Live Bee Removal is term that can be misleading. Depending on who you hire it may not mean what you think it does. You see, technically a live bee removal is when bees are alive during the removal process. It doesn’t necessarily mean the bees will remain alive or be relocated to a safe place. In fact there are some companies who just kill the bees once they have been removed alive. Sometimes it’s because they don’t have a legitimate place to put them. Other times it’s because they don’t want to spend the extra money to transport and care for them.
So what should you look for when you want to have bees removed and also want to ensure that they will survive?
1. Beware of the low ball price. Anyone who quotes less then $150 is an automatic red flag. The lower the price tag, the greater the chance the bees will be killed. Most reputable companies who save the bees charge at least $200. If you research the cost of bee equipment you will quickly understand why less than $150 is unsustainable for a true bee rescue.
2. Make sure the company is insured! Live bee removal is no joke. We’re not dealing with butterflies….we’re dealing with wild, feral bees. If the company and/or the technician is not insured, you become responsible if anyone gets hurt. Please protect yourself, your neighbors, and any pets in the area by hiring insured bee removal professionals.
3. Asking questions is key. How will the bees be removed to ensure they will survive? What types of tools will be used to remove the bees? Where will the bees go and who will take care of them? Ask to video tape or take photos of the removal, if it is safe to do so. If you are unable to videotape from a safe location, see if the technician can capture the removal on camera. True live removals are done using temporary hive boxes and/or specialized live bee removal vacuums. These specialized vacuums are designed to allow the majority of the bees to survive the removal process. Take a look at the video below. It’s a short clip of one of our technicians brushing a bee swarm into a temporary bee box.
Saving bees is a big priority for our Company. Although it’s not always possible to perform a live & humane bee removal, we always try to save the bees whenever possible. We at Bee Best Bee Removal are proud to be a part of the Hive Savers Network and support bee stewardship. I guess it’s fitting that we end this blog post with a great quote from Quentin Alexander, the creator of the Hive Savers Network:
“Every time you look at doing Live Bee Removal, two things happen that you might not understand. Either you’re helping save bees and support stewardship, or you’re hurting bees and professionals caring for them by making it unsustainable.
Some bee removal companies use the marketing aspect of live bee removal to get business but have no intentions of being stewards to them or even keeping them alive. This song and dance leaves a path of destruction which actually hurts the whole movement of bee stewardship.”
