When most homeowners discover a bee swarm on their property, they call a pest control company. That's the obvious move — the company shows up, sprays, charges $150 to $500, and the bees die. Thousands of colonies are exterminated this way every year in California alone, including colonies that could have been relocated and thriving within weeks.
We built our free removal program to interrupt that default. The model is simple: we show up at no charge, collect the colony, and deliver it to a partner apiary. The homeowner's problem is solved. The bees live.
Why Do Most Homeowners Call Exterminators?
Cost is the primary reason people call exterminators instead of bee removal specialists. Bee-friendly removal has historically required either finding a beekeeper willing to do it for free as a favor, or paying a removal specialist — sometimes more than pest control. That gap kills bees by the millions.
The secondary issue is awareness. Most people don't know that free removal is an option. They don't know that a swarm is not aggressive. They don't know that a healthy colony of 15,000 to 30,000 bees has significant conservation value. They just see something alarming on their fence and call someone to deal with it. We can't fault them for that — but we can make the better option easier to access.
How Does Our Free Removal Program Work?
The Bee Conservatory operates on donor support. Our removal program is funded almost entirely by contributions from community members who care about pollinator health. That funding covers our field team's time and equipment — protective gear, collection boxes, vehicle costs — and allows us to offer removal at zero cost to property owners.
- We respond to swarm reports within 24 hours for active swarms in Sacramento County.
- Our field team assesses the situation on arrival and determines the best collection approach.
- Accessible swarms (hanging freely from a branch or structure) are typically collected in 20 to 30 minutes.
- Established wall void colonies require more time and coordination but we handle those as well.
- Every colony we collect is transported to a vetted partner apiary.
What Happens to Bees After They Are Removed?
Swarms collected in spring — our peak season — go to partner apiaries as nucleus colonies. A nucleus colony, or "nuc," is a small starter colony in a 5-frame box. Beekeepers establish these in full-size hives, where a healthy spring swarm has the entire season to build population and winter stores. Most become strong, self-sustaining colonies.
We currently partner with seven apiaries in Sacramento and Placer counties. Some are hobbyist beekeepers who manage a handful of hives; others are small-scale honey producers. All commit to natural or integrated pest management practices and report back to us on colony outcomes. In our most recent season, 71% of relocated colonies were still active six months after placement.
“Every colony we place is one that would have been sprayed. When I watch a swarm settle into a new hive, that's not abstract conservation — that's a tangible win.”
What Is the Ripple Effect of Saving One Colony?
A single healthy honeybee colony forages over a roughly 3-mile radius. A colony of 50,000 workers can visit 50 million flowers in a single day. The pollination contribution of one saved colony, across a full season, is not a small number — it affects every garden, fruit tree, and wildflower in a large swath of neighborhood.
Beyond pollination, each saved colony is one more data point in the recovery of managed bee populations that have been declining for decades. The aggregate effect of programs like ours — across dozens of similar organizations in California alone — represents a real, measurable counterweight to colony loss.
How Can You Support Free Bee Removal?
The free removal program runs on donations. A $50 contribution covers the direct cost of one swarm collection — fuel, time, and equipment. A $200 donation funds four collections. We are a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are tax-deductible.
You can also help by spreading the word. When a neighbor mentions a bee problem, tell them to call us before calling pest control. That referral costs nothing and might save a colony that would otherwise be exterminated.
See a swarm? We respond the same day for active swarms. Want to keep this program running? Every dollar goes directly to field operations.
Report a Swarm