My passion in life is to save honey bees, raise awareness of how much we need them and how special they are, and to do whatever I can to help them. Part of my passion is helping with live honey bee removals. I was a volunteer with a honey bee charity for four and a half years (I was actually the first volunteer!), where I assisted with countless removals, raised awareness and donations, secured bee hive sponsorships, did a lot of videography and photography (of the removals), updated their website etc.. I resigned 20 August 2022 and have fortunately since then found an amazing bee keeper and bee removal specialist that I can highly recommend for live bee removals. He has helped me with my bees and is the most amazing mentor. His name is Brian Schafer and he is absolutely wonderful- his number is (9 5 4) 6 1 2 – 3 6 6 2- so if you have wild bees that you need removed, call or text him directly. His fees are extremely reasonable (much more reasonable than anyone else I’m aware of) – and Brian is just incredibly knowledgeable, highly trained, incredibly experienced in all manner of removals, proficient in what he does, and super gentle with the bees. I have leaned SO much and seen new techniques, I am so impressed. He is amazingly skilled in the removals he does from all locations, high and low, and I feel so lucky that I know him and am able to help save the bees through him. I have referred several people to him and they have all come back to me with rave reviews on how Brian removed their bees, safely, gently and alive. He has helped me with my own removals (swarms in trees, swarms in swarm cones etc.) – Brian has a couple of apiaries, and will continue to manage and care for any bees, once they have been removed. He just LOVES bees – and I am so lucky I came to know him. SO IF YOU HAVE WILD HONEY BEES THAT YOU NEED REMOVED SAFELY AND ALIVE – LOOK NO FURTHER – CONTACT BRIAN AT 9 5 4 – 6 1 2 – 3 6 6 2. YOU WON’T FIND ANYONE BETTER, ANYWHERE, TO HELP YOU AND THE BEES. Here are some photos of Brian hard at work.
Below, Brian removes Africanized bees – only really experienced bee removal specialists should attempt this.
Brian removes Africanized bees
Below, Brian doing other removals.
Brian and I put this swarm from my swarm cone into a nuc – the amazing thing is, when doing removals, once you’ve caught the queen and put her in the new hive, once the rest of the bees know where she is (smell her pheromone), they will march into the box to join her. You’ll see them start the march! It’s the most incredible sight to see.
Here’s a video of a bee emerging from her cell (some people call it hatching, some people say emerging, but the correct term is ECLOSE) – the bee isn’t a baby bee, it’s a fully grown adult bee, but I still think of it as a baby bee as it has only just begun its life as an actual bee – in this video of a baby worker bee eclosing, she’s unsteady on her feet, a bit bedraggled and unsure of herself. Watch this video from a removal I assisted with. Watch this baby bee eclosing!
I SELL HONEY TOO! IF YOU WANT TO BUY SOME, LET ME KNOW – email me at weloveourbees@gmail.com and if we have recently harvested honey, I’ll let you know. All the honey is untreated, raw and local, from within 3 – 5 miles of the bees’ hives.
ABOUT LIVE BEE REMOVALS
If you have bees somewhere and you want them gone, remember, they’ve done nothing wrong except believe they’ve found a safe home there – insist on a live removal. Do NOT get an exterminator, no matter what.
If you know anyone who has bees and wants them removed, contact a LIVE bee removal specialist. Does not have to be Brian, but it must be someone who is a registered bee keeper, someone who has an apiary somewhere, who will look after
the bees and inspect them regularly.
When calling someone, make sure they’re not just going to exterminate the bees – ask them WHERE THEY WILL KEEP THE BEES – IF THEY SAY THEY DON’T KNOW, OR CANNOT ANSWER THAT QUESTION, THEN THEY DO NOT INTEND TO REMOVE THE BEES ALIVE. BEES NEED A “FOREVER HOME” TO BE MOVED TO.
The cost for extermination vs live removal is very similar, although an exterminator only takes 10 minutes to wipe out up to 100,000 bees, whereas it takes anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours to do a live removal, plus another visit after dark to remove the new hive and take it to their apiary/bee sanctuary,
and then another visit two days later to release the queen – it’s 100 times more work than an exterminator – plus we’re working in bee suits in mid summer, sweltering, sometimes getting stung, hanging upside down from something or squeezing through a tiny hole in a wall somewhere – sometimes needing a contractor and heavy duty equipment to break open a wall, or scaffolding or ladders – it’s not easy. But It is SO WORTH IT! To get them removed alive rather than
killed in a cowardly manner. Recently someone said they were quoted $480 for a live bee removal. The “live bee removal” person showed up, no hive with him, no equipment other than exterminating equipment – when asked where is your equipment, he said “they’re Africanized, very dangerous, must kill them.” The next question was “Well, you showed up without any equipment, how did you KNOW ahead of time that these would be dangerous bees? You couldn’t POSSIBLY have known without seeing the bees and judging their
behavior!” Of course there was no response, it was just a trick
exterminators use frequently to scare the home owner – the home owner sent him packing but was still presented with a bill for $480 for giving an estimate.
Thankfully that person called us, we went and looked at these “dangerous killer bees” which were as sweet and gentle as could be – and we did the removal! SO PLEASE MAKE SURE THE PERSON SHOWS UP WITH A BEE HIVE AND EQUIPMENT TO RELOCATE THE BEES! **AND EVEN IF THEY ARE AFRICAN-DERIVED BEES (more defensive than regular honey bees) – THEY DO NOT NEED TO BE KILLED. THEY MUST BE REMOVED BY A TRAINED SPECIALIST AND THEN THE QUEEN MUST BE SWAPPED OUT AND REPLACED WITH A GENTLE MATED QUEEN, AND SIX WEEKS LATER, ALL THE BEES WILL BE GENTLE***
If someone shows up with a garbage bag, they are not going to be putting those bees into a hive at a later date – they’ll shake the bees into the bag, and exterminate them when out of sight of the home owner. Do not let them do it!
If you have bees living in your wall, coming and going through a tiny hole – WE DO NOT NEED TO BREAK OPEN THE WALL – Brian will do a TRAP-OUT. That means installing a one-way bee exit so the bees leave and can’t find their way back
in – they move into a small hive placed nearby, and then when all the bees are out, Brian will seal up the hole.
WHAT IS INVOLVED WITH LIVE BEE REMOVAL: access
to the bees (which can be difficult enough): Remove the comb with honey, eggs, brood, (an option is to put it into empty frames secured with rubber bands, and put into the new hive so they have some resources, although this can
also transfer any comb defects or hive beetles or wax moths), find the queen and secure her in a queen clip and put her into the hive, then put all bees in there, clean out the area
so no remaining honey is left behind to attract ants/roaches etc. then leave the hive till after dark when foragers are home – that means another trip to the location after dark to take the bee hive to the sanctuary, and then two days later, when they’re all settled, go and release the queen.
It’s very complex when done right – compare us to exterminators that show up, spray for a few minutes, scoop out the bees and toss them in the trash, and that’s it – and exterminators charge a lot of money for this.