Honey Bee and Bumble Bee Removals

Published May 1, 2018, By BILL SEAMAN (Retired Certified Consulting Arborist for ASI)

Honey and Bumble Bee removals require proper safety precautions. Photo by Honey Bee Relocation Services. 

Ryan Geisecke, stopped by our Earthx 2018 booth on Sunday and visited with Arborilogical Services briefly. His company, Honey Bee Relocation Services (Bee-Friendly Hive Removals) relocates honey bee hives from buildings and trees. He does charge for the service, but he is usually successful in moving hives out of building walls and tree cavities into box hives versus killing the hive with insecticides. The majority of their business is removing bees from structures, but they can also get bees out of tree cavities without significantly damaging the tree.

Honey Bee Relocation Services (Bee-Friendly Hive Removals) will also move bumble bee hives. They are usually located in a ground cavity. As far as Bill Seaman knows, Honey Bee Relocation Services is the only company that offers bumble bee hive removal. Bumble bees are our native pollinators and typically when people discover they have a hive rumbling in their yard they nuke (poison) them. Bumble bees do not have the favorable public image honey bees have.

Contact Information:

Ryan Giesecke, Owner, Honey Bee Relocation Services, Bee-Friendly Hive Removals, 214-577-9562717 Ridgeway Street, Dallas, TX 75214. You may also email Ryan at ryangiesecke@gmail.com or visit their website at honeybeerelocationservices.com.

About Honey Bee Relocation Services (In their own words)

Honey Bee Relocation Services specializes in the live removal and relocation of bees. We are registered with the Texas Apiary Inspection Service for honey bee removals. In addition to competitively priced hive relocations and affordable swarm removals, we operate a hive hosting program and participate in educational outreach on all things honey bee.

Why Not to Exterminate By RYAN GIESECKE

https://www.honeybeerelocationservices.com/why-not-to-exterminate

While we realize that extermination can seem like a noninvasive approach to dealing with a beehive inside a structure, it is not a practical solution to the situation, and we discourage it for the following reasons:

1. Exterminating a hive and leaving the comb is like having a bee magnet for swarms in years to come. When bees look for homes in the spring, they are particularly drawn to cavities that have previously contained a hive. Before long the poisons will dissipate, but some of the wax will remain for years to come. Bees will be drawn to it, and the call to an exterminator could easily become an annual tradition.
2. The dead bees left in the wall after an extermination usually number in the tens of thousands, and could easily be comparable in weight to the family pet. We've removed colonies weighing hundreds of pounds. The smell of decomposition from a sizable colony can be significant. Also, if there is honey in the hive it may start to ferment and leak from the comb without the bees maintenance, which can attract large numbers of robber bees and cause additional damage to the structure.
3. We need honey bees, both as a planet and as a nation. American agriculture is extremely dependent on honey bee pollination, and bee populations have been reported as facing increasing and alarming die-off rates in recent years. Bees are among the most beneficial creatures on earth, and it makes no sense to continue to waste this vital resource that contributes so significantly to our food production. One way or another you're making a difference one hive at a time... do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?

© 2016 by HONEY BEE RELOCATION SERVICES