Keep clear of the flight path
Don't spray or poke at them, and keep children and pets away. If a stung person has noisy breathing, a swollen tongue or throat, or feels dizzy, call 000. Scrape a bee sting out with a fingernail or the edge of a card rather than pulling it, which can squeeze the venom sac.
Swarm or hive?
A swarm is a cluster of bees around their queen, resting while scouts look for a new home. The ACT Government says a settled swarm is usually calm and will move on by itself within a few days if it's left alone.
A hive is different: bees on a regular route in and out of the same gap, day after day. The ACT Government says hives are usually in tree hollows, or in the wall and roof cavities of houses. Unlike a swarm, a hive inside a wall isn't passing through.
Bees in the ACT
August to December
Bees in Canberra generally swarm between August and December, the ACT Government says, so spring is when the calls come.
Private land: a swarm collector
For a swarm on private property, the ACT Government's advice is to call a swarm collector, a beekeeper who will take the bees for a hive.
ACT Government land
For a swarm in a park or other ACT Government land, lodge the European Wasp, Ants or Bees Report form and contact Access Canberra with the reference code.
Every hive is registered
All ACT beekeepers, commercial or not, must register their hives under the Biosecurity Regulation 2025, and honey bees may only be kept in frame hives. Registration lasts 3 years.
Varroa must be reported
Varroa mite is a notifiable biosecurity matter in the ACT. Anyone who knows or suspects a hive is infected must tell the ACT Government, through the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline or ACT Biosecurity.
If bees have moved into the house
Find the gap from inside
Watch through a window to see exactly where they go in, and when they're busiest.
Leave the entrance open
Don't block or seal it yourself; the technician needs to see the colony's way in and out.
Ask what happens to the comb
Ask how the business will deal with the comb left behind, and whether a builder will need to open the wall.
Tell us where
Tap Bees and describe the gap: under the eaves, a wall vent, the chimney, or between bricks.
Our take on bee removal in Canberra
A swarm in the open: give it a few days, or ring a swarm collector. Bees that have used the same gap in your wall for more than a couple of days: that's the job to pass on, so tap Bees with where the gap is.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
