Ontario Bee Rescue rolled into City of Kawartha Lakes on Thursday, promoting honey bee education.
Bee Rescue founder Bruce Richardson acknowledges that finding a bee swarm can be a sticky situation.
Bee Rescue, he says, promotes an alternative, connecting worried property owners with local apiarists who will happily take a swarm off their hands, free of charge.
“We try to help people find a local bee keeper, so they don’t go in there and spray them with chemicals,” He says. “They can call a bee keeper and collect them for no charge, and bring them into somewhere where the bees can, you know, grow.”
READ MORE: City of Kawartha Lakes stands up for pollinators
Richardson was hoping to find some local honey producers to add to the list of willing apiarists.
Pontypool-based Gribbees Apiaries signed up moments after meeting Richardson.
Gribbees’ apiarists have rescued about 10 swarms this summer, Olivia Gribbons says.
Each swarm is brought to the apiary where it’s re-hived and left to produce the sweet stuff.
She says swarm rescue is all about saving pollinators, instead of calling in exterminators.
“People don’t really know what’s out there for swarms, they automatically get scared, and they want to get rid of them,” she says.