Identifying bees: Honey bees are golden, brown, or even gray in appearance and they are furry with stripes on their abdomen. Yellow Jackets are soimes mistaken for honeybees. Yellow jackets are yellow and have no fur.

If you see a honey bee swarm, DO NOT PANIIC! This is not a dangerous situation; it is simply the natural way colonies of honey bees reproduce. Bees are very gentle at this time and even though you may feel threatened, bees almost never sting during the swarming process. Please do not spray them with pesticides or attempt to harm them in any way. Honey bees are valuable pollinators and they are necessary to insure our food supply. Many local beekeepers will remove them for free and give them a good home. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do not wait to call a beekeeper as the swarm may leave on its own very soon.

 Swarming is honey bee colonies' natural means of reproduction. In the process of swarming the original single colony reproduces to two colonies.  The reproduction swarm settles usually a short distance away from the parent colony.  This is usually a spring occurrence but swarms can happen anytime during warm weather. Honey Bee swarms are a large brown mass and can be located on a tree branch, a bush, the side of a building, a car, or just about any place else.

Please text (preferred) or call Larry Fritz at 410-804-7652. Please include pictures of the swarm if possible. Also some helpful information will be its location, height and approximate size (softball, football or basketball).

Our members harvest some of the best tasting honey in the region (in our humble opinion). Please stop by our booths at local events or send us an email to purchase local honey from our club members.

CarrollBeekeepers@gmail.com

For additional information about the purchase of CCBA member-produced nucs, please visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1291qFP8yNtMmWEjJ73L2nZMP94Xnz1q3wgYwloJqF-8/edit?usp=sharing