Bee Removal

Bees on Your Property?

Because of the still expanding presence of Africanized honey bees in Florida, it is now state recommendation that all bee colonies in and around homes be eradicated by a certified Pest Control Operator (PCO). Recent inspections in South Florida revealed that 70 - 90% of wild bee colonies are now Africanized. Approximately 50% of bee attacks are from a known wild colony that owners thought was "tame." Because eradication is now state recommendation, we cannot recommend beekeepers for nest removal and relocation, and we will not remove the bees for you. We will provide you with certified pest control operators in your area and provide as much information as we can about Africanized bees around the home. We love bees as much as anyone, but we always need to put safety first!

See our Article on choosing a PCO: Choosing the Right PCO for Honey Bee Removal: A Consumer Guide

For a list of Pest Control Operators by county, click the Bee Removal Button below.

Download Florida Department of Agriculture's list of trained pest control professionals [200KB xls] (tabs on bottom of Excel sheet indicate counties).

The Bees Seem Calm...

Just because a colony is calm now doesn't mean that it will always be. Bee colonies become more defensive once their nest is established as they have something to protect, and this can take a few months. Also, there is evidence that the average queen (at least in managed colonies) lives about 6 months to one year. When a new queen is born to replace the old queen, she leaves the colony to mate in the air with 15-20 different male bees (drones). Therefore, she is mating with any drones from nearby colonies (not with bees from her hive). If African bees are in the area, the new queen may mate with the African drones, and the resulting offspring will likely display African characteristics. Therefore, a colony that was calm (or even European) 6 months ago may be defensive (or even African) today.

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The Bees are Disappearing...

The African bee issue and the disappearance of managed honey bees are unrelated as far as most experts are concerned. This means that eradicating one wild honey bee nest in Florida does nothing to hurt honey bee populations overall. In fact, there can be as many as 100-200 bee colonies per square mile in areas where African bees occur. Rremoving 1 colony does very little to the overall population of wild bees. It's simply a public safety issue.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is NOT searching for wild colonies in an effort to destroy them all. But, they are recommending that honey bees found in proximity to people be eradicated by trained Pest Control Operators.

• Read more on the disappearance of honey bees...
• Read more about Colony Collapse Disorder...
• Download Florida Department of Agriculture's list of trained pest control professionals [200KB xls] (tabs on bottom of Excel sheet indicate counties).

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