Los Altos Honey Bees

Redwood Shores Bee Removal – Bees In Wall Again

losaltoshoneybees — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:15 +0000

Wow, I cannot believe how many times I’ve removed bees from this property on Redwood Shores. Swarms keep moving into the stucco fence section, and I’ve recommended to leave the void open so we can remove the swarms easier, but also let’s set up swarm traps for anything else in the future. The bees actually this time moved into a section next to the last. And this colony swarmed many times before we got there as there were many opened queen cells, small population, and zero brood. We vacuumed all the bees and took them home to combine with another colony,.

Swarm Traps Continue To Lure Bee Swarms

losaltoshoneybees — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:23:44 +0000

I’m really glad that a local golf and country club is doing their part in protecting our local honeybees. They have several oak trees that have active hives in the hollows and they are willing to just let them be. To prevent swarms of bees from moving into their club house or other structures in the area they have placed a few swarm traps near the 6+ colonies. This would be my third time removing a swarm trap on the golf course.

We brought the swarm trap home in the evening to transfer them to a hive box. A small established colony.

Found a tiny queen. Either a virgin or just mated as there are no eggs on the fresh comb they built.

7+ Year Old Hive In Los Altos Hills – Bee Removal

losaltoshoneybees — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:00:59 +0000

Ed who actually contacted me in 2012 not regarding bee removal but wanting some help on starting some hives on his property, this year called and needed help on relocating a hive that has been living in the soffit for over 7 years. The bees have finally started to move into a lower unit of the property that he rents out and it was time to move them.

Above is where the bees are located. They are entering and exiting throuhg the rotted sideboard where a cleanout is sticking out. A thermal image shows where they are at.

Holy cow! This really feral hive wasn’t so kind. Pried just a little bit of the plywood and they were all over my dad and I. And throughout the removal they didn’t let up. My dad received several stings to the face and a couple of stings for me to my arm since I was the one cutting out the combs.

And finally we expose the large feral hive. They were completely out of room. TONS of bees!

Large comb sections were cut out slightly larger than deep hive body. Tons of brood and honey that rained on me as I was removing comb.

And yup, we caught the mighty queen that has been passing on the great survival genetics.

Adopt-A-Hive – New Bees For A Local Beekeeper

losaltoshoneybees — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:00:11 +0000

Rich contacted me a while back regarding getting some bees for his empty hives as his bees didn’t make it through Winter. Instead of buying packaged bees he wanted to try out some feral bees as they are more accustomed to our local environment.

He brings home the Stanford Alvarado colony that has a new queen that emerged last month from a queen cell. The colony is about 6 medium frames full with brood, honey, and all the goods. Thanks Rich for adopting this healthy colony of honeybees!

Mountain View Apartment Bees Rescued Instead Of Sprayed – Thanks Kevin!

losaltoshoneybees — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:00:15 +0000

We want to start this blog off by saying thanks to Kevin for calling us regarding bees at the apartment he rents instead of the property manager phoning an exterminator company to kill the bees. Kevin was very proactive in talking the property manager into having us rescue the bees and he even went up to the roof, removed the vent cover, and found the bees in a position where we can remove them all safely.

Here’s what we found when we arrived. The bees build near the top but started to move down after the cover was removed. But we were still able to reach them all with bee vac extensions.

Here’s our bee hero Kevin.

A nice looking large queen.

Thanks Kevin for calling us to rescue our local honeybees!

Honey Bees In Recycle Bin – Los Altos

losaltoshoneybees — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:00:44 +0000

A quick blog post. Honeybees seem to like garbage/recycle/compost bins, especially the smaller after-swarms. From the looks of this colony, they moved in, built out some comb, but decided to leave. Only like 20 bees were left after the family flew off to their new home.

5+ Year Old Hive Relocating, Homeowners As New Beekeepers – Menlo Park

losaltoshoneybees — Sun, 12 May 2013 15:00:22 +0000

Did a site check the other day after receiving a call from Sara of Menlo Park. They recently bought a house and is currently remodeling it. The neighbor told them that the hive have been there for over 5 years and each year it would throw off a couple of swarms. And from the looks of it, they are hot and overcrowded again. Possibly soon they will swarm again.

What’s so cool is that Sara and her husband Nick wants to relocate the bees to their backyard. So I sent them my beginner equipment list for them to order everything, then we will do a cutout and relocate them into Langstroth hive boxes so they can continue to thrive in the same neighborhood.

Attic Vent Hole Colony Rescued – Los Altos Bee Removal

losaltoshoneybees — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:00:10 +0000

Yup, another colony of bees that recently moved into the attic through the vent holes. It’s common for honeybees to find these locations suitable for their new home and we remove many each year. This one was a little trickier. Usually it’s fairly easy to cut the block and expose the hive. This one took a while to cut open because they had 2 pieces of 2×6 PLUS a piece of plywood! But nothing is too complicated for the Sawzall.

These girls built further in than normal but we were still able to reach them. See what they have built in less than a week! Swarms build up super fast.

Here’s our mighty queen.

Thanks Michelle and neighbor Amy for calling us to save our local honeybees!

Bees In Vent Hole – Los Altos Hills Bee Removal

losaltoshoneybees — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:00:55 +0000

The other day Andy of Los Altos Hills was outside and witnessed a swarm of honeybees move into his house through attic vent holes. It was a pretty large swarm and within 15 to 20 minutes they were all inside.

After removing a piece of 2×6 wood block we exposed the hive. They have built a few comb sections already and packed it with freshly collected nectar.

Here’s our queen. We found eggs on the small comb sections they built.

Thanks Andy for having us rescue our local honeybees!

Wasp Spray Do Not Kill Honeybee Colonies – Los Altos Bee Removal

losaltoshoneybees — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:00:09 +0000

Recently I heard on the news that Europe is trying to pass a law that make spraying honeybees illegal (I should dig that up and post it). I wish they would do the same here in California. We received a call of a honeybee colony living in a backyard shed, and the backyard faces a private school that has kids that are highly allergic to bee stings. So the homeowner decided to quickly deal with the situation by spraying the bees with a can of wasp killer. That didn’t do the job so he finally called us to remove the bees the correct way. It was a quick and simple removal, not even 2 hours and we were done.

Removes the drywall from the ceiling of the shed and exposed the hive after removing some old insulation and a lot of rat droppings (YUCK!). Small colony pretty far in from the entrance. The wasp spray would normally only kill what the liquid hits and possibly the bees on the first comb section at the entrance. Usually not killing the queen and the majority of the colony. Anyways, we removed the bees and all, and didn’t find the queen! Looked in every comb section we took out for eggs, none! The queen must have gone out for her mating flight and never made it back home. Anyways, combined these girls with another colony and they are not thriving.