Removal of colonies and swarms

The main business aspect of our apiary is the removal of honey bee colonies and swarms from places where people don't want them to be (inside the walls or eves of a house, hollow of a tree in your yard, etc). We remove the bees ALIVE and relocate them into a hive box in one of our bee-yards where they can be productive members of the environment pollinating crops, gardens, and flowers and produce honey.

Doing this is often times hard, hot, and sometimes dangerous work. For that reason, we DO charge for this service. How much depends on several factors - below is a generalized list, each case will need to be evaluated so that an accurate quote can be determined.

The first (and maybe the most important factor) is whether the bees are a COLONY or a SWARM.  The difference between these are that bees in a COLONY have made their permanent home in a location - they have built honey comb, the queen is laying eggs, and the workers are storing honey & pollen.  A SWARM is a mass of bees looking for a location to become their home.  The difference is illustrated by the 2 pictures on this page:  the first picture is a SWARM while the second is a COLONY.

As a general rule, we will collect a swarm for free.  The exception would be for an unusual circumstance - more than 20 miles from our home, more than 20' above the ground, etc.

The price for removing an established colony fluctuates a great deal more - generally the price starts at $350 and can go up or down based on the size of the colony, the aggressiveness level of the bees, the location of the colony (higher is more expensive), and the construction of the structure the hive is located.  It's often best to send a picture or even have me come by to look at the situation in order to give a firmer quote for the cost of the removal.

I am a proud member of the Texas Association of Professional Bee Removers.