In our previous two blogs, we discussed some of the dangers and problems associated with wild, feral honeybees in San Diego, CA. Some of these dangers include the harm they pose to other types of bees and native pollinators. We also discussed the tendency of wild bees to be “Africanized”, which can result in a threat to public safety. After reading those posts, some might question “If feral honeybees are so bad, why do you perform live bee removal at all?”
It’s a fair question. The answer is simple. When done correctly, sometimes feral honeybees can be converted for use in a garden, small farm, or apiary. When done properly, this pulls overpopulated wild bees out of the San Diego environment, and places them with beekeepers who can manage them properly for pollination purposes. Sounds like an easy solution, right? In reality however, this is not an easy task and it requires multiple steps.
First you need to be able to capture the honeybee colony alive. Once that is done, the bee colony would need to be transported to a beekeeper. From there, the beekeeper would need to use “best practices” in order to keep the colony from becoming Africanized and/or being released back into the environment. All this requires having all the proper tools and equipment to manage bees. These tools include beehive boxes and land to place them on safely. But that’s not all that is required. In addition to the basic set up, the beehive boxes would then need to incorporate queen excluders to prevent the hive from releasing more swarms into the environment. On top of all that you need a beekeeper to regularly feed, water, and manage the colony. In San Diego, this often includes watching for aggression and “Re Queening” the colony, if necessary.
As you can see, most of the work involved with true humane bee removal happens after the colonies are removed. For us, the above system works best for both the bees and the environment. It’s a system that protects the environment by not releasing the honeybees back into it. This is why it it so important to know how a company removes bees. Not all take the time and extra effort to make sure its environmentally friendly. In our next blog, we will outline all the different ways bees can be removed live.
