The Villages, FL: Honey Bee Swarm

The Villages, FL: Honey Bee Swarm, 40 Ft. High

As one British Beekeeper friend told me: Buggers!!

The photo below shows a The Villages, FL. Honey Bee Swarm, perched high in a tree about 40 feet in the air. I had to use my telephoto lens to shoot it. 

The Villages Honey Bee Swarm in Tree

Buggers, because this very large, very healthy looking swarm, issued from one of our honey bee hive boxes, in a yard we keep in Oxford, near The Villages, Florida. I was in the yard to perform maintenance and was to 'split' some of our hive boxes, partly in order to keep swarming from happening!

Swarming is simply the honey bee colony's way of reproducing. The Queen and about 10-20,000 of her daughters and sons, fly away from the existing nest, and land somewhere nearby, in order to figure out where to move to permanently.

When this happens , we lose a LOT of bees, the queen and a lot of honey making ability. 

Buggers. 

Please, don't attempt a removal of bees, even The Villages Bee Removal, as they can be deadly, even swarms have attacked us since Killer Bees are now here. We've had fatalities occur in Florida because of improper stinging insect removal techniques.

Contact the Stinging Insect Experts at 321-206-5100 or 1-800-343-5317 or submit a bee removal FREE inspection here!

Richard Martyniak, M.Sc., Entomologist (Univ of Fla'04); Registered Beekeeper (FL0010609M)

The Buzzkillers, LLC, Licensed (FL DACS JB144428), Insured & Certified(FL DACS JF136628) for your protection

ALLFloridaBeeRemoval.com

The Villages Bee Removal

The Villages Irrigation Box Bee Removal

This is one off those situations that has BAD news written all over it. An Africanized Honey Bee colony moves into a ground irrigation box and we are called in to remove it. Handled incorrectly, we threaten lives of nearby neighbors and pets. Heck, even handled correctly, we still could have an errant injury or death.

Our protocol is designed to reduce the significant defensiveness that can arise from these dangerous insects. Don't attempt a removal yourself, Call the Killer Bee Experts at ALLFloridaBeeRemoval.com 1-800-343-5317

Richard Martyniak, M.Sc., Entomologist
The Buzzkillers, LLC, a Florida Licensed & Insured Pest Control Company
ALLFloridaBeeRemoval.com

Oxford Fl., Africanized (?) Honey Bees in pole on Ground

This year we've had a spike in bee removal calls from near Oxford Fl., just west of The Villages, in Central Florida. What's disconcerting to me, is the proportion of these bees that exhibit Africanized Honey Bee (AHB) behaviors.

AHB, as many folks know, are a hybrid of a European subspecies of Honey Bee, and an African Honey Bee, Apis mellifera scuttelata, and has been present in Florida for probably about 10 years. These bees are moving north throughout the peninsula, and often exhibit a more defensive posture. ( in other words, they can sting the fire outta you, family and pets!).

One of the other cool behaviours, is their propensity to live near or in the ground, a place few self-respecting European Honey Bees would even consider! So, water meters are often the first in ground nesting locations that we find, and then voids, such as these poles have, are soon filled with a nest of very feisty bees!

Oxford, FL Honey Bee Nest in Pole

These were moderately defensive, and readily hassled neighbors that insisted on getting too close to the removal process. They quickly (and loudly) ran away!

Richard Martyniak, M.Sc., Entomologist
ALLFloridaBeeRemoval.com
1-800-343-5317

The Villages Honey Bees in Lake Miona Recreation Center Column

January 2011 has started relatively warm and moist which can be a signal for Honey Bee colonies to split and send forth a new 'seed' colony. We call these swarms, and used to see them in the Spring, when conditions are favorable for new colony growth. With the influx of African Honey Bees ( Killer Bees ) in Central Florida, we are now seeing swarming occuring all 12months of the year, and the below pic is a good example:

The Villages Honey Bee Swarm

A honey bee swarm moved into the architectural column a few days ago and immediately set forth collecting food for the larvae that will soon be developing. We elected to eradicate the colony, as we are seeing some really nasty bees in this area. In fact, we heard that several golfers were stung at a nearby course, after live removals were performed on bird nesting boxes, and the boxes were Several Hundred feet from the golf course!

This is a busy area, with many people walking and driving only feet away from this colony. Safety of humans has to take precedence over a colony of (likely) African Honey Bees.

Bees Buzzzzzzing you? Call us at 800-343-5317 or visit our website, ALL Florida Bee Removal

Richard Martyniak, M.Sc., Entomologist

The Villages Irrigation box bee removal

Wow, were these some mean bees!
African Killer Bees really prefer to build nests near or in the ground and we are now seeing loads of these defensive insects around The Villages.

The Villages Honey Bees in Water Meter

Bee Nest in Water Meter

One of the ways we can track the movement of African Honey Bees (AHB), aka Killer Bees, is by the nesting locations of service calls we receive. When we get a call where bees are nesting in a water meter, the probability if very high that these bees are AHB, and appropriate caution is advised, as this subspecies of Honey Bee can get very defensive, threatening people and pets.

What's really concerning me is the frequency of UNLICENSED operators attempting removal of these bee colonies. This photo shows a Honey Bee nest in a Villages water meter that a lawn care operator attempted to remove. He tried spraying alcohol on the bees, and when that didn't work, just left, leaving the lid open to robber bees from other bee colonies, which can make bees very, very defensive, leading to mass stinging events.

To top it off, he wanted to charge the client $100 for the removal. He's not licensed as a pest control operator, doesn't carry insurance, and put the homeowner at risk for a death or injury from a bee sting. Remember, many people are so allergic, that one sting can kill.

Please, contact us at 800.343.5317 for proper bee removal in the Villages, Lady Lake,  or anywhere in Florida.

Richard Martyniak, M.Sc., Entomologist