So, you’ve lived in Florida for many years and never had a beeproblem? Well, don’t beesurprised if that changes. This has been an extraordinarily buzzybeeseason!
Why?
Thankfully, the dearth of beesthat we had been warned about seems to have reversed and the beepopulation in Florida (and in other parts of the US) has increased, some say due to restoration of a natural cycle, and others say due to the prolific nature of Africanized honeybees, whose queens each lay up to 2,000 eggs per day.
Where will I see bees?
In Florida, there are hardly any “Winnie-the-Pooh”-type dome-shaped beehives in trees. Permanent homes in trees are within a hole in the trunk or aerial nests, multiple layers of honeycomb containing one queen, a few thousand bees, honey, and brood (eggs sealed in wax chambers).
And if beehives are not often in trees, WHERE ARE THEY?
Almost anywherethat the queen and her colony will be out of Florida’s intense sun is where a hive may bee.
Among the most common places for bees to establish a beehive colony are:
beeneath roof tiles, in soffits, or inside roofs of houses or sheds;
In dog houses or chicken coops or rabbit hutches or bird houses;
beeneath floors of work sheds or children’s play sets;
inside overturned flowerpots or canoes or boats;
beeside or beehind electrical meter boxes or cables or spigots;
in bushes, attics, mailboxes, or hollows of trees;
beeneath mobile homes or work trailers;
within bar-b-que grills or outdoor furniture;
beetween storm windows or beetween windows and storm shutters;
in trash piles or wood piles;
beeneath or within abandoned autos, trailers, or pop-ups….
What clues let me know that I actually have a bee problem?
OBVIOUS CLUE:
seeing a concentration of bees on or ina single location
NOT ObviousBUT very importantCLUES:
seeing a few, even one or two,bees crawling or flyingin
and/or out of one location
seeing even a fewbees simply hoveringoutside one place
finding dead or dying bees inside a room or a light fixture
finding dead or dying bees in a swimming pool or birdbath or fountain
If there are bees, any amount of bees,
in the same place
on the outside of a structure
for more than 2 days,
you can BET there are THOUSANDS of bees on the inside, plus at least one layer of wax honeycomb, and a very buzzy queen that places each of nearly 2,000 eggs a day into a cell so the worker bees may protect the eggs with a nearly-impervious layer of wax.
What do I doif I suspect I have a beeproblem on my property?
The State of Florida advises that all feral bees, that is, those bees not beeing raised by beekeepers, should be CONSIDERED AFRICANIZED. That means that you should consider all bees as potentially dangerous, regardless of how long they have been in that location! When Africanized bees sting, they release a scent that can attract thousandsof other bees to attack.
Jerry Hayes, chief apiary inspector for the state Department of Agriculture, advises that, “If there is a beehive on your property, do not attempt to remove it or exterminate the bees yourself. Call a professional pest control company.” Africanizedbeestings have caused the deaths of people, pets, and livestock. In Florida, the sole human fatality was in Okeechobee County in April, 2008.
BEE Alert If you see bees, note their behavior. Watch where they are and what they are doing so you may give a professional beeremoval specialist an accurate description of the situation. Most exterminators do not eradicate bees.
BEE Cautiousabout walking near or working near bees. Machinery, motors, lawn mowers, and even loud laughing or barking dogs can irritate bees and cause them to attack to defend their home and their babies.
BEE Awareof the environment around the bees, and if there is someone or something that may upset the hive, try to warn of the impending danger.
BEE Educated! Do NOT stand still if you are beeing attacked by bees. RUN!
Run as fast as you can and for as long as you can until you get to a safe location. Adult bees can fly 12-15 miles per hour for 50 yards or less. However, AHBs keep coming even after 150 yards, 1 1/2 football fields! Go inside a vehicle or a structure and close the door IMMEDIATELY!
BEE Safe! Do NOT jump into water! bees may hover and wait for you to surface
Better BEE Safe than Sorry!
If you have trouble breathing after beeing stung, CALL 911!
Call a professional Bee Removal Expert and DEMAND the REMOVAL of BOTH the beesAND the entire honeycomb. Having the honeycomb remain inside the structure will leave you open to the following problems:
...baby bees maturing and regenerating a new hive in the same place
...putrid stench from decaying dead bees and rotting honey
...infestation of ants, roaches, and/or rodents to the smell of honey
...emergence of maggots of small hive beetles, wax moths, carpet beetles
...wax melting in Florida’s heat, causing honey to drip inside the walls, possibly damaging the drywall, other walls, and other parts of the structure
A Few Things That Don’t Work:
...using over-the-counter insect sprays and foggers--they are almost useless. Even if you succeed in killing hundreds of bees, the following day, about 1,000 baby bees will hatch within the honeycomb.
...plugging the bees’ entrance--that will not suffocate the bees. If the bees cannot get
out from their usual exit to get nectar and pollen and water, they will find another hole.
If that hole is a crack that leads into a bedroom or bathroom or living room, you will havebees INSIDE your home.
...smoking bees tells them, like it would tell any creatures, “Danger!” The bees may
go further into the structure to get to a safer place, or they may fly awaytemporarily
until the smoke dissipates. (You would go home, too, if you had left your home and your babies.)
...spraying into entrance/exit holes of a beenest going into a home or garage-- generally, the spray will not reach deep enough into the void so the nest remains protected, and once you contaminate the entrance hole/crack/crevice, often bees will move laterally inside the wall to find another path out. FREQUENTLY, the new path “out” is INTO THE HOME!
A Few Things To ABSOLUTELYAVOID:
NEVER put gasoline on a rag to stuff into the opening that the bees are entering.
NEVER USE FIRE to get rid of bees on a home, shed, deck, or tree.
Why are bees on my property?
There is no answer to that. Many beautiful gardens with flowering plants have foraging bees, bees that come for the day to get nectar or pollen, but those gardens have no residential hives. And, many urban areas with sparse patches of greenery are infested with multiple hives.
Cases in point are 3 communities, 1 of townhomes, 1 of condominiums/rental apartment buildings, and 1 of single-family homes. Each of these associations had multiple beehives to deal with in 2008.
The initial attraction of bees to these communities is unknown, but there is a simple explanation for the nearly exponential increase in bee activity within these properties: when bees establish a hive within a structure such as a soffit, they build honeycomb between beams. When their living quarters become overcrowded, a second queen is hatched. (Remember that (1) the queen lays 2,000 eggs or so per day, and (2) additional layers of wax are made to hold enough honey to feed the larger number of bees and to prepare cells for the baby bees.) One queen departs with half of the bees to find a new home, while the other remains in the original location, working further on that hive. Since the structures of the buildings within each complex are the same, bees recognize a
good place to make a new home.
Beetween March and July of 2008, the townhome association in Hollywood, Florida, needed removal of twenty-six (26) beehives in soffits and mansards among the large number of buildings on the property.
Three of our best two-person teams of BeeRemoval Specialists (four guys and two gals) worked simultaneously to eradicate these numerous problems that had negatively impacted residents’ lives and were giving the Homeowners’ Association major headaches. We opened each mansard and suffix minimally after ascertaining the primary (and, in some cases, secondary) entrance/exit. We inserted electronic scopes to determine the location of the honeycombs or, if the honeycomb was not visible, the direction of the bees’ flight toward the hive. Then the structure was opened, always right on the mark, and the bees, wax, and honey were manually extracted completely and removed from the premises.
The sizes of the beehives and colors of the wax varied considerably. A few hives were comprised of white-ish or beige wax, most were tan to golden brown, and a handful were dark brown, indicating that the hives had been inside those structures between weeks and a year or longer. Some hives were basketball-sized, others were garbage can-sized, and eleven were large, the largest being 75,000bees with 150 pounds of honey!
Five full days of work time were needed to complete the eradication, though, in order to address the beeremoval needs of our other customers, the work on these townhouses was staggered. Prices for bee hive removal varied and were assessed according to the sizes of the colonies, specifically, the amount of the active beepopulation and the quantity of wax and honey extracted. Fees ranged from $195-$1795.
BIOGRAPHY
William (WillieTheBeeMan) Sklaroff became a bee hobbyist and registered beekeeper 18 years ago. People who had bee problems called him to remove swarms and hives from their residential and commercial properties. Initially, WillieTheBeeMan did bee removal after teaching kindergarten at Martin Luther King Elementary School in Miami; subsequently, bee removal became a full-time occupation, so that currently WillieTheBeeMan's staff consists of The Buzzy Dozen and 9 vehicles resolving bee problems throughout Florida and in Texas.
As Africanized Bees were becoming problematic, WillieTheBeeMan flew to California for intensive training, and on May 14, 2004, WillieTheBeeMan became the 1st Florida bee removal specialist to be awarded Certification as EXPERT in the control of Africanized Honey Bees. He subsequently became member of Florida's Africanized Honey Bee Task Force.
Father of 6 and caretaker of 5 stray cats and thousands of bees, WillieTheBeeMan and his family-owned and family-operated company are thoroughly committed to education, teaching other pest control operators through the Certified Pest Control Operators Association of Florida; educating children via career days and in-class presentations; and holding bee safety programs for Florida Power and Light, community groups, and myriad homeowners associations. Featured on National Geographic tv's "Animal Extractors", WillieTheBeeMan.com is also spokesman for Haagen-Dazs whose program,
"Help the Honey Bees," is increasing public awareness of the value of bees.
GLOSSARY
Africanized honeybeesare much more aggressive than European honeybees. These "killer bees”, imported to Brazil in1957 to create a super-productive breed, mated with European honeybees, which are similar in sizeand function--they both produce honey and pollinate plants. AHBs are verydangerous to people and animals near their nests; they attack in hugenumbers and will chase their victims for 1/4 mile, even hovering when a would-be attacker is seeking safety under water. From Brazil, they spread, and a 2007 study of wild bees in Florida, showed 87% were Africanized bees. AHBs attack European beehives, killing the queen and installing their own. AHB queens lay nearly 2,000 eggs every day!
Bumblebeesare large, hairy, and generally black and yellow. These bees are social and live long lives in colonies in tropical areas like Florida.
Carpenter beeswork individually, usually digging. Unlike most other bees, Carpenter bees cannot prepare wax, but rather, make tunnels in solid wood
Digger beesare unusual to most Floridians because, unlike what people expect, these bees stay in the ground and excavate nests inside wood. Digger bees work individually and also communally with other bees of their hive.
Honeyis man's oldest sweetener, a lower caloric substitute for sugar in drinks and food. It contains vitamins B1, B2, C, B6, B5 and B3, which change according to the quantities of nectar and pollen from which the honey is made. Also, honey is a good source of antioxidants and small quantities of copper, iodine, and zinc.
Local raw honeyis usually available at farmer’s markets, natural food stores, and sometimes in the health food section of your grocery store. When ingested with water, raw unfiltered honey diffuses into the bloodstream in 7 minutes, thereby providing energy and decreasing fatigue. Store-bought honey is pasteurized and processed, and, as a result, beneficial bacteria have been "cooked" out.
Pollenis the male seed of flowers and is required for fertilization of a plant. Bee pollenis the food of the young bee, comprised of about 40% protein with a full complement of amino acids, essential fatty acids and vitamins that are said to help regulate mood of humans. Bee pollen, 'the perfect food”, contains mono and polyunsaturated fats, vitamins B, C, D, E, and beta-carotene, --and more than 96 nutrients, including iron, manganese, copper, calcium, magnesium, selenium, nucleic acids, lecithin, zinc, and potassium, minerals with proven health benefits.
Royal jellyis a substance produced by worker bees inside the beehive. Inside this nutritious substance are sugar, proteins, fats and vitamins. It is used to address problems caused by tissue deficiency or body weakness.
Supplements of bee pollenhave been claimed to help control the stress, increase energy and endurance, improve vitality, extend longevity, add weight during convalescence, reduce cravings and addictions to processed sugars, and even prevent infectious diseases such as the cold and flu.
Venom from bees possesses medicinal properties recorded from antiquity. Written evidence and observations of many beekeepers affirm the effectiveness of bee venom in treating rheumatic fever, neuritis, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.
Uses of Honey
To Heal Dry Skin: Mix 1teaspoon honey, 1 teaspoon olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice. Apply to hands, elbows, knees, heels, and wash off after 15 minutes.
For Healthy Hair: Mix equal parts of honey and olive oil. Leave on 20 minutes or more. Then wash your hair thoroughly.
To Relieve a Sore Throat: Put 1 teaspoon honey into a tablespoon and fill the rest of the spoon with lemon juice. Swallow without water every few hours.
For a Natural Facial Cleansing Scrub: Mix honey with ground almonds
To Tighten Skin: Mix 1 tablespoon honey with 1 egg white, 1 teaspoon glycerin and 1/4-1/3 cup flour. Smooth onto the face, leave on 15 minutes, and rinse with warm water.
To Moisturize Skin: Mix 2 tablespoons honey with 2 teaspoons whole milk, smooth on face and throat for 15 minutes. Rinse off with warm water, and splash with cold water.
A FEW INTERESTING NOTES:
Honey is potentially useful for treating wounds in earthquake-stricken and war-torn areas where running water is scarce and often contaminated. It is beeing used in Iraq and Third World countries to treat children’s burn wounds.
There are 20,000 types of bees.
Approximately one half of the human diet is derived directly or indirectly from crops pollinated by bees.
Bees are the most important pollinators of native plants in Florida, although many other organisms (e.g., butterflies, moths, beetles, and birds) contribute to pollination.
Pure Beeswax is one of nature's most perfect products. Beeswax candles burn longer and cleaner than ordinary wax candles, having the highest melting point of any wax. Its slow, smokeless flame gives off more light and heat than other waxes and is dripless if kept away from drafts and fans. Beeswax has a sweet, natural fragrance since it is made by bees from the nectar of flowers.
