Tag Archives: get rid of bees

Honeybee Control

get rid of bees

“You will absolutely have to have honeybee control come in and remove the honeybees before the big day.”  The wedding planner was overseeing all the final plans for her client’s wedding day, and had run into a snag.  Dressed in a tight white skirt and breezy blue blouse, she didn’t seem to mind walking around the nature center in her extremely high heels and perfectly styled hair that was held in place by a little too much hairspray.  She had already demanded that certain trees be trimmed and a walkway be repaired.  Her client was wealthy, demanding, and could make her career if she did this right.  Her client had insisted on renting out an entire nature center, because she was charmed by its beautiful setting.  Unfortunately, her client wasn’t really a true nature lover, and was adamant that no wild animals or birds ruin her special day.  So, in addition to all the other many, many unpredictable things that could go wrong, the wedding planner had to worry about weather, birds, insects and animals.

“But, that’s in three days.  I’m not sure we can get someone out here to do honeybee control fast enough.”

“Look at me.  I have faith in you.  If you do this right, we could be working together again for a lot of other really rich brides.  A lot of wedding events here means a lot of money for the center, which means you get to expand the exhibits you’ve been telling me about.”

The nature center manager was a kindly, older man whose passion had always been to help other people, especially children, love the outdoors as much as he did.  The wedding planner was right.  This was an excellent opportunity to bring in potential income, as much of his public funding had been diverted to building roads instead of expanding the nature center.

But, first, they had to get honeybee control in here. The bees had lived in the walls of one of the out buildings for a few years, and had built a very large colony.  Truth be told, the center had already received a few complaints from visitors.  The visitors to the park enjoyed the fields of wild flowers and watching the butterflies and bees that hummed and flew from place to place, but this particular honeybee hive was close enough to a popular picnic spot.  In fact, the wide expanse of grass framed by tall trees was the chosen spot for the upcoming wedding, and the planner feared guests and the bridal party would be too busy waving bees away to fully enjoy the ceremony.  Something had to be done.  Honeybee control had to come in and get rid of the bees in order for the park to generate more funds.  If it was done carefully and properly, the bees could be relocated to a safer and more remote area of the park, but it would have to be done quickly if the wedding was to go on as planned.

Honeybee Removal

get rid of bees

How do you tell your neighbor they need honeybee removal or you won’t let your kids come over and play?  I’m just amazed that they haven’t done it already.  What, do they think having a honeybee colony living right under the soffit above the front door is a good idea?

“Mom, can I go to Jackson’s house?”  I dreaded my son Rick’s question.  I like Jackson, I like his whole family.  His mom and I have worked together at PTA events and had a great time, and we’ve had Jackson and his little sister over to our house several times.  Unfortunately, Jackson’s parents have had some rip-roaring fights that have gotten extremely vocal in the quiet evenings of our neighborhood.  It means other parents have been reluctant to let their children play at his house, and that has hurt Jackson’s feelings on more than one occasion.

I don’t want to hurt Jackson’s feelings any more than fighting parents and difficult neighbors have already hurt him.  But, my son is highly allergic to bee stings.  It’s bad enough the bees swarm the neighborhood, now that they’ve got an active hive right over Jackson’s front door.  I’m so worried to let Rick go over there, where there are more bees than in our yard.  Some of those honeybees have to have gotten inside from time to time, so even if I tell my son to stay inside, he’s still not safe.  If only they’d gotten honeybee removal done, it wouldn’t be an issue.

And, now I’m stuck with the agonizing choice of either confronting Jackson’s parents about honeybee removal, or telling Rick he can’t go over there to play anymore.  I could explain to my son’s friend why I can’t let Rick go to his house, but I’m afraid Jackson will see it as yet one more person who somehow thinks their son will be “contaminated” by being his friend.  No ten year-old should ever have to deal with that.

“Why don’t you ask Jackson to come over here today?  I’ll make cheese sticks and pizza poppers.”

“No, Mom!  I want to go to Jackson’s house.  He just got a new Xbox game he says is so awesome, and I really wanna play it.  Plus, he wants to show me how his wall makes this cool noise.”

Ugh.  The wall noise has got to be the honeybees in the wall.

“Rick, you know you’re allergic to bees.  You could end up going to the hospital if you get stung.”

“I’ll be really careful, Mom, I promise.”

I really wanted to give in, so I did, but I went with him, armed with the phone number for a great honeybee removal service to give to Jackson’s mom.  I had to be extremely diplomatic, for fear she would take it personally or think I was too nosey.  Instead, she was thrilled and thanked me.  Then, I showed her how to use the bee sting medication if Rick should get stung.  Then, I walked home praying nothing would happen while my son was playing Xbox.

Honeybee Problem

As much as I was happy we were finally taking care of our honeybee problem, it hurt me to watch it happen.  We’ve lived in this home for years, and a couple of years ago, we started noticing a few more bees than usual were hanging around our property.  It was great for our fruit trees, I’ll admit, and we got some great yield the last two years, but when our friends and family had to duck and weave to get to the front door, we knew we had a serious honeybee problem, and it was time to finally do something about it.

My son wanted to take care of it himself, even though we had no idea where the actual hive was.  He swore he could save us money, but I couldn’t stand the thought of my son up against all those bees.  He could get seriously hurt, falling off a ladder or getting stung.  No, I wanted a true professional honeybee removal company to take care of it.  They’d be able to find the hive faster, make sure all of the honeybees were removed and do it much safer than my inexperienced, but well-intentioned son could.

So, I was relieved when the truck drove up, full of equipment and a couple of experienced young men.  They easily found the hive in one of the decorative stucco-covered pillars under the deck that ran the full length of the house.  I couldn’t believe how close the hive had been to where we eat, sleep and live.  How did we let it go on this long?

I must admit, though, my heart dropped when I realized what these honeybee removal technicians had to do to get to the hive.  They broke out the rotary saw and cut into the stucco all the way down to the wood, bees swarming everywhere.  I knew it would be repaired, but it was still a shock.  But I was not prepared for the shock I got when he pulled the stucco off.  I’ve never seen so many bees in one place.  There must have been thousands.  Wax, long-dead bees and honey dripped and lined the inside of the pillar.  The air was thick with bees and the sound of their anger at being disturbed.  Bit by bit, they pulled pieces of honeycomb out of the pillar and placed them carefully in a special box.  Honeybees were carefully vacuumed into a special device and then also deposited into the box.  They took special care with the queen bee, making sure she was unharmed.  My son gave me a look that said he was grateful I didn’t take him up on his offer to do this by himself.

Our honeybee problem was extensive, because I’d let it go on so long without having them removed.  Now, after a lot of damage and several hours, they were now going to live somewhere else, far, far away from our home!

Get Rid of Bees

get rid of bees
I absolutely adore sunflowers, so I planted a whole bunch by the side of my house this summer, and get yelled at by my neighbor and the meter reader who wanted me to get rid of the bees.

I’d recently traveled throughout the South of France.  Van Gough made the ancient town of Arles famous with his paintings of sunflowers, and my husband and I rented bicycles and rode through the countryside, gazing over entire fields of the gorgeous flowers following the path of the sun.  My favorite memory was biking near the old fortress and castle of Carcassonne.  I don’t know how many pictures I took, gazing at the castle across fields of sunflowers in full bloom.  Gorgeous.

So, when we got home, I planted those memories all around my house.  They grew up quickly in the hot sun, and I thought of France every day I went outside.  I never even considered they would attract bees, yellow jackets and wasps.

My neighbor has three children and a dog who feel free to play in everyone’s yard, especially mine.  She marched over that summer, and informed me that I needed to remove all the sunflowers.  “They’re attracting bees, and that’s dangerous for my kids.”  I sweetly reminded her that her children didn’t need to play in my yard, after all.  The bees weren’t bothering us.  She harrumphed and marched back home.

The man who reads our meter was a little harder to ignore.  He has been upset, because our utility company hasn’t invested in the new gadgets that allow him to read everyone’s meter from his car as he drives by.  He still has to get out and tramp through everyone’s yards, reading their meters by hand.  I’ve kept the meter weed-free, as I’m supposed to, and the sunflowers weren’t planted in front of it, but I was outside when he came by.  It turns out the poor man is allergic to bees, and he didn’t appreciate the beauty my sunflowers had to offer as much as he feared being stung.  He tersely asked me if I could do anything to get rid of bees.

So, my beautiful sunflowers, memories of my trip to France, were becoming a nuisance.  Well, not the flowers themselves, of course, but the insects they attracted.  I still held out, though, because of what they meant to me.  Then, my husband found a couple of holes in our siding, with bees coming in and out of them.  Apparently, a hive had been built in our walls, and the only way we could get rid of the bees was to cut a part of the siding away and have them removed professionally.

My yard is now sunflower-free, but my loving husband buys me a few every week to place inside my home.  I keep my memories of France, and my neighbor, meter-man, and husband are much happier.