Structural removals need to be estimated and a written approval needs to be received from the owner or property management company before work can begin.
Highly unlikely! If bees enter a structure they feel protected and are much less likely to leave than if they are out in the open on a branch on a tree. It is very rare for bees to leave a structure voluntarily once they have entered. If a swarm has invaded your home time is of the essence. Dealing with the problem quickly (before the bees build a hive inside the wall or roof) is much less expensive than waiting and having to open the roof in order to remove the hive.
We do not recommend that. Spraying with water can agitate the bees and they may end up attacking you or others in the surrounding areas instead of leaving. We always try to remove the bees live, and relocate the swarm to a beekeeper or farm.
We get this question often. If bees are entering your home through the fireplace you can block the fireplace with plastic bags and blue painters tape. See our video in our Expertise section of this website for instructions. This measure will only buy you time until a technician can get to you. It only stops the bees from getting inside the home. In order to solve the problem long term the bees need to be removed or eliminated.
It depends! If they just landed there is a chance they may leave. Although its impossible to predict what bees will do, the general rule of thumb is the longer they stay there, the less likely they will leave. Its common for a swarm to leave after an hour of landing on a tree but less likely when they have been there for more than a day. Once they have built a hive they are usually there to stay.
We do not recommend you try to deal with this yourself. Handling bees can be tricky. In addition to he proper suits and equipment, knowledge and expertise are required in order to ensure the safety of people and animals in surrounding areas.
The cost of bee removal varies depending upon a number of factors. There are three main factors that can effect the cost of a job.
1. The first is the length of time the problem has been going on. If you have a swarm it is less expensive to resolve than if you have a hive. A swarm is a collection of bees that has just landed and is looking to build a hive. A fully established hive can be built in only a couple weeks, so fixing the problem quickly (before the swarm has built a hive) is much less expensive than if a hive has already been established.
2. The second factor that influences the price of a job is where the bees or hive is located. Is it in a tree at eye level that is easy to get to? Or is it 25 feet up in a palm tree? Does it require a ladder? Is it on a hillside or up a steep slope? Do you need to crawl under a structure to get to it? Do you need a boom lift or heavy equipment to reach it? All of these factors dictate the difficulty and price of the job.
3. The third main factor is what materials and tools will be needed to remove the hive? Is the hive in a 3nd story wood shingle roof or a single story Spanish tile roof? Are the bees inside an irrigation box in the ground where the lid can be lifted easily? Or are they inside a concrete wall that needs to be demolished in order to get to the hive? Are the bees in a stucco wall, a wood wall, or a type of wall that has special masonry? All of these examples can effect the cost of the hive removal.
A small portion of the bees we remove live are relocated to beekeeper hobbyists in San Diego. Now that the laws have relaxed for backyard beekeeping, bee enthusiasts are able to manage up to two hive boxes on their property if they meet certain requirements. We also donate bees to Small farms in east county which helps aid the pollination of their crops. Most of our bees are donated to Hive Savers which is a Southern California co-op network dedicated to saving the bees.
We always try to remove bee swarms live. The following list are attributes of a bee problem that allow us to remove the bees in a humane way.
1. The bees are not aggressive and in swarm or early hive formation.
2. The bees are easily accessible and are clustered out in the open and not inside a structure.
3. We are able to place them with a beekeeper in our Best Bee Network.
From observed aggressive behavior and through DNA testing. Further, 60% of local swarms or hives have been Africanized in San Diego County.
Bees will hive in anything that has volume/space protected from the elements. This can include abandoned cars, walls, roofs, old wood, furniture, birdhouses, doghouses, cardboard boxes, etc. After extraction, straggler bees may remain up to one week.
