# I Quit!!!!



## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Have them send a picture and talk to them on the phone when they walk out to confirm.


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## MariahK (Dec 28, 2014)

funny I totally agree, had a few that called and it ended up being a bush in bloom with lots of bee's on it.....


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

MariahK said:


> funny I totally agree, had a few that called and it ended up being a bush in bloom with lots of bee's on it.....


This is amusing, but I was in the same boat last year... wife's co-worker saying he gets a swarm in his bushes every year, and sure enough, they're here again... I go down and it's just his bushes in bloom with lots of bees working them....


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## Dan P (Oct 29, 2014)

I had a call like that at a resort last year. "swarm in bush by door nobody can get inside !! ". So I arrived just bees all over the bush. They asked "What can we do?" I cut the bush down and charged them a $100.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Dan P said:


> I had a call like that at a resort last year. "swarm in bush by door nobody can get inside !! ". So I arrived just bees all over the bush. They asked "What can we do?" I cut the bush down and charged them a $100.


LOL, that is awesome! 

We get so many odd ball and false calls. I had a lady call me last week and said her 19 year old boy was being swarmed while mowing the lawn, first it was thousands of bees, then a few hundred. They actually called a pesticide company and they came out and wouldn't do the work, which I was very happy about. Well it ended up being a handful of honey bees working a wild grape vine on the fence. 

About 99% of the time i can weed out the false calls over the phone by asking key questions. And of course a picture is worth a million words when it comes to beekeeping.

This time of year until Fall is Yellow jacket season, we get about 20-30 calls.


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## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

I got a call a couple weeks ago and it ended up being a bumblebee nest. I know i shouldn't be surprised that people don't know the difference, but...


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

If you're running on wild goose chases you're not doing your homework.

A few weeks ago I got a call from someone saying they had bees coming and going from a trash can. My initial thought was that it was yellow jackets eating on something they threw away. So I pryed a little farther. It was a trash can that had been hidden for the last 8 years in an overgrown garden at her parents house. Interesting now. So I asked a few more questions and asked for a picture. The behavior the caller described sounded to me like scouting behavior, and I told her that. Said that if the bees decide to move in, it will be obvious. I told her that I couldn't come immediately, but could stop by when leaving down that evening and confirm they had a next, and then pick them up a couple days later on my way home as it was on my travel route. So we get done with the call, my hope was the swarm decided to move in eventually, told her I'd call on my way down and see if they were still around. She texted me a few hours later and told me not to bother as the bees had quit using the trash can.

Now... many people would have gone as soon as she called without even trying to confirm that they were honey bees. Many would have been racing down there after getting this picture even maybe:


But unless you like wasting time and gas... you HAVE to ask the right questions or you'll wear yourself out. Like burns357 says... it's yellow jacket season now, but it's also the season when bees start getting "dearthy" and sticking closer to home and people notice that their shed has a pile of bees hanging outside in the evening and "we've never seen them before". I have stopped on many yellow jacket calls, but only if they are a couple minutes deviation from where I am already driving... I have a pretty good idea what's going on before I get there and tell them as much, but if it's a two minute side trip... I figure it's decent PR for bees that someone is willing to at least take a look. After all these people are concerned enough to take the time to call someone they feel can use the bees without spraying them with hornet killer.

You directly control how many false alarms you're a part of...


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