motor cycles. just could not under stand why i would charge. especially since all i had to do was climb up on his roof and take them out.

may the mouse and moth have a feild day 

i have just done two removals in the past two months, that both took me over 10 hours to do. one was a 110 year old 2 story farm house ( the colony went from the basement to the attic). the other was a three story log and structured house, that i had to put up a 8 section scaffolding to get to them. the home owners were glad to pay the fee. i offered if they wanted to keep the bees, i would sale them a hive body and help them with them. they didn't even want to see another bee.

most of the businesses i do has a hourly charge, i could always be doing something else that pays.


----------



## Gene Weitzel (Dec 6, 2005)

Gotta jump in here, I have been doing removals for about 5 or 6 years. There absolutely is no such thing as free bees. Think about the liability you are accepting when you take the responsibility for removing these bees. Also it has been my experience in our area that at best the odds of the bees surviving are about 50-50. Add to that the time and expenses associated and there is no way to justify doing it for free. Assume that they have already been sprayed as the folks will never tell you up front that they tried it and failed. I gotta laugh at the suggestion that $25.00 per hour is a reasonable rate for our services. I charge $100.00 per hour in the bee suit with a 2 hour minimum, no way I would spend 4 or 5 hours in a bee suit in 90+ temperature, covered in bees and honey for $25.00 per hour! Add to all of this that to be a responsible beek, you must quarantine the bees and spend a good deal of extra time to evaluate them for suitability, most the time you end up re-queening and or destroying them in the end. Nucs and packages from a reputable bee supplier is a way better investment for those of you who think removals are "free bees". 

In non AHB areas, swarm collection can be a pretty good source of cheap bees (still not free), but here, they are not much better than a removal, just easier to get. I charge a minimum of $75.00 to collect a swarm, more the further it is from me. I tell the folks that they gotta pay my fee even if the swarm is gone when I get there. I am up front and tell them that the swarm will move on, so many opt to wait it out even when I tell them they the could move on into their house! 

I also gotta say that anyone who does it for free is doing a dis-service to our industry, they just promote this wrong headed thinking and after one or two 12 to 14 hour free removals they just quit doing them all together but the damage is already done as word travels fast that beekeepers will "do it for free".


----------

