Bees

Fairhills High School would like to give a special thank you to Holly Hale from ‘Holly’s Backyard Bees’ for recently coming to our school to remove three clusters of bees from the school grounds. Holly attended the school on 30 September, 7 and 9 October to relocate the bees to a bee-friendly location where they can start a new hive.

Fairhills High School community thanks you. 

Information on Bees

Swarming is the bees’ natural way of reproducing themselves.  This usually happens in spring as the colony grows in size and food sources become more plentiful.  The worker bees will prepare new queen cells in preparation for swarming, and when the timing is right the old queen leaves with about half of the workers, after having gorged on honey before the flight.  This cluster of bees will often land in a nearby tree or shrub (as they did in this case), on the side of a house or fence posts, while scout bees go out in search for a new home.

It is important that we look after these important pollinators by collecting and rehoming swarms as soon as possible, as otherwise they can take up residence in unwanted places such as cavities in your house walls, compost bins,  possum and bird boxes or anywhere else that they decide is warm, dry, and roomy enough for their colony.  Removing an established colony from an area like this is a much more involved and costly endeavor! 

Thankfully, we were able to collect this lovely swarm from the shrub at Fairhills before they had moved on and were able to relocate them to recover and establish a new hive at Holly's place in the Yarra Valley. Holly checked the progress of the bees over the weekend and they have dried off nicely after being caught in the nasty wet weather and are doing very well.

If you notice a swarm or have one land in your garden, please contact a beekeeper to remove them rather than a pest controller.  Holly from Holly's Backyard Bees is able to assist with such things and info can be found on her website at http://www.hollysbackyardbees.com.au/