Collecting swarms has a fascination all of its own, many beekeepers love it. For non-beekeepers here are a few things to remember:

• Swarm collectors are beekeepers, not steeplejacks, chimneysweeps, builders, or superheroes.
• All bees, even a beekeeper's bees, are wild.
• Once out of a beekeeper's sight they are feral, and belong to whoever wants them.
• Swarms have no home or young to defend, and are benign but not defenseless.
• Beekeepers collect honeybees; not wasps, not bumblebees, and not solitary bees.
• As a rule of thumb, honeybees are counted in 10,000's, wasps in 1,000's, bumblebees in 100's and solitary bees in 10's.
• Swarm collecting costs money, some beekeepers will charge, some don't. Blackhorse does.
• A honeybee swarm generally knows where it's going, and is often attracted to old equipment.
• Honeybees nest in large cavities, not in the open, or in the ground. If you can see a large cluster of bees, they're just resting.
• Help preserve honeybees, without them we couldn't feed ourselves.