About Bees . . . .

I enjoy working with honeybees, and find them fascinating. A beehive, or even a swarm of bees should always be treated with respect. Sometimes, what upsets bees may not be too obvious to people. It might be just walking by the nest, or a dog’s barking, or maybe just the whir of a lawn mower that will stir them up. When a creature upsets them, bees will emit a pheromone that lets the other bees know there is a threat. The bees will respond by attacking. The pheromone has a sweet citrus like fragrance. Once someone is stung, they are marked by this smell for the other bees to target. (I still get a little scared when I smell that particular smell. Even if it’s only a fabric softener.) Generally speaking though, most times, unless the nest has been there a long while, bees are pretty friendly, even near their nests. And people unfamiliar with bees are many times okay with letting them stay in their roofs or backyards. Sometimes, people figure the bees will eventually move away if left alone. Unfortunately, that’s not how honeybees behave. For once bees move in, unless there’s a real problem with the bee’s new home, they are there to stay. They will stay for years if left undisturbed. And the size of the honeycomb will continue to increase and will be filled of lots of honey, pollen, and babies. Once bees begin to have a lot of young to protect, they most times will get progressively more aggressive, relative to the age of the nest. When disturbed, even “nice” bees are likely to give a person or animal a good stinging, but most times will still allow a target the room, and time for escape. They usually won’t chase the target beyond the surrounding nest area. On the other hand, although Africanized bees can be identified genetically, they are otherwise hard to differentiate from the “nice” European honeybees. Although there are a few telltale signs, it is difficult to tell if a nest is Africanized or “nice”, until it has been disturbed. (Then it's pretty easy to tell.) It’s then, one sees that they are far more aggressive than the “nice” honeybees. They are even able to “take over” a European honeybee's entire colony, eventually changing the whole hive into an Africanized nest. (i.e. Some people might wonder what happened to that nice old nest of bees in their yard, and why it is now stinging them and their dog frequently for no apparent reason.) When Africanized bees are disturbed, they will attack by the hundreds, sometimes thousands. When very upset, the bees from the hive will chase people hundreds of feet, continuing to sting all along the way, at every opportunity. Although they only sting once, (as the the poison sac pulled out of their body is fatal to a bee), the powerful venom will continue to pump into the target from the sac, which is attached to the stinger that penetrates the skin of it’s target. You can see the sac continue to pulsate if you look closely after being stung. A very good reason to get the stinger out immediately. (On removal: don't squeeze the sac. You would squeeze the venom into yourself. Use a credit card to "flik" the stinger out.) There are many stories of people and animals being stung hundreds of times by Africanized bees right here in Southern California. Moving or disturbing a bee’s nest or swarm without protective gear, and a really good plan, would be pretty dangerous. Safety for all concerned is our #1 priority. And hopefully, the bees won’t be too upset, and it won’t be too big of a deal to move them to a new home, where they can be appreciated for being the incredible and extremely important creatures that they are. - Sam Sorensen
Some factors to consider along with our cost, might be our history of safety, reliability, and our close proximity to jobs needing to be handled in a timely manner.