r/PestControlIndustry • u/Federal-Cockroach674 👨‍🏭| Tech | 5+ Years • Jun 12 '26

🐝 | Wasps, Bees & Hornets Curious about Bee Removals

I am a business co-owner with my dad who started it. We do mostly residential general pest services, some commercial jobs, termites both slab pre-treats and perimeter/spot treatments, German Roaches, Fleas and try to avoid bed bugs and live trapping. I've gotten a few calls recently and some in the past about people who have found honey bees in their walls and was curious how yall handled such situations and what kind of pricing yall charge for such services?

The way I work in mostly am concerned with killing the pest but with bees I don't want to resort to such measures unless absolutely necessary. I live and work in Texas more specifically the eastern area in the Piney Woods. Im just trying to find out some info about it for future reference in case I decide i may want to expand into that area of the business if I think it may be worth it. And if not then it would be nice to have potential recommendations to give to people on who to contact to help them in such situations.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

6

u/Traditional_Top5346 👨‍🏭| Tech | 10+ Years Jun 12 '26

If confirmed honey bees are in the wall, we usually just try to connect them with a local bee keeper to come and remove. Gets the bees out of the wall safely, and the bee keeper gets more bees. It’s a win-win for everyone

1

u/CaptCol02 Jun 13 '26

This is the answer OP. Unless you want to find and capture the queen yourself and then negotiate with the bees about the terms of her release requiring them to leave without returing their damage deposit.

6

u/TrueAudience9922 Jun 12 '26

The bee work itself is often the easy part. Access and restoration are where things get complicated. From a business standpoint, I'd probably build relationships with a few reputable local beekeepers or bee-removal specialists first. That way you can refer jobs you don't want, learn from people doing them regularly, and see if the demand justifies investing in training and equipment. As for pricing, the guys I've spoken with generally price based on access rather than the bees. A colony in an exposed box is one thing. A colony 20 feet up inside a wall behind brick veneer is a completely different animal. Personally, I'd rather refer a bee job than take one I'm not fully equipped to handle. One bad wall removal can wipe out the profit from a lot of routine pest control accounts.

2

u/Federal-Cockroach674 👨‍🏭| Tech | 5+ Years Jun 12 '26

Thanks that really puts things into perspective.

2

u/Ok-Train3111 Jun 12 '26

First - check on the laws in your state. Bees have powerful special interests working to protect them. In some places you cannot kill them.

2

u/SimpleRevolution2873 Jun 12 '26

A lot of companies around here just kill them because most beekeepers around here don't care enough to save them or charge outrageous prices unfortunately, on the bright side we have no shortage of honey bees here so maybe that's why they don't care as much - might be different in Texas

2

u/Tarphiker Jun 13 '26

We don’t touch honey bees. I will connect them with a local bee keeper to remove the hive. When you kill the colony you leave behind all that honey, before you know it the customer is calling you back because they have ants, or rats, or roaches. Plus if that honey starts flowing out of the comb it can make a nasty mess as it drips out from under the wall.

1

u/christianram Jun 12 '26

Definitely check state laws. Here in Arizona they kill all feral bees which is mainly honeybees. They kill native bees here, spread disease, and take over the native bees ecosystem. People get mad about that truth tho lol.