(There is more to come.
I am adding to these pages almost daily)
Call 941-474-5491
Questions and Answers
Q. Do you do the repairs when you have
to open a wall, remove paneling, siding or the insulation under a mobile home?
Question: I have
bees under a manufactured home. Can't I just leave them be?
Answer:
It is important to get bees out from under
manufactured homes. Many of these homes have particle board floors.
The moisture from the comb starts to disintegrated the particle board.
To keep the colony cool in summer the bees bring in up to a gallon of
water an hour to evaporate for cooling. Add to this the moisture from
evaporating nectar. I had one call where the particle board was completely
gone and the comb was attached to the bottom of the lady's carpet.
If she had stepped on that part of the floor it could have been
a disaster! As it was, the floor needed to be replaced after I got the
bees out.
In addition the bees present a stinging hazard
to persons or pets that get "too close." When the bees get too crowded
they will produce reproductive swarms which may infest another part of
your home, or a neighbor's. I have serviced many homes with multiple
infestations. Back to Top
Question: I
was told that since “killer bees” are now in Florida all swarms and wild
bees should be poisoned and not relocated.
Answer:
This is false.
First, not all "wild" bees are "killer bees."
Second, even africanized or so called "killer bees" are beneficial
insects and important to the environment. They provide pollination and
produce honey just like their European cousins. Their fault is they are
more defensive. With the shortage of honeybees due to attacks of mites,
hive beetles and other exotic pests, feral bees need to be kept alive
and moved to safe locations, if at all possible.
The "Killer Bee Guy" in Arizona keeps killer
bees and markets their honey. "Most of the time I can
take the bees home and
put them to work making piles of Killer Bee honey for me."
See his web site at: http://www.killerbeeguy.com/index.php.
(use your browser back button to return here)
Lance Davis of Southern California, who uses
the bees on his properties for both honey and bee pollen production
says, "...Yes, they're a little more aggressive,
but they make five times more honey -- sweeter honey and better honey..."
See his web site at : http://www.killerbeeinc.com/PE_Jan30_03.htm
(use your browser back button to return here) His
motto is: "Save The Bees!
"Honey bees are critical to agriculture...and
must be protected," says Jerry Hayes, with the state's Department of Plant
Industry Apiary Department . "We feel that education is one of our most
effective tools for dealing with a potentially more defensive hybridized
honey bee."
"Eradication is a last resort measure," Charles
Bronson, commissioner of agriculture says. "Adapting to the Africanized
honey bee is the most logical approach," .Bronson said.
The Honey Bee Technical Council, an agency
established by Florida statute to study beekeeping and recommend laws,
met July 13, 2005, to discuss how to handle the killer bee eruption. "There
is no chemical or quarantine control that has worked on killer bees,"
the council said, so it told the agriculture department "that adapting
to the (Africanized bee) is the most logical approach." ( from
Sun-Herald news story- use back button to return.)
The directives of the Florida Department of
Agriculture Division of Plant Industry Apiary Department are to re-queen
all captured feral swarms with european stock queens.
Back to
Top
Question: Why do you charge to remove
the bees? I was told bees are valuable and beekeepers want them to make
honey.
Answer:
Wild bees are valuable to the environment
because they pollinate gardens and fruit trees. But, they have little
monetary value to beekeepers. Beekeepers buy hybrid queens and bees that
have been bred for high honey production, gentleness, resistance to disease
and mites and no tendency to swarm. Wild bees' qualities are a big unknown
and commercial beekeepers don't want to invest their time with them. The
amount of time spent removing a swarm and installing it in a hive box,
could be used to make fifty or more splits of colonies with known
pedigrees. So, catching swarms is a poor use of time to beekeepers interested
in making money. Wild bees have the tendency to swarm which is a negative
trait. Although honey brings a high price in stores its wholesale price
is so low, due to cheap foreign imports, many beekeepers are leaving the
business, or concentrating on pollination services with big agriculture.
My removal business has overhead expenses, as
any business --phone, yellow page advertising, insurance, equipment, vehicles,
gasoline, wages to helpers, government licenses, etc.. So, in order
to provide this service to people and the environment I must charge a
fee. Back to Top
Q. Do you do the repairs when you have to open
a wall, remove paneling, siding, drywall, or the insulation under a mobile
home?
Answer:
Although we are careful to do as little "damage" as possible
when opening a void to gain access to the bees, we do not have a contractors
license and are prohibited by most counties from doing repairs. Sometimes
we are able to remove soffits and paneling intact and can easily replace
them, at no charge. Other times these materials splinter, break apart, or
are other wise unusable. In the case of drywall, it most always needs to be
replaced. In these cases it will be up to the homeowner to arrange for repairs.
We try to keep cuts clean and straight and always clean up the area removing
debris and dead bees. The covering under mobile homes usually needs to be
replaced by the homeowner. We do not leave walls open to the weather and
place a temorary cover over such openings for protection until a permanant
repair can be done. Back to Top
There is more to come. I am adding
to these files almost daily