Wheeler's Bee Control and Hive Removal

Tens of thousands of flying bees in a swarm taking off or flying is a very dramatic sight, but usually not a great danger. Since they have little to defend, swarming bees are usually fairly docile (but not always, so don't disturb them). If you can see the edges of wax honeycombs sticking out of the cluster, or if it remains in place for a week or more, it is probably an established colony AND A POSSIBLE PROBLEM. If you see many of them coming and going from the same place (usually a hole that leads to their nest cavity, but sometimes you will just see them flying out of vegetation at one place), they are probably an established colony. Living in a nest made of beeswax combs that they build, and usually but not always inside a cavity. These are the most troublesome problem because they are permanent and the bees are more likely to defend their nest by stinging. We generally advise people to wait several hours if the swarm is out of the way because they may just be there resting and will leave after they catch a breath. To get rid of an established colony it is necessary to do it as soon as possible because the colony will grow quickly building more combs, storing more honey and become more defensive. Unfortunately it is not simple to remove an established colony inside a cavity. Call Wheeler's bee control to remove your bee hive.

Are they honey bees or are they Africanized?
There are a number of insects that people call bees. Some are bees, some are wasps, but many of them are not honey bees.

Are they yellow jacket wasps?

Yellow jackets are about the same size as honey bees, and nest in moderate-sized colonies. They are dark black and bright yellow, with clearly defined black and yellow bands. Honey bees are more brownish, and fuzzier, with less well defined bands graphic

Are they foraging bees, a swarm in transit, or an established colony?

If you just see many bees flying around flowering plants, they are most likely just foragers visiting the flowers for nectar and/or pollen. Foragers can sting, but generally only do so if they are trapped or crushed. There is little that can be done to deter foraging bees except to remove the flowers

Removing Bees in the walls

Bee removal from a wall is probably not something you want to do yourself. We recommend calling a professional. You want to get someone who has the equipment and experience to deal with bees, and do it right. Not all pest control operators will do all that we recommend here, and we think you are asking for trouble if you just have the bees killed and nothing else...

Ways of Getting Rid of Bees

Many insecticides can be used to Control bees, the principal problem is getting the material to the bees inside a cavity, with multiple wax combs forming further barriers to insecticide application. Sometimes holes are drilled in the wall to inject insecticide, sometimes it can be applied through the entrance that the bees use. Note that the use of insecticide will render any honey in the colony inedible.

Removing the nest

If the job ends with Controling the bees, you may have up to 10 pounds of dead bees, several more pounds of developing bee larvae, wax combs and up to 100 or so pounds of honey still inside. The rotting bees can smell pretty bad, and, with no bees to protect them, the combs may melt or fall. If this happens, honey will leak out and can seep out through your wallpaper and baseboards, and even between stories in a house. This is not good, and to avoid it you need to remove the dead bees and the nest. This almost always involves opening up the cavity (i.e. removing siding or wallboard) scraping out the mess, and then repairing the wall.

Do I have to do all that?

If you know for sure that a colony has moved into a cavity within the last 2 days, it will not have built much comb or stored much honey. In this situation you may get away with just killing the bees, hoping they don't smell too much, and carefully closing off all entrances to the cavity. Now what do you have? A wall full of decomposing bees' wax and honey soaked in chemicals. It is always better to do the full job above .If the bees have been in place more than a week you are asking for trouble not to open the cavity to remove the insect. You're just making a bad problem a lot worse if you don't.

Wheeler's Bee Control Orange County, San Diego, & Los Angeles CA. 877-595-2847