Bees are some of the most important insects on the planet. They pollinate plants and, through this they help us grow the food that we need, they kill and drive off various pests, protecting our crops and they produce honey. But even the most important insects can sometimes pose a danger to us. Especially when they build hives too close to human communities or when they form swarms in order to establish new colonies.
A hive of bees is not something to be taken lightly. Even though a single bee won’t cause much harm, a whole hive can cause havoc inside a neighbourhood or home.
Are Bees dangerous?
While bees rarely kill human beings, they may prove extremely dangerous to children and pets. The most dangerous species of bees, not because the strength of its venom, but because its behaviour is the Killer Bee, or the Africanised (Honey) Bee. These species annually kill ten times more people than any other bee species. Killer bees are much more aggressive than other species and once provoked, will swarm their attacker and even follow him for up a quarter mile away from the hive. It is also important the note the fact that these bees are much more easily provoked than their more docile counterparts, often and that they usually perceive a threat from about 1600ft away.
Remove Bees From Your Property
If you’ve noticed that a swarm has landed near your home or that you have a hive in a tree on your property or even in your home’s walls, it would be best to remove the bee colony. In order to achieve this, you have three options:
- Try to remove the hive or swarm yourself, though this is not recommended. The removal of a hive or swarm can be a dangerous task, not only to yourself, but to all those in proximity. Also, this process usually requires specialised equipment.
- Call a bee removal service and have a team of professionals come and solve the problem. These companies, while effective, can charge you up to $700 depending on the number of insects in the hive, the ease of access to the hive and the number of man hours and the distance between them and the site. Also, calling a team in to remove the bees might also result in damage to your property as they will need to make access points to the hive, if there are none, for example.
- Find beekeepers near you and give them a call. Beekeepers will always remove them safely and will not damage the hive.
Free Solutions
Beekeepers, or apiarists, are individuals who keep bees for their honey production ability, for their ability to pollinate crops and/or in order to produce more bees in order to sell them. Beekeepers usually collect honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen and royal jelly from the hives. They can distinguish the different types and they know the behaviour of each species. Also, they have the equipment needed to safely work with them. They’re specialists, when it comes to bees. They will also remove hives or swarms from your property. Most of them will do this for free, as long as the bees are healthy (if you don’t spray the hive with any kind of pesticide). Apiarists might, in some cases, charge you only to cover their travel expenses, but the removal of the bees will be free.
If you want to find beekeepers near you, there are more ways to do this;
You can use Google to look up any beekeepers in your area. Just type “Beekeepers” followed by the area you live in and you’ll find all the apiarists who live or have their businesses close to you.
Another way to find help is to look in the newspaper. While you may sometimes find beekeepers, who are actively looking for new hives, anything that you find related to the production and selling of honey may prove to be useful.
You can also use our map. At the end of this article you’ll find a map which you can use to find professional who can help you. Simply ender your ZIP code and it will automatically show you all the beekeepers in your area.