Hi,
 
My bees are really working this season and have multiplied from 2
overwintered hives to10 hives thanks to swarm control
 
I make my living as a chiropractor and take 2 hr lunch breaks to catch
swarms.  It appears that most swarms occur during the midday, just like
clock work.  To help in contacting me, I now have a pager with numbers at
the police, fire, animal control and Ag Departments.   A Pageer is very
handy in getting to a swarm in quick time.
 
For example, today I had 3 calls.
 
One was to get a small fist size cluster of bees let over from an early
beekeeper's attempt to remove a large swarm. Kids had been throwing stones
at this cluster of leftovers and the neighbors didn't want anyone getting
stung.
 
The second event was a 911 call with bees in a house.  I arrived at the
scence to find the 2 officers had blocked off part of the street.  YOu
would have thought the SWAT team would be arriving at any moment.  :)
Apparently a neighbor had seen a large number of bees trying to move into a
washer/dryer vent opening and called 911.  I explained to the onlookers
that this was not a swarm but these bees were probably a number of scouts
deciding if this house was to be their permanent home.  A vacuum cleaner
cleaned up the bees that had gotten inside on the windows.  I even had a
chance to hold an informal beekeeping Q & A from the officers and onlookers
as well as hand out a few cards to let them know that I was a chiropractor.
I did not charge for this house call, considered it part of community
service.
 
The last call today was to Kenny Loggin's house to check out some bees in
one of his oak trees. I think I'll try to see if he is interested in doing
a song on bees.  :)
 
Hmmm.. wonder how my life will be once the AHB gets to Santa Barbara, CA???
 
Paul Cronshaw DC
Cyberchiro and Swarm Control
Santa Barbara, CA