A FERAL bee swarm kept lower Sturt Street a-hummin' on Thursday.
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Backyard Beekeeping Ballarat's Amanda Collins said this spring was already proving a swarm-a-thon with the busy creatures making their presence felt across the region.
Ms Collins said big swarms, like the one found above health shop Go Vita, typically do not move more than 50 metres from the mother hive - and for this one, it remained unclear exactly where the original colony had setup.
She said it was possible this swarm had likely travelled from a feral colony in the centre of large oak trees in Sturt Street or could be in a nearby building structure.
"They need to be boxed. Bees can cause hundreds of dollars of damage when they get into walls and roofs. They can be real problematic," Ms Collins said.
"When you see a swarm, people need to contact a beekeeper straight away. We need to get in early when they're mobile and young but not settled. We can give them a box and they'll either march in or we can shake them in or, if they're on the limb of a branch, sometimes we can lower them in.
"It really depends on the kind of swarm."
Beekeepers can often then domesticate a swarm.
This swarm was safely saved and moved allowing Go Vita and neighbour shops to get back to attracting the business buzz of customers.
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