Stung by Bee Removal “Experts”
May 24th, 2011Never Hire These Characters
Let me give you some time-honored advice which is accepted by professional pest control technicians all over the US: when you have a honeybee infestation, always hire an expert to get rid of it.
Now let me give you INTELLIGENT advice: when you have a honeybee infestation, NEVER hire ANYONE to get rid of it. Do it yourself.
The people who advise you to hire “experts” are almost always people who get paid to remove bees. They never put forth a good reason. Bees–even demonic Africanized bees–can’t hurt you, as long as you wear the right stuff. It’s not like you’re jumping into a tank of hungry sharks, people. They’re like big ants with wings. Do not let them intimidate you. If it lives, I can kill it. Trust me on that.
I had bees in a soffit. Some bee guys came out. They pass out promotional items that say “guaranteed” on them. They tore out the soffit and got rid of the bees. I asked about “bee proofing.” They rejected the idea.
They charged $900 and left a giant hole someone else had to be paid to fix.
Think what a great racket this is. You go to someone’s house, tear it to pieces, and leave. Then you charge almost a grand. This is brilliant. I wish I had thought of it. Seriously, if you want to make money quickly and easily, doing something any monkey with an axe could do, consider bee removal.
Anyway, I fell for it. Now the bees are back. I called the bee people. They deny they said bee-proofing wasn’t necessary. They said two years without bees was “pretty good.” So evidently, you’re supposed to pay around $500 per year to be free of bees.
The “guarantee” on the promotional stuff? Oh…that means they guarantee they’ll get rid of the bees. They don’t guarantee they won’t come back. Kind of a stupid guarantee, since they wouldn’t have gotten paid if they hadn’t gotten rid of the bees. That’s MY guarantee. I guarantee myself I won’t pay you for failing. So far, I have been really good about honoring this guarantee.
I hung up on them. I guess I’m still not a perfect Christian.
Here’s what I’m going to do. First I’ll put Sevin dust and boric acid solution out for the bees. This will get rid of them over time. Then I’m going to get a bee veil, for about $20. I’m going to rent an inspection camera on a long shaft, suit up, drill a few holes, and find the hive. Then I’ll cut a small hole and scrape the hive out. Then I’ll repair the hole and pump the whole thing full of foam. Total cost? Probably under $75.
I wish I had a hive to put them in. They are obviously extremely tough, and I know they produce, because I saw the honey that came out last time.
Anyway, never pay a bee removal guy. It’s like paying a monkey to destroy your house.
And whatever you do, avoid sites that say things like “BEE REMOVAL HOW TO REMOVE BEES BEE NESTS BEEHIVES BEE EXTERMINATION BEE CONTROL BEE EXPERTS BEE REMOVAL SPECIALIST.”
May 25th, 2011 at 1:45 PM
You could make a hive, I bet.
(Heck, you could post on Craigslist for “free bees if you get them out of my house” – there are people who want bees and might well take you up on it.)
May 25th, 2011 at 2:22 PM
We had a terrible infestation when we lived in Louisiana. We didn’t know about it until honey started dripping down the walls from the upstairs outside wall.
Here’s how we fixed it: pvc 3/4″ pipe very long makes a very good blowpipe for sevin dust. All the seven dust purveyors say how lethal it is for bees. It is. When we changed the siding on the upper story of the house we found approximately a 10’x10’x3″ beehive full of honey which, of course, we could not use.
May 25th, 2011 at 9:50 PM
900 bucks!?
Ouch. I think I just found a new weekend hobby/business.
May 27th, 2011 at 8:45 PM
As a Christian, you did the right thing by hanging up on the person. The human thing would be to blow a fuse for being ripped off. To keep from doing something that would be wrong, hanging up was the proper thing to do.
You aren’t perfect. We all fall short of that perfection. You’re doing fine.
Good tube amps have such a warm sound. That is the only thing that I miss from being in bands, the live sound.
God bless.
May 28th, 2011 at 11:38 AM
“I wish I had a hive to put them in. They are obviously extremely tough, and I know they produce, because I saw the honey that came out last time.”
.
Yeah, it is a shame you couldn’t find a way to save and relocate the hive to a professional beekeeper. Despite the stinging action, bees are pretty beneficial from an environmental standpoint.
May 31st, 2011 at 1:18 PM
I would confidently and ignorantly postulate that the problem is not the profession, the problem is Florida.
I don’t know what the situation is down there, but I’m always hearing horror stories about the state of professionalism or lack thereof. And as we all know, anecdote = data.
Florida is the one state where I can regularly count on having problems with FedEx deliveries from my business, and the stories I’ve heard about the typical transaction with moving companies there would turn your tummy.
We had a hive of yellowjackets between our bricks and the inner wall. Bee company came out, charged $175, and we have never seen another bee since. This was maybe five years ago.
June 1st, 2011 at 6:22 PM
“Seriously, if you want to make money quickly and easily, doing something any monkey with an axe could do, consider bee removal.”
That sounds like good career advice.
Funny stuff, man. Glad to see you still got it.
Best,
Lee
June 1st, 2011 at 7:18 PM
I cringe when I think of destroying bees. I know, I know, but there is a shortage of them.
June 1st, 2011 at 7:22 PM
How do you blow Sevin through a pipe without inhaling it? Or is inhaling it part of the fun?
June 3rd, 2011 at 1:28 PM
I wasn’t the one who did it. My slim, skinny husband has great lung capacity so it was easy for him. You DO NOT inhale with the pipe in your mouth, you only blow on it.
July 1st, 2011 at 10:02 PM
I have a hive that I’ve never used. Don’t ask. Well – here’s the story anyway. One spring we had a bees nest in our back yard and they stayed. They made their home in a N.C. gourd we hung out for birds, and then they built honeycombs off of it – it got huge, but they were placid, nice bees and we could get very close and photograph them and mow around them, etc. They took off one day and never came back. Meanwhile, I got a hive kit and put it together – but now I have no bees. Would you like the hive? You can have it. I live in Pembroke Pines. Let me know…..you have my email address.