Live Bee Removal
I WANT TO SAVE THE BEES, IS A LIVE BEE REMOVAL SAFE?
Avondale Bee Keepers has noticed an increase in "self proclaimed" beekeepers, new Avondale Bee Keepers "live bee removal" companies and some Avondale Bee Keepers pest control companies offering live bee removal services that are advertising in Avondale Bee Keepers, many with low cost pricing and many with "lip service" guarantees. These people offering live bee removal are particularly targeting the greater metropolitan areas of Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona and Avondale Bee Keepers. Their presenting sales approach is that honey bees are scarce now because of a phenomena called "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD), as has been recently popular in the news media, and that honey bee colonies and bee swarms, Africanized or not, have value to the environment, to beekeepers, and should, at all costs, be saved and protected. They generally advertise humane treatment and promise that the honeybees will be safely hived and maintained. Many will say that your honeybees are not African honeybees and assure you that you did the right thing by calling them.
African beehives are resistant to a new variant of the Nosema virus that is attributed to cause Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Our Avondale Bee Keepers dry desert environment does not support the Nosema virus. Additionally, African bees themselves swarm frequently to avoid disease and Varro Mite infestation as part of their survival strategy; and because Africanized honeybees swarm frequently, they will infest an area with abundant forage and water sources very quickly throughout the year. Arizona is the only state in the US that has been declared completely Africanized from border to border in our feral wild bee population by the US Dept. of Agriculture. Avondale Bee Keepers is particularly vulnerable to African bee infestation because of the abundant flowering plants and trees and water sources available in Avondale Bee Keepers residential areas. Also, to recondition an Africanized honey bee colony back into a domesticated European honeybee colony takes a great deal of work, time, expense and constant vigilance by a professional beekeeper. Most commercial beekeeping companies will not take the time or suffer the expense to do it at all. Many of these "save the bees", "live bee removal" companies simply kill the bee swarm or bee colony after they are removed from your site, release them elsewhere or allow them to suffocate in a closed container during transport away from your Avondale Bee Keepers home or property.
If you really want to save the African bee swarm, beehive or bee colony, you will have to be patient and search the internet for legitimate beekeeping associations and inquire to see if any of their beekeepers is collecting Africanized honeybees for their own use. If a beekeeper really wants them, he will do the bee removal and honeycomb removal for free, do it properly and give you some assurance that bees won't return to the site. Be careful here as well. Usually, the beekeeper is unlicensed by the State of Arizona Office of Pest Management and will be only interested in the bees and not worry about the damage to your home or your liability if people are hurt in the process, much less have the insurance or the skill to protect you or your home investment. Most beekeepers and "live bee removal" companies will not even attempt to remove African bees in a structural cavity on your Avondale Bee Keepers home or on your property, but will then try to sell you bee extermination once they arrive on site after saying they can't save them because of the difficulty. Again, buyer beware, you get what you pay for!