Isla Vista and Santa Barbara swarms. A couple of late swarms - most likely will get added to another colony.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Sunday, October 14, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Santa Barbara Bee Removal
Hive in Electrical Box - Santa Barbara
Exterior electrical boxes need to be kept in good repair. Scout bees will find the crack in the boards (2nd photo) and direct the swarm to a new hive location. This was a new hive, 4 sheets of comb approx. 10 inches long. The owner was fortunate to have found it and have it removed sooner, rather than later. Given enough time, next spring the bees would have continued to draw out comb to cover the boxes and wiring shown.
Bee Removal Information - Types, Cost, Contact Info
Exterior electrical boxes need to be kept in good repair. Scout bees will find the crack in the boards (2nd photo) and direct the swarm to a new hive location. This was a new hive, 4 sheets of comb approx. 10 inches long. The owner was fortunate to have found it and have it removed sooner, rather than later. Given enough time, next spring the bees would have continued to draw out comb to cover the boxes and wiring shown.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Sunday, July 8, 2012
Lompoc Hive Removal
Hives can look inconspicuous, but letting them go unchecked for years just means there will be more to remove later. Many owners become accustomed to bees in a wall, shed, or out-building... but there always comes a time when the bees just become bothersome.
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| Storage Building - Yellow spots in lower right of photo is expanding foam - - It will not keep bees out! |
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| Low and behold - that hive was quite large, with at least 40 lbs. of excess honey! |
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Friday, June 15, 2012
Bee Removal Oak Tree
This is a great example of a bait hive set-up on a large oak tree. The hive has been present for quite some time, and at least one point in the past there was a failed attempt to exterminate the hive. With the proper set-up and follow-up a bait hive can be quite effective at removing bees from unwanted locations.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Santa Barbara Bee Removal
Here is a another example of bees moving into a roof space behind eaves that were not properly sealed. The bees have a hard time resisting a space that has a defensible (small opening) space that leads to a larger area behind. These bees were relocated before roofers were going to remove and replace the roof.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Friday, June 8, 2012
Live Bee Removal Santa Barbara
Live Bee Removal. Here is a series of photos that take you through the process of set-up, removal, clean-up before repair, and then the drywall patch to repair. The room is left the way it was found, clean and ready for living (minus a bit of touch up paint for the ceiling).
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| 1) Small hive that moved into attic space through the vent. |
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| 2) A shot of the room that has been screened off to help protect against dust, debris, and bees. |
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| 3) Bees and comb removed, insulation is placed in space after entrance has been closed. |
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| 4) The drywall is patched, taped, and first coat of mud applied before clean-up. |
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Saturday, June 2, 2012
Bee Removal Goleta
This is a great example of a hive that was located in the floor space of a backyard shed. The bees went unnoticed for more than a year since the hive entrance was on the side of the shed. The owner happened to notice a large amount of bees one sunny afternoon and tracked them back to the opening.
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| This was a piece of the floor that was cut out and flipped upside down to reveal the hive. Once the hive and bees were removed, the entrance was sealed, insulation was used to fill the space, and the floor was repaired. |
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Monday, May 28, 2012
Bee Swarm Removal Santa Barbara
A couple of photos that show the swarm ball before capture and then the box used to collect the bees. A frame of bee comb is placed in the box and the swarm ball is cut from the bush and carefully placed in the box. The lid is left ajar so returning bees can find the queen. The box is then picked up at dusk.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Santa Barbara Bee Removal
This hive was located in the side of a house entering through the plumbing access panel. If you have any such panels in our around your house make sure they have a good solid seal. If not you may be inviting bees to take up residence.
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| A bit lucky the bees started to draw comb near the entrance rather than down the wall along the side of the bathtub! |
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Bee Swarm Removal Santa Barbara
This is pretty typical. Bees regularly move into small spaces around a garden - compost bins, worm boxes, large covered pots, irrigation boxes.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Monday, May 14, 2012
Bee Removal Stucco Wall
This was a double hive removal from a long stucco wall that surrounds the main house on a ranch. The first hive was quite large, the bees accessing the wall space from a crack in the top caused by a large jacaranda branch. The second hive was much smaller, and it looked as if a something had been feeding on the comb. The crack in the stucco caused by age and deterioration.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Live Bee Removal Santa Barbara
Here's a typical Santa Barbara bee removal and another example of a small hole (great defensible space), that leads to a larger, dark space that can comfortably house a growing hive of bees. Left unchecked, hives in floor, wall, and attic spaces can grow to over 8 feet long. This hive was relatively young and only had 6 sheets of comb.
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| The hive entrance is right behind the base of the vines... it looks so innocent, almost hiding from the passerby. |
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| Under the shed between the shed floor and subfloor was 6 sheets of comb just like this one. This was a relatively new hive. |
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Bee Hive Removal Santa Barbara
What appeared to be a decent sized swarm after cutting back the trumpet vine ended up being a large established hive in the interior of the wall. The bees moved in through a hole created by a stake to wire and support the vine. I was a perfect space for the bees before being relocated to a more people friendly location of an orchard.
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| Oh, those pesky holes left in stucco... offer a defensible space to bees. |
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| The hive contained 7 sheets of large, wide comb. These were cut to fit and reattached to standard deep frames. |
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Monday, May 7, 2012
Bee Swarm Removal Isla Vista
This was a swarm was located at a large student housing construction site in Isla Vista. The crew closed up shop on Friday and found a high level of bee activity on the 3rd floor as they were prepping for drywall. After pulling down the insulation panel this large swarm was captured via Bee Vac and box.
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| A basketball size swarm that moved in above an insulation panel. |
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Sunday, May 6, 2012
Bee Removal Santa Ynez
This was a hive that wasn't immense in the size of comb already drawn out, but it was very large as far as the quantity of the number of bees present (possibly some robbing activity). It was tricky to access safely, a primary concern for the Santa Barbara Bee Company, but in the end all the comb and bees were relocated to a Santa Barbara orchard.
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| Looking out away from the hive as the foragers return from the field. |
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| A bit complicated to access - we used a small scaffold on the 1st story over hang to reach the light fixture that the bees moved in behind. |
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Sunday, April 29, 2012
Live Bee Removal - Lompoc Ranch
If you have had bees before, take care and seal up all cracks and openings. If you forget, or put it off until later you may be tempting fate! Bees love to move into spaces that already have a bee scent...
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Bee Removal Hope Ranch
This was a challenging removal - tight squeeze, red tile roof, stucco soffit.... lots of prep and set-up went in to this removal, but in the end all bees and comb were removed.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Monday, April 23, 2012
Bee Removal Santa Ynez
Bees like to move into spaces that house electrical boxes. This was at a home that had hook-ups for a generator, but the cover didn't have a good seal. These bees were relocated to an orchard in Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Goleta Bee Hive Removal
This was a fun removal for Goleta Valley Beautiful. The hive was located in the hollow of a large branch that had fallen and was sitting at the base of a tree reported to be approximately 250 years old. That would put this magnificent tree as a seedling in the year 1762... amazing!
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Exposed Hive Removal - Resort Hotel
This was an enormous exposed hive about 40 feet up in a very large oak tree. It is hard to judge size by the photo, but to give you perspective, once it was cut from the tree, we placed in in an extra large plastic trash can I picked up at OSH. I put a screened vent about midway up the can and a 4 inch wide slit at the bottom for an entrance. To get to the hive we had a Pettibone crane lift us up in a bucket.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Swarm Removal Santa Barbara
A swarm in a gutter. It seemed that the bees were attempting to enter the stucco soffit, underneath the eaves. This homeowner was lucky that we were able to scoop the bees into a box before they could find their way into a new home.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Saturday, April 7, 2012
Bee Hive / Swarm Removal Santa Barbara
This was a nice sized swarm that moved into a spa through the vent in the side panels. The bees had only been present for a couple of days and had already drawn out 1 oblong piece of comb approx. 8 inches long. There were a lot of bees, many more than can bee seen from the photo. The ball extended up several more inches above the red board.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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Monday, April 2, 2012
Santa Barbara Bee Swarm Removal
This was a very large swarm positioned up in a young jacaranda tree at a local shopping center. The ball was dropped into a box and then the box was placed into a tree to collect those still flying in the air.
Santa Barbara Bee Company - "A full service bee company!"
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