The woman called and said there were a bunch of bees in a Starfruit tree in her back yard. I gave her the standard answer that they would leave between 3 and 5 pm, if they didn’t call back. She called back, when we got there we saw the very small group had built comb and looked like they were planning on staying. We scraped off the comb from the branch and everyone just jumped right in.
The people were very calm when they called. They saw the bees swarm around the rubbish can and thought is was interesting. I wasn’t sure what I would find when I opened it up, but found it was around the rim. That was a surprise, every time I have opened up a rubbish can they have been on the lid. I scooped them into the nuc and waited. They weren’t trying to sting me, they just wanted to get to the queen. After a few minutes most of them were in the box.
The guy said he had bees in his boat. What he didn’t say was that the boat has been sitting since 1996. But he was a good neighbor, he wanted the bees removed because he was afraid his neighbors kids would get stung. We had to cut open the side of the boat. There was lots of brood and very wet honey.
Board of Water Supply calls us for bees in the meter boxes. When we pulled up we saw they had spray painted on the grass so we couldn’t miss the bees. Of course all we had to do was find the meter box and we were in business. We had to park across the street from them and it was a fairly busy street. We got it done and everyone was happy.
The construction company working on the rail called me. They had bees under an office trailer.. When I got there I saw they had taped off the whole trailer. I got under the thing and saw where the bees were. I put them in the nuc, waited a few minutes for most of them to get in the box. It went like clockwork
Honolulu has been working on a rail project. It won’t be done anytime soon. I got a call to remove bees from under an office trailer the construction company uses. Then the next week I got a call from them to remove a hive from a concrete form. For reference my wife is 5′ 2″ so you can see the area where the bees are is WAY up there. I used a lift to get me up to the spot, but the thing kept swaying back and forth. i don’t like heights anyway and that didn’t help. There wasn’t much comb for the amount of bees, but they all came nicely.
It’s funny what people think will make bees leave an area. These people had bees in the water valve box. They didn’t know they had them until they trimmed the trees/bushes in the area. They were able to get the lid up without getting stung. Then they put the stick under the lid so the bees would leave. When they didn’t they called me. It was a small swarm that was starting to make itself home in the box. Once I shook them into the nuc they all left the valve box and came home with me.
We belong to a SciFi club. One of the members called and was almost screaming, “you gotta get over here right now! I have bees in a couch on my lanai.” I got her calmed down, then packed up my stuff and went over. As we were waiting on her to come down and let us in we were talking to the guard. She told us of a woman a few floors down from our friend. The woman found bees in her dresser on the lanai, she decided to vacuum them. She got stung. Then she sprayed the outside with bug spray. The bees left and she was happy. Right after that my friend called and said a “huge” swarm of bees had just come up and gotten into her couch. We had to cut the back of the couch and remove the plywood backing to get to the bees. After we got them, we told her to wait a few days and then she could throw out the old raggedy couch.
The guy called and said he had bees in a guest house, but he would only be here for the weekend. Furthermore he was only available on Sunday, and he had to catch his plane home at 1230 that day. So we started at 8 am and were done before 11 am. That is the fastest we have ever done a job. We also removed a bird nest that was next to the bees.
Working that fast causes problems though. We both got stung several times. If we were to go slower we may not have.
If only the people weren’t going to bbq right next to the bush, they would have never know there were bees in it. They called and said a swarm had just arrived and were hanging out in the bush. They were just firing up the webber right next to the bush. When I got there, they had the webber with flames and smoke about 3 feet from the bees. The bees were going nuts. I asked him to move the grill and the bees calmed down. Even though I was less than 2 feet from the bush I still couldn’t see them. After some trimming I shook them into the nuc, waited for the rest to get in and left. All in all a great swarm catch.