Beekeeper Best Management Practices [BMPs] | June
Beekeeper Best Management Practices [BMPs] | April
Bee Nest Removal Fails!
NONE OF THESE Videos are us ! !
Bee Nest Removal epic fails…and great examples of the dangers of being an inexperienced Beekeeper…and why you need to be certain they are insured when they come on your property and that they know what they are doing.
Maybe try a ladder next time?
Just because someone has a bee suit or veil or smoker DOES NOT mean they know what they are doing! Make sure your beekeeper has experience removing bees !
Q. Is it Illegal to Kill Honey Bees?
No, it is not illegal to kill honey bees.
However, it is considered bad practice to arbitrarily kill honey bees without at least making an effort to save them.
If people or property are in danger that is one thing.
Most of the time; however, the bees can be removed live without damaging the property or hurting anyone.
We have seen very few cases where we would recommend having a pest control company come and exterminate the bees.
Reputable pest control companies will first do everything they can to save honey bees before resorting to extermination.
Killing honey bees is often just a quick fix that doesn’t solve the problem and costs more in the long run.
Have a Question about Honey Bees or Bee Removals?
Simply send us your bee hive removal question and we will post the answer here as a blog post 🙂
Top 2 | The Worst Bee Hive Removal Advice
Number 1 on the list has to be to just “plug up the hole” or “fill-a-foam the hole” that the bees are going in and out of
There is a big misconception out there. That if bees are entering a building via a hole or vent, you should just plug up that hole. This bad advice thinks it will prevent more bees from entering the structure. We can’t stress enough how WRONG this advice is.
Why doesn’t this work?
A bee colony consists of thousands of bees. The bees only spend the latter quarter to third of their lives actually going in and out of the hive. They spend the majority of the time inside. Plugging up the hole will only prevent the 40% of the colony from coming back inside to the colony. This is also why you tend to see a lot more bees towards late afternoon. By plugging the hole, instead of encouraging the bees to leave, it often PREVENTS the bees from getting out! So now, the thousands of bees inside will chew their way back out. Often flooding the interior of the home via the vents or canned lighting. Yes, they can chew through fill-a-foam and a lot of other materials and will find a way back out! This is how a bee problem quickly turns into a bee emergency!
Number 2 on the list has to be to just spray the bees nest
Doesn’t matter if it’s water or insecticide, you’ll only annoy the bees. This will cause the guard bees to come after you. It’s the best way to get stung and stung often.
Why doesn’t this work?
Partly, the answer is the same as the first one. The majority of the bees are not near the outside nor near entrance of the bees nest. You are only reaching maybe 20% of the colony by spraying them. There are still thousands of bees inside. Not the mention the larvae and pupae waiting to hatch out. It takes weeks for all the bees to hatch from inside the comb. IF you don’t remove it, the next swarm of bees will take it’s place. You should always have the bees and the comb fully removed whenever possible. If there is existing comb inside a cavity , the next bees will simply grow larger faster with each reoccurring group of bees until you remove the bees nest completely.
Beekeeper Best Management Practices [BMPs] | March
Q. How Many Times do Beekeepers and Bee Hive Removal Specialists get stung by Bees?
Getting stung by bees kind of goes with the territory when beekeeping and doing bee removal work.
Even when wearing protective bee equipment, it is still hard to avoid being stung when you work around tens of thousands of bees every day.
Tim’s has been stung more times than he can count: hundreds of times every bee season.
What to do when you get stung by a honey bee?
You want to use your fingernail or a credit card to “scrape” the stinger out as soon as possible.
The stinger has a muscle and venom sac attached. The longer it is in your skin, the more venom is injected.
Never grab it or use tweezers – this will only inject more venom from the attached venom sac by squeezing it’s contents into the skin.
How to know if you are allergic?
Beekeeper Best Management Practices [BMPs] | February
Q. I think I have Africanized “killer” bees at my house. What should I do?
Don’t panic and do your best to not disturb the bees. Sudden movements and banging on their home is sure to stir them up. They are attracted to sweat and carbon dioxide (our exhale). The best thing to do would be to call a professional bee hive removalcompany asap and keep a safe distance.
For the most part, Africanized bees do exist in all over Florida. Most of the honey bee colonies we remove are typically your average honey bee colony with some africanized traits. They are not African “Killer” Bees. Every once in a while however, we do come across some honey bees that is so mean that they are hard to work. For these jobs, one must stay completely covered up in protective gear until leaving the job site and keep everyone else inside.
A more defensive honey bee colony doesn’t necessarily mean it is Africanized. The temperament of the colony is determined by the queen’s genetics and size of the colony. Some breeds are more defensive than others, such as Russian bees. This problem is something that can be remedied. After removing and relocating a bee hive, the temperament of the colony can be changed by simply replacing the queen with a queen of more gentle genetic stock.
States that have seen the most incidents of Africanized honey bees are Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. Although the Africanized bees can be a concern, the media has hyped them up a bit in their usual fashion. That having been said, our advice is to be cautious around any kind of bees nest.
If you are being stung by bees, the best response is to run away covering your nose and eyes until they stop chasing you or to go inside as quickly as possible. If you run into a car, do not get out again even if you have a few bees in the car. Also, do not to jump into a body of water, as the bees can still be waiting for you when you come up for air.
Beekeeper Best Management Practices [BMPs] | January
