going professional: new name and website

Since my hobby really started to take off, I was experiencing a great financial drain. People underestimate the money/effort involved with keeping bees. EG: each box for bees costs roughly $100, and that is unpainted and with the labor to assemble/paint it. People are generally not willing to pay for removal. For them bees are a nuisance. I had to do something about not going underwater too much. My other job (IT related) is still bringing in the money. I setup a new company in order to have it better organised, insured etc. That's why I am proud to announce that from now on, all services etc, will be provided by bees and beyond inc . Last 2 jobs were done under the new name, and the postings can be found here and here

dual standards...

I got a call today.
Somebody has bought a piece of property and is building a house on it.
They discovered "bees" in a cliff in the ground.
Since Bees normally don't house in ground, I am thinking about yellow jackets and not bees.
I look up the address with google maps: 30 miles, 45 minutes one way trip.
I explain that I am willing to come, inspect and make an offer. But in case they don't want to pay for the removal, I will be charging them $25 (for 90 minutes of my time /gas money). And they don't want to do that.
"we will see for another week if we can find someone else who will take them, if not, we will put some kind of bomb on them"

What are people's thoughts exactly about the value of bees ?
Enough for a beekeeper to work for free, but otherwise disposable if you have to pay to get it removed ?

easy swarm catch

Somebody in Camarillo called today about a bee swarm.
They were hanging from a bird bath and was an easy catch
[CLICK ON PICTURES FOR ENLARGEMENT]

This was an easy one!

I was able to catch most of them, maybe 20 or so flew up in the air.
I had to close down the box to keep the majority in.
Drove home with the box in the back, suit on, visor down and windows open.
I wonder what the police officer was thinking when he saw me driving like that...

New bee swarm moved into an existing box

Last week I recovered an almost empty hive on one of the yards where I keep bees.
They clearly weren't in good shape and were reduced to one frame of brood and some honey.
I start feeding them with some sugar water in the hope to not lose the girls.
I thought they were doing better, with lots of activity.
But then suddenly today we heard a load noise, a swarm decided they were moving in.
I had no protective clothing on, 3 in my hair, 2 walking over my forehead when I made these movies:
didn't get stung once.

2012 season has started

Got 3 calls about swarm catches yesterday

Will try and write up article about swarm catches soon.

Danny

10 million bees deaths reported in Florida

Those of us who love sweet delicious honey have good reason to be concerned, as over 10 million bee deaths were recently reported in Florida. article

chimney bees ventura

Today i got a call from ventura for bees in a chimney. 2 Story home and I am afraid of heights so big fun (NOT) WHen i looked down in the 2 story chimney I saw this:

The comb started about 2 ft from the top of the chimney, so my hands could only reach the top of the comb. I used a rake to "catch" the comb when i was cutting it with my other hand. To my surprise it worked and i got 95% of the comb out, only real small parts fell down. Will pick them up tomorrow evening.

*UPDATE*
I went to collect the bees today, since it will rain tomorrow. I was only able to take one picture before my camera froze on my with a cryptic "change the battery pack" (but I tried all 4 fully charged batteries, still the same error) [CLICK ON PICTURE FOR ENLARGED VIEW]

I left the nuc box strapped on top of the chimney so the bees could regroup. That certainly worked since almost all bees were inside the box!

roof bees

I was asked to come to Agoura Hills today for a quote for removing bees. The bees are 22' up in the air.

taken from the neighbors home. [CLICK ON PICTURE FOR ENLARGEMENT]

it's kind of hard to see where they are going. My guess is underneath the top roof. Since there is a liability in place when _I_ openup this roof, I will consult with a general contractor who does have experience/liability insurance for this kind of work. The fact that the home owner (of this according to zillow $1+ Million home) said that he really wanted _me_ to have the bees, and also told me he expected it to be done for nearly nothing, I think it's not gonna work out. We keep hope in these times ;-)

free bee removal

I get calls every day if I do free bee removal. I try and explain that:

- my car doesn't run on free gas. - my car has agricultural insurance because of what it's used for which costs me double from a personal insurance.
- i have a 2 million $ general liability insurance which isn't free
- there is only a 25% chance that a cutout colony will stay (50% for the first month, 50% after one year)once you put it into a wooden box.
- every wooden box costs material and labor.

So if it was for breeding bees, it's more logical to do a split of my current hives to get more colonies. It's cheap, simple, i don't have to get the bees out of a construction and i know the genetics of the bees upfront. And yet, people on the phone think those stinging insects are worth gold for a beekeeper and we should be thankful to take them away for free. Last week someone told me she was convinced people would pay her money to get a colony out of a abandoned wet vacuum in her garden. The answer is still the same and simple: I can not work for free. Even after hearing my list of why, they still want you to come, do the work, get stung _for free_ Oh well...

given enough bees: modifying a cardboard nuke box

I left them inside this box too long. I assume they wanted to see if they could expand the hive

This cardboard nuke box is lying on it's side here. $8 gone ;-) I just went outside to take this box from my yard. Wearing only half a suit because i wasn't gonna poke inside them. One nailed me on my ankle :-) Risk of the trade of course, and being too lazy to suit up completely. My arm is so wollen today by the stings from yesterdays rescue:

The skin doesn't "rimple" at all!

simi valley stable bees

Today brought me to simi valley A new home owner bought a nice parcel with a small stable on it. They have a daughter and a pony. But also bees. [CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR LARGER VERSIONS]

overview

tackroom entrance

Look at the sign above the door. The bees are in the double wall left of the door.

outside

right side of the door hinge, you see the bee entrance

Opening it up.OMG, it's huge! They said the previous owner had a hive removed less than a year ago. These must have been here "a while"

A lot of _mean_ bees. Even with my mean bee suite (tripple layer) they stung me at least 10 times. Even through my leather glove !

After I had taken the comb out and put it my boxes. I filled a super & a medium with this hive

I still don't have a great working bee vac, so i scooped them up and dumped them in the hive outside

kind of busy

Let's hope i have the queen


*UPDATE* Here is picture for tanarill :-)

Isn't he sweet ? That night I went back to checkup on the bees

A lot of the bees still on the outside of the box. I left the top open at a crack. But they didn't go in. It was 52F outside when I took this picture.

Small part of the colony was still in the corner of the old spot where the hive used to be. Will check today.

Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey

More than 75% of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't exactly what the bees produce according to this article Still want to buy the cheapest honey available ? ;-)

what could have caused this ?

I am lucky to have some hives in an uninhabited area. So inhabited that the bees can not fly (3-5 miles) to an area where chemicals are used. This is on a 2000 acre cattle farm. The land owner informed me that one of the hives had been "smashed". I didn't know what to make of it, but today i went to investigate.

[CLICK ON PICTURES FOR ENLARGED VERSION]

This is the entrance to area with the bees. This is normally _closed_ so the cows cannot get near to the bees.

Oh_ oh... that doesn't look good....

This is how one of the hives currently looks likes. As you can see i put a strap around the boxes against wind, animals.

This is how it looked

Close up. Since there was nothing left in the frames (all comb gone!!) i have only one suspect: brother or sister of winnie the pooh. Any reader seen this before ?

UPDATE Some closeup photo's off the wood:

what kind of scratches are on that wood ?

top board broken in pieces

are those chew marks ?

Not something a human would do (imho)

boo-bies

Being a former startrek fan and a beekeeper, this picture made me giggle:

ventura shed bees

This one was a bit different. We lifted the complete shed at an angle in order to get to the bees. that way we avoided having to cut the floor. [CLICK ON PICTURES FOR ENLARGED PHOTO's]

shed lifted on one side

Peek underneath. 4 feet long comb built between rafters.

The day after i put the comb into the boxed i went back. The landlord called me and said most bees had returned underneath the shed. So I took a small show box, swiped all the bees in and dumped them in the wooden box with the frames/com. Did that a couple of times. 4 hours when it got dark, all bees were in the wooden box. Here they are locked up and ready for transport.

Remains of the comb on the ceiling/floor of the shed. No more bees!

Bees under floor in gym shed

I got a call from a person in Oxnard who had bees in a Gym he made in a shed in the back of his garden.

I moved some gym equipment, pulled up the carpet, Removed some screws and gained access underneath the floor board

Once i opened the board....

In their new home, at the former entrance

I picked them up this night at 8pm when it was dark. I hope they like their new place.

plastic frames in a hive not accepted

I was called by a great couple in Ojai who had bees in their backyard, which were acting "weird". They wanted me to come out and take a look. When I arrived I suited up only to find out the bees had absconded. Another beekeeper had advised the couple to use plastic foundation. In the photo's you can see for yourself how the bees "accepted" the plastic:

It's clear: they didn't!

Attic bees

Lot's of times people call me with the phrase "I have bees in my attic" Up to now, it always turned out bees were in a double wall or behind the insulation. this time however... [CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGE SIZE VIEW]

A nice home in Thousand Oaks. Bees are entering underneath the eave

closeup

entrance to attic

furnace in attic

There i a lot of glass wool up here

the way to move is crawl though these wooden structures

You can only stand on the wooden rafters. If I would put my weight on the drywall, I would poke a hole in the ceiling

That is the corner i need to go to

almost there

The colony and the comb

Meanwhile, outside the bees were piling up. Before I went in, i clogged up the entrance. Unfortunately the angle of the outside roof is 45 degrees, the lower roof id probably at 15 degrees. leaving 30 degrees angle for me to crawl in. No matter how I tried, i couldn't get to the edge where the comb is to get it out. I have to rethink my strategy and do it another way. Preferably on a day with less heat...