Dealing with bees can pose quite a challenge. However, the task becomes relatively easy when you know what to do. First is you have to understand what you are dealing with, you have to make sure that it is indeed bees and not wasps or hornets. Let's focus on bee removal.
Bees are known to be important pollinators and are not aggressive or dangerous. Unless you or someone in your family is allergic to them, there is no need to kill bees. Identifying a bee is easy. You can simply examine their appearance. Bees have hairs on their body as contrary to wasps that have smooth exteriors.
Take a look at the nest too. Honey bees use wax to build their nests in a honeycomb formation. Whereas wasps and other insects use wood fiber or mud in constructing their nests. Honey bees are also active during the spring season as this is the time when they are collecting pollen. Observe if they are flying back and forth from the nest.
Once you are 100 percent sure that you are indeed dealing with bees, you can call a local beekeeper for assistance. Here are the tasks that local beekeepers usually perform:
- They physically remove bees and their hive without exterminating the subject. Some beekeepers do this for free but some also charge a certain amount. This will all depend on the location of the nest and the actions taken to complete the job.
- They will cut out the honeycombs with the brood inside and place them in frames. The beekeeper will later transfer them to his or her own hive box.
- They will use a special kind of vacuum to suck up the bees without killing them if the nest is difficult to reach.
- If the nest is located behind the wall, you may need to call a contractor to knock down a portion of the wall to give the beekeeper access to the hive. You will need to cover all the expenses included in the process.
- The bees are likely to become agitated as the beekeeper is working on the job. So it is highly advised that you keep your family, especially the children, out of sight until the job is completed. The beekeepers are protected by the beekeeping suit.
In cases where the local beekeeper is unable to remove the nest, you should contact an exterminator for bee removal. Professional exterminators will kill the bees before removing their nest, a challenging task which may also cost you a hefty fee. They usually make use of pesticides to get the job done. Keep in mind that this process only gets rid of the bees on the surface, new pupa may emerge after a few days. This is why you will need to make two or three more appointments with the exterminator. There are also times that exterminators will only kill the bees and not remove their nest. This may cause a wall cavity which could potentially lead to serious damage to your wall.