# $1000 Bee removal?



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

was watching Pitbulls and Parolees and the episode where they have bees clustering on the house, they had a bee keeper come out to see how much it would cost to get them removed, his esemate was over $1000, is that what you guys charge?


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## BjornBee (Jan 17, 2011)

No, that is not what I charge. Of course , I'm not from California. :grin:

If you notice, it took three beekeepers to do an hours worth of work. Must be union.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

yeah i noticed that, at first i thought it might be africanized bees but that was a large swarm and so far all i have heard of the africanized is they stay in smaller sized swarms, but who knows,


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## sticky_burr (Dec 10, 2010)

very dangerous work getting free bees


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

I don't charge for swarms but I'm pretty selective about what I will go out and take a look at. I ask lots of questions because I would get too many calls that turned out to be wasps or yellow jackets when it involved a structure. I won't go after anything involving a structure.

About all we will go after is a swarm in a bush or not too far up a tree. 

Even being this restrictive we still get 3-5 swarm calls per year that we go out on.

Mike


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## ChristopherReed (Jan 21, 2011)

Wow, 1000 bucks! Even if they were africanized I couldnt see charging that. Africanized can still be pretty docile while in a swarm (since they dont have any stores to protect) But if they were Hot, I would just spray them with either. I understand that A. people didnt ask for the bees to be there, B. I want the bees. So I try to be really really fair when getting them. I dont mind opening up drywall or an area fairly easy to get to, but I dont remove/damage floors or anything important. Yet i inform the home owners that the bees if they are poisoned and killed cant take care of the stored honey/comb and the can expect some fun problems from that. I also take some wire 1 way exits with me, so if its a hive I cant get to and the people do have a problem with them being there, then slowly they will leave, and not be able to return and the nurse bees/queen will burn up the last of the store's before it dies out. 

1000 bucks... wow..


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

BjornBee said:


> No, that is not what I charge. Of course , I'm not from California. :grin:
> 
> If you notice, it took three beekeepers to do an hours worth of work. Must be union.


LOL

And to think we just buy a six dollar can of beebopper when we have a bee issue. We had them build in the walls of the house behind the rose trellis one year. It was only six dollars to get rid of them. Another year they had swarmed near the hibiscus. I think back then it was only about four dollars for a can. But prices increased, of course.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Like the appliance repair people we charge a $25.00 service call even on some swarm calls.
I have a whole list of questions I ask when I recieve the call so I can some times determin if it is bees or yellow jackets and last year bald faced hornets.

What promped the service call is one lady called and said the bees were in a Y of a tree 5 feet up. When we got there which took 45 miniutes thru a construction zone and a bunch of fuel the bees were over 12 feet up and wasn't a swarm at all but bees that had made a home inside of the tree where the entrance was in the Y of the tree. 

Another time the bees were supposedely building comb under the eves 18 feet up. When we got there it was the wasp that build the pancake type hanging comb and were over 35 feet up in the gable of the house.

With fuel costing so much you just have to charge a service call to cover the expence of the false calls. 

If it is indeed a swarm we usally wave the fee.

We also do estmates on doing removals after seeing what we will be working with. We no longer remove from homes and refur them to a fellow we know that does them.



 Al


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## stormwalker (Oct 27, 2004)

It seems I've been fortunate! I've had two occasions to ask for help in removing a swarm. no charge on either, and I was educated as well!


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## ejagno (Jan 2, 2008)

Apparently I haven't been as lucky. I've had to completely dismantle about 30' of exterior wall to get a huge hive removed. I called beekeepers, ag center and pest control companies and it was going to cost me well over a grand for them to do it. The hive is back so now we are faced with having to repeat this process yet again on the same wall. They are getting in through the plumbing.


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## BjornBee (Jan 17, 2011)

Just to be clear for everyone....we are talking about two different things. One is swarm removal, and the other an extraction. 

Swarms are generally easy and for many beekeepers, they perform the service for free or a minimal amount.

An extraction is the removal of an established colony (bees, wax, brood, etc.) that may take many several hours or even a couple days. Not taking out the colony properly, leaves behind perhaps hundreds of pounds of honey resulting in damage for years to come to the homes structure from ants, roaches, etc.

The 1000 dollar fee originally mentioned to start this thread ended up being for the removal of a piece of wood perhaps 1x4x10 and the sucking up of some bees. Which for most beekeepers, and I agree, seems extreme in cost. Although I think the beekeeper could not of known what was really involved in qouting the estimate in the first place. So looking at the bees on the outside he probably figured the entire wall was filled with bees. Which was not the case. Hopefully he cut the homeowner some slack in the final bill.


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## ChristopherReed (Jan 21, 2011)

Quoting a 1000 dollars will force a homeowner to just kill them, or call somebody else. Not good for the beekeeper, Beekeepers in general, or the Bees. Just my opinion.


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## BjornBee (Jan 17, 2011)

ChristopherReed said:


> Quoting a 1000 dollars will force a homeowner to just kill them, or call somebody else. Not good for the beekeeper, Beekeepers in general, or the Bees. Just my opinion.


I agree! This was something I would of rather not had on television. While I think some probably think it was good for business in setting the bar high in the publics eye, I also the public will be just as motivated to kill them or find other ways to not pay 1000 dollars if they think that will be the bill.

As beekeepers, we love bees. But the general public feels a bit less motivated to save every bee or get emotional over the death of a colony.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

In 90% of our removals or swarm captures the person calling had ties in some way to bee keeping. With my very first all alone swarm capture the land owner had worked for a bee keeper while going to college. In another case it was a bee keepers who didn't want any more colonies. I've had land owners get mad because I would not tell them how to kill the honey bees in their house.

I simpley am not in the bussness of advising people how to kill insects of any kind any more than I am to advise people to use herbisides to get rid of weeds ithe garden they don't care for.

 Al


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## agr8day (Sep 14, 2009)

If it had been just removal of a swarm, that would have been excessive. In this case, it looked as if the bees had a colony inside the structure that went unnoticed until the colony swarmed preparatory to moving to a new location. A swarm doesn't build honeycomb when it is in the process of moving, but waits until it is settled into it's new location. The beekeeper presented the lady with a nice-sized comb. They also removed siding and replaced it. I can see a thousand dollar bill being involved. now that my DH and I are older and have to call in repairmen for jobs we used to handle ourselves, we find the cost of labor staggering.8-(


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## Delicate (Jan 25, 2011)

That's Southern California for ya. Keep in mind this show is set near LA - where people will pay $5 for a sharp-lookin' bottle of tap water.

I'm with agr8day though. It seems like the charge (though exorbitant, in my humble opinion) was more for removing the whole hive and the labor and work on the outbuilding than for simple bee removal.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

*"A swarm doesn't build honeycomb when it is in the process of moving, but waits until it is settled into it's new location". *

This swarm had only been there for 3 days the lady told us.




























Another time a lady called as she watched a huge swarm circleing around in the air in her back yard and saw them light in a tree beside the road. We got there with in a hour to get them yet they had already started waxing the tree limb and the green top on my catch bucket looked like I had dropped it in the snow.

So I do not agree at all they will not build wax till they are settlerd in to the new home. So times they do some times they don't, What ever trips their trigger at the time.

 Al


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## ChristopherReed (Jan 21, 2011)

alleyyooper said:


> *"A swarm doesn't build honeycomb when it is in the process of moving, but waits until it is settled into it's new location". *
> 
> Another time a lady called as she watched a huge swarm circleing around in the air in her back yard and saw them light in a tree beside the road. We got there with in a hour to get them yet they had already started waxing the tree limb and the green top on my catch bucket looked like I had dropped it in the snow.
> 
> ...


Swarms are so loaded with wax and food when they leave they are dying to unload. I've seen it quite a bit myself.


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## Firefly (Dec 7, 2005)

By any chance is there a way to attract a swarm to your yard? I'd _love_ to have some bees settle here!

BTW, I'm in central New England and my yard has lots of flowers and a vegetable garden. My first year here there were quite a few honeybees, but in the past four or five years not a single one. Thousands of bumble bees, but recently I read they are in trouble now too. No bats since the first summer, either.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

First thing is you need a good health bee colony in the area that will swarm. You can buy a swarm trap from many of the bee supply companys like W.T Kelly, Mann Lake, Brushy Mountian and others. Once you have them in the trap you need to have a home ready for them as the swarm traps are not ment to be the full time home.

 Al


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## BjornBee (Jan 17, 2011)

Firefly,
I lost half my bat nursery this past summer. I has experts come out and take samples, but nothing concrete yet. 

You can also use old hive bodies, cardboard boxes, and just about anything with the right volume for honey bee traps. Some old comb, lemongrass oil, or a purchased swarm lure, are all effective. I personally use anything I can before I would ever consider buying costly traps from bee supply places that only last a few seasons.


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## Firefly (Dec 7, 2005)

I guess it was a dumb question because like I said, there are no bees. A few hives a mile or so away but I assume the keeper keeps or sells them. I don't eat honey, I just like bees and would be thrilled to give some wild bees a safe haven. So sad what is happening to them and the bats. I'm really sorry about your bats, Bjorn.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

If there are bee colonies a mile away there is a good chance of catching a swarm with a trap.

 Al


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