Do pest controllers do bee removal?

Pest Control bee removal is often done using an insecticide treatment. That is one of the biggest differences when asking a pest control company to remove bees. Pest controllers are qualified to use chemicals that they carry in their inventory.

However, bees are really important to the environment so we would recommend that treating bees should be a last resort for pest controllers and people who have bee problems. 

There are environmentally better options available out there such as companies that do live bee removal and also beekeepers.

We would recommend that you contact the beekeeper at least initially to see how they might be able to help and give advice but do be aware that beekeepers are experts in beekeeping they’re not necessarily experts in removing bees alive from buildings. In this case, you need someone with building and bee removal experience and not someone who just knows how to look after bees in an artificial hive.

The other option available is live bee removal. We recommend that you try to seek non-lethal more environmentally friendly solutions first before insecticidal treatment is even considered. 

When it comes to pest control bee removal, there are codes of practice to be adhered to when it comes to treating bees. For example, treatment shouldn’t be done during the honey flow months (spring to summer months) because the honey caps in the honeycomb are open and the insecticide that’s introduced to the hive contaminates the honey a lot easier. In the winter the combs are capped off by wax so the insecticide doesn’t contaminate the combs as easily. 

In winter there are also not as many foraging bees that will rob the honey out of the treated uncapped cells within the colony. Foraging bees steal the contaminated honey and fly that back to other wild colonies and beekeepers’ colonies which in turn will contaminate those hives. Insecticide gets in the human food chain and it also kills other wild bees and/or the beekeeper’s bees. 

Another code of practice to consider is that treated bees must be sealed into the void space. Once treatment has been done and at the correct time of year, the entrances to where the bees are going should then be sealed so no other foraging bees can go in and steal the honey. The problem with this method is you are sealing in the honeycomb which can end up dripping into the building in the future and it will be attractive for other bees. 

Sealing the bees in can be ineffective because the bees will sneak out from other entry points may be three meters or six meters over which you may not be aware of.

We have encountered situations where bees have found another entry point or chewed through the silicone that was used to seal that entry point. Expanding foam, silicones and other building sealants are not effective in stopping bees from getting into the area they were colonising. 

If the bees are treated and the honeycomb sealed in and you are later advised to remove the treated honeycomb because it is rotting or leaking or attracting other pests, then you might as well have removed the bees alive with the comb in the first place.

Also, if you’re going to remove the treated honeycomb from the void space, you’ve still got to take the building apart to extract the honeycomb and you’ve got the problem of contaminated comb being out in the open, instead of being in a contained area. The contaminated honey may drip out onto the scaffolding or floor during the removal, attracting bees. The honeycomb will also need to be disposed of correctly and not sent to a landfill where foraging bees will access the treated honey and take it back to their colonies.

If a chemical treatment is done, then:

• • correct chemicals need to be used 
  • treatments must be done by a qualified professional
  • professional needs to record the treatment (this is a legal requirement). 
  • You will need a copy of the treatment report to which must state: 
    • what chemical has been used 
    • where the chemical has been used 
    • how much of the chemical they’ve used
  • Treated honeycombs must be bagged and are never to go to a landfill site but should rather be incinerated so wild and beekeeper’s colonies are not contaminated.

We have been called out to a home where a bee treatment had been done by someone else. The client still had bees there and they had been there for many years and they called a company out to help who sprayed the bees. They went out four times to treat the bees. After two years they called us out and asked us to remove the bees.

The bees had been going in through a tiled roof. There had been an attempt to seal in the entry points the bees were using which was an area of about 2m2. 

They used silicone to seal in the bees in that area but the bees just used the next entry/exit point they could find.

The client then Googled and found us. We went out and had a look at the problem and recommended doing a cut-out to remove the honeycomb and the bees. Usually, we would re-home the bees with the comb but as it was contaminated with insecticide we now had to destroy the honeycomb and take it off for incineration. In this case, we were able to remove the complete problem and sealed it all over.

The cost of bee treatment would normally be somewhere between £150 to £700. A wasp nest can range anywhere from £30 up to £150 alone. Bee treatment is the same as a wasp nest treatment, the only difference is the code of practice on how the bees are treated. This can be found on the British Pest Control Association website (BPCA).

Remember, bee treatment is often ineffective and doesn’t normally solve the problem. Initially, it might seem like it is but what you end up with is other foraging bees moving into that area or stealing the honey from the treated hive. If the bees were getting into the building again you just need to be careful with using insecticide because the insecticide can enter the living space of the property too which can be unsafe. If a bee can enter the living space then a tiny particle of dust that is used in the insecticide can enter the living space too.