Bee removal calls have far exceeded the amount of time we have to do them in the past couple of years, so in 2012 we are going to reduce our service area to only the North Beach.  In addition, we are no longer removing wasps or bumble bees.

Before calling, please read our Bee Removal Checklist.

What we remove

Our main focus is the live removal of honey bees.

If you have wasps, the man you want to talk to first is Mike Juhl of Bee Man Exterminators in Olympia.  He removes wasps for venom collection.  His web site is http://hornetnestsfreeremoval.com/.  Otherwise, conventional pest control companies are usually happy to take your business and remove them.

Take a look at Swarm Removal’s Bee ID page for bee and wasp ID photos. 

Seasonality

To everything there is a season and bee removal is no exception.  Honey bees only have a value to a beekeeper when they will survive the winter and produce honey.  Honey bee removal must be completed before July 15th to give the bees a chance in this area.  Therefore, we will not perform bee removals after July 15th.

What we remove       Removal from structures       Removal from Trees       Fees

When honey bees move into the wall or roof of a building, they proceed to set up a hive and go about normal bee business, which includes creating a great deal of honey comb and producing more bees.  It is usually not sufficient to kill the bees with pesticides, trap them out, or seal up the entrance, because there may be more than one hundred pounds of material in a mature hive.  Once the bees die, it will then proceed to rot, leak, mold, and attract vermin, such as ants and rodents.

So, what do you do when you have bees in your walls?  You will quickly find that most pest control companies don’t like to remove bees and most contractors don’t like to get stung.  That is probably why you are here; because the only person left to try is a beekeeper.  We will remove the bees, doing the minimum damage possible in the process, after which you can repair the damage or have it professionally repaired without fear of being stung.

No pesticides are involved in this process, because the goal, in addition to getting the bees out of your house, is to walk away with a living, productive bee hive.  The bees and hive materials are removed by hand, a comb at a time, and framed up in an artificial hive, ready to take home to our apiary.  We remove bees; we don’t kill them.

To remove a hive in a wall or roof, it is generally necessary to cut a hole for access and then remove the bees and comb by hand.  This means that we must damage your wall or roof to remove the bees.  We do our best to minimize the damage by first drilling some holes to determine the extent of the hive and then cutting the smallest hole possible.  In a very young hive, the hole might only have to be 1 foot by 1 foot.  In a very old hive, it is possible the bees will have filled the stud space from floor to ceiling, requiring a hole 16 inches wide and eight feet tall. 

We do not cut any structural members. This means that if the bees have found a way to get where we can't reach them without cutting a stud or a joist, we will stop the removal.  If you wish to bring in a carpenter to supervise and instruct how we can cut the structural member and continue the removal, we will be happy to do so at that point.

We do not repair the damage done in the process of removing the bees.  We remove the bees and all the hive material.  We thoroughly clean the cavity produced by the removal and fill it with expanding foam insulation so the bees cannot return.  That’s it.  Replacing siding, soffits, drywall, or whatever else is removed is up to you.  We can recommend contractors that we have worked with to complete the repairs.

You should expect a cloud of confused and angry bees for the duration of the removal.  Animals, children, curious neighbors, and anyone else who would not like to be stung should stay at least 100 feet away.  However, even this does not guarantee no stings.  You could be 1000 feet away and a bee from a hive someplace else might sneak up behind you and sting you.  When bees are located too close to public spaces that cannot be controlled, we will decline to remove them.

We will generally attempt to remove the bees from the outside of the structure.  In some cases, this is not possible and they must be removed from the inside.  This may occur, for example, if bees get into the joist space between floors.   If we do the removal from the inside, there will be a cloud of angry bees in the house.  We will seal off all rooms other than the one we are working in with plastic and will attempt to remove all bees from that room before leaving, but we are bound to miss some.  Some may get past the plastic and hide in your pantry, or your bathroom, or your bed.  You will find straggler bees for a few days.

While we remove the hive, some bees will be out foraging and some will fly about in alarm.  We can't catch flying bees, so they will return later and will be confused because the hive is gone.  They may ball up where the entrance used to be.  Depending on the size of the hive, we may need to return each day for several days to remove these stragglers.

Within a week, we will have removed all the stragglers, the old hive site will be empty and it will be time to put your house back together, minus the thousands of stow-aways.

If we’re lucky, we take home a healthy hive of bees.  The survival rate for bees that have been removed this way is a bit less than 50%.

Honey bee removal from trees

Honey bee removal from structures