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Author Topic: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday  (Read 9741 times)

Offline mtman1849

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Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« on: September 09, 2008, 09:20:12 pm »
I got a call yesterday for a lady that says she has honeybees in a tree in her back yard I am going to look at it Saturday if they are indeed honeybees the next Saturday I am going to cut the tree because she says she wants it and the bees gone.  I Plan to go up on Friday night and close the entrance with hardware cloth and go back Saturday morning and cut the tree. cut off above the entrance and below the hive close each end hopefully just the bottom and take entire section of the tree with the bee home, and then next spring put them in a box hopefully this will allow them to survive the winter.  I think this will be the best way to do it anyone else got any better idea.

Offline Moonshae

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2008, 02:04:30 pm »
I had a similar job, but that log will be HEAVY!

Minimize the time it spends laying it its side, and you should be ok. When you get the log to the site where it will spend the winter, cut the bottom off, so that there's only a small entrance, much like our hives, and put the log on a bottom board. Then you can cut the top off to expose the comb, and nail a piece of plywood the size of a super to the top, with a hole in the middle, about the size of the hole inside. You can then put a box on top with comb, honey, or whatever you think they might need...you can even put a feeder on top of that box if you want.

In the spring, since the bees will be up high in the log, you can remove a good portion of the bottom, and add supers to the top to give the bees room to do most of their work. As long as there are frames in the hive that can be removed to inspect for disease, the combs in the log won't be an issue (according to my state bee inspector). I intend to keep the log hive as is, with just some supers on top to comply with the law.

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Offline mtman1849

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2008, 04:08:48 pm »
OK I went 80 mile round trip to tell them they have yellowjackets #$%^ I am going to have to change the way I do things if they don't know what they have and I have to drive out just to identify what they have I think it should be a 25 dollar identification fee.

Offline Bill W.

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2008, 04:52:50 pm »
Yep - you're going to look at a lot of wasps.  I haven't yet found the magic question to ask to make sure they're bees.

I charge mileage for the evaluation if they don't turn out to be bees.  Just telling people they are going to have to pay $10-$20 makes them more cautious and they back off their "definitely bees" stance and listen to the questions more carefully.

Offline poka-bee

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2008, 04:55:36 pm »
Yep, the identification fee sounds good! Constantly amazed @ how dumb/lazy some people are...almost everyone has the internet & spend countless hours looking at who knows what useless info...how hard would it be for them to take a gander at bugs?? Or go to the library to look @ bug books..if you are concerned enough to call someone for removal, you would think you would know just what you are removing..:roll: I wonder if these are the people that Chapstick has the "don't put in eye" warning for..?? :-X  My daughter goes on & on & Kathy P was right in her post last night!
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Offline JP

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2008, 06:38:02 pm »
Yep, the identification fee sounds good! Constantly amazed @ how dumb/lazy some people are...almost everyone has the internet & spend countless hours looking at who knows what useless info...how hard would it be for them to take a gander at bugs?? Or go to the library to look @ bug books..if you are concerned enough to call someone for removal, you would think you would know just what you are removing..:roll: I wonder if these are the people that Chapstick has the "don't put in eye" warning for..?? :-X  My daughter goes on & on & Kathy P was right in her post last night!

Some people honestly don't know what they're dealing with, many are afraid to get too close for fear of being stung.

I had one last yr upon first sighting that I thought were honeybees going underneath a garage door that wound up being hornets that built a nest around a broom, was pretty cool actually.

Because I am a licensed PCO I took care of 'em and in fact have the queen in a vial of alcohol, a big sucker, 5 times as big as the others in the nest.

People are so friggin' weird when it comes to paying, some don't want to chalk out even $25.00 if you traveled over there and evaluated their problem, I am 100% for a fee, depending on how far you have to travel.

I explain to them that there will be a charge, if they don't bite, well, I guess its time to move on.

Freebies don't pay for gas money, which BTW just went up!


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Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2008, 02:43:44 am »
I'm against the fee idea.  A fee may drive some people to pull out a $5 can of raid on good honeybees rather than call a beek and maybe be wrong and get charged $25.

Think about the monetary value of the bees you do get... doesn't that just about pay for the wasted trips you sometimes make?

Offline Bill W.

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2008, 03:41:55 am »
I get three duds for every bee call and typically put in a 60 mile round trip.

I can do splits for free.  I prefer to at least cover my expenses.

Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #8 on: September 14, 2008, 04:45:38 am »
Even at today's gas prices... that's a little less than $40 per captured swarm...

Now let's say instead of combining or whatever, you just packaged up the swarm, marked the queen, and sold it as package bees... you could sell it for $60-80 these days, depending on the size.  So that's still a profit of $20-40 depending on the size.  Of course, that doesn't pay you for your time very well, especially after you take out the expenses of the packaging materials... but it's still a profit.

Yeah, you could make splits for free... and if you want to do that instead, you could just pass off swarm calls to another local beek... I'm sure there's someone near you that'd be happy to take them.  If I lived up there, I definately would.

Offline JP

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #9 on: September 14, 2008, 01:02:05 pm »
Even at today's gas prices... that's a little less than $40 per captured swarm...

Now let's say instead of combining or whatever, you just packaged up the swarm, marked the queen, and sold it as package bees... you could sell it for $60-80 these days, depending on the size.  So that's still a profit of $20-40 depending on the size.  Of course, that doesn't pay you for your time very well, especially after you take out the expenses of the packaging materials... but it's still a profit.

Yeah, you could make splits for free... and if you want to do that instead, you could just pass off swarm calls to another local beek... I'm sure there's someone near you that'd be happy to take them.  If I lived up there, I definately would.

Capturing a swarm is one thing Sarge but removing bees from a structure or tree is a different ballgame alltogether.

Most that start off doing removals for FREE wind up charging after the first few.


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Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2008, 04:26:55 pm »
Capturing a swarm is one thing Sarge but removing bees from a structure or tree is a different ballgame alltogether.

Most that start off doing removals for FREE wind up charging after the first few.


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Oh yeah, I completely agree with that.  We were just talking about swarms before though.

Offline Moonshae

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2008, 04:36:11 pm »
Once some people know the value of bees, and you offer to collect them for free, they begin to believe they have a product, and that you should be paying them, since you're going to "profit" from what you're taking away. Charging for the service of removing bees, whether a swarm or a cutout, makes the beekeeper look like a professional.

I now charge $100 to come and look at a potential cutout ($50 to collect swarms). If they decide to hire me, I credit the $100 against the removal fee, but this protects me against the yellowjacket calls. I'm not desperate for the bees or money, so I'm willing to let a job slip by if the person is too cheap to pay the fee. My time is worth something to me, too, and with the schedule juggling I've had to do sometimes to accommodate people, I feel fully justified charging for my time and expertise...plumbers and electricians are specialists and don't do jobs for free...why should we?
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Offline Irwin

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2008, 04:51:10 pm »
Once some people know the value of bees, and you offer to collect them for free, they begin to believe they have a product, and that you should be paying them, since you're going to "profit" from what you're taking away. Charging for the service of removing bees, whether a swarm or a cutout, makes the beekeeper look like a professional.

I now charge $100 to come and look at a potential cutout ($50 to collect swarms). If they decide to hire me, I credit the $100 against the removal fee, but this protects me against the yellowjacket calls. I'm not desperate for the bees or money, so I'm willing to let a job slip by if the person is too cheap to pay the fee. My time is worth something to me, too, and with the schedule juggling I've had to do sometimes to accommodate people, I feel fully justified charging for my time and expertise...plumbers and electricians are specialists and don't do jobs for free...why should we?
I agree one hundred percent if I have to take time off work to do some thing like a cut out I better get some money for my time even if I do get the bees
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Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #13 on: September 14, 2008, 04:54:14 pm »
why should we?

Because they have a very cheap alternative... to swarms anyway (cutouts are different, and I'm only talking about swarms here)... nuke the bees... so I hope at least, if they pass on your services, you point them to someone who will come get them for free. 

Offline JP

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #14 on: September 15, 2008, 12:48:50 am »
I've stated before that I don't have a minimum that I charge on removals, yes some people don't want to pay but some really just don't have the money, I do my best to work with these types.

I don't know many plumbers or electricians who do not charge for their services, removing bees from a structure is at times challenging and time consuming, not to mention the fact that you are dealing with thousands of stinging insects, while wearing protective gear in most instances while sweating your arse off in very warm temps.


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Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #15 on: September 15, 2008, 07:39:49 am »
I've stated before that I don't have a minimum that I charge on removals, yes some people don't want to pay but some really just don't have the money, I do my best to work with these types.

I don't know many plumbers or electricians who do not charge for their services, removing bees from a structure is at times challenging and time consuming, not to mention the fact that you are dealing with thousands of stinging insects, while wearing protective gear in most instances while sweating your arse off in very warm temps.


...JP

I'll bet their homeowners insurance would pay for it if you billed them... they do on termite damage, so why not bee damage?

Offline JP

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #16 on: September 15, 2008, 07:47:02 am »
I've stated before that I don't have a minimum that I charge on removals, yes some people don't want to pay but some really just don't have the money, I do my best to work with these types.

I don't know many plumbers or electricians who do not charge for their services, removing bees from a structure is at times challenging and time consuming, not to mention the fact that you are dealing with thousands of stinging insects, while wearing protective gear in most instances while sweating your arse off in very warm temps.


...JP

I'll bet their homeowners insurance would pay for it if you billed them... they do on termite damage, so why not bee damage?

Home owner's doesn't cover for termite damage nor bees, at least not in Louisiana.


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Offline SgtMaj

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #17 on: September 15, 2008, 07:54:29 am »
Home owner's doesn't cover for termite damage nor bees, at least not in Louisiana.

...JP

Oh, well I guess that varies state to state then.  My brother's house was nearly completely destroyed by termites, and his insurance paid for not only the damage to the house, but also for their removal.  He lived in Lakeland, FL at that time though.

Offline JP

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #18 on: September 15, 2008, 07:56:37 am »
Home owner's doesn't cover for termite damage nor bees, at least not in Louisiana.

...JP

Oh, well I guess that varies state to state then.  My brother's house was nearly completely destroyed by termites, and his insurance paid for not only the damage to the house, but also for their removal.  He lived in Lakeland, FL at that time though.

Home owner's?


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Offline Moonshae

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Re: Going to look at a bee tree Saturday
« Reply #19 on: September 15, 2008, 04:53:53 pm »

Because they have a very cheap alternative... to swarms anyway (cutouts are different, and I'm only talking about swarms here)... nuke the bees... so I hope at least, if they pass on your services, you point them to someone who will come get them for free. 

I don't point them to people who do the job for free...not too many businesses will tell you, "Don't hire me, go to my competitor, they're cheaper." Before I wised up and started charging, I'd driven an hour on a couple of swarm calls to remove bees that were the size of a tennis ball, or a baseball. Of course, the homeowners described them as "huge" swarms. The number of bees definitely didn't pay for the gas.

Swarm removal is a professional service, and charging a fair price is reasonable...and most people don't blink an eye at the cost, because it isn't unreasonable. $50 to have someone else deal with them vs. buying $15 of wasp spray and having to get close to the swarm and hope you get them all before they get you isn't a tough decision for most people.
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