The Reason Beekeepers Will Charge for Bee Removal

If you have ever needed services that handle bee removal in Orange County, you may have come across two different kinds of beekeepers: the ones that charge for their services and the ones that don’t. Most beekeepers do charge a fee for the removal service; however, there are a select few that do not require payment. Since there is a slight discrepancy in this field, it is important to discuss the reasons why beekeepers deserve compensation whether or not they charge a price. 

Residents in need of beekeepers for bee removal in Orange County often assume that this is a mutually beneficial transaction: residents don’t want bees, beekeepers do. Honey bees, in particular, are regarded as a certain commodity, which is why many people expect beekeepers to do the job without compensation. However, this is not necessarily the case. Bee removal is not an easy job, even for professionally trained beekeepers, and it does not guarantee increased honey production or any other particularly profitable result. This is why some beekeepers must charge a fee for their removal services. Acquiring a new colony of bees is not without its risks. 

In order to produce and harvest honey, honey bee colonies need a year-long period of maturation. Also, in order for this honey production to be abundant, it needs to be a particular time of year and the community of bees needs to be healthy. Beekeepers cannot rely on all of these factors to be favorable for the time of their removal services, which is why they need to charge a fee for their time and effort. 

Beekeepers that perform bee removal in Orange County can come across two main bee situations: an established colony and a swarm. 

Swarms are often more convenient for beekeepers to handle, which is why some beekeepers will not charge for this task. However, an established colony will pose more of a challenge. Depending on the timeframe of this colony, there may be more honeycomb built into the nest and, therefore, a more active and abundant community of bees. Beekeepers need to utilize a higher measure of skill and strategy in order to complete this process in a safe and effective manner.  

Beekeepers will pay up to $250 for a colony of specially-bred bees. These colonies are usually disease resistant, better equipped to produce honey, and exhibit less aggressive behavior toward humans. However, in the case of removing a wild colony in a residential area, these bees are not the type that beekeepers would normally purchase. So, when a beekeeper acquires a slightly less healthy, possibly more aggressive colony from a removal service, they must work even harder to ensure that these bees transition to their kept hives.

Since beekeepers have to invest so much more into wild colonies, they often need to charge for this extension of their professional services. 

Bee removal is not a cheap procedure. Beekeepers need to have specific gear on hand in order to make the process safe and efficient. All together, the equipment that a simple removal requires totals about $150. The other factor that beekeepers must keep in mind for their budget is gas money and personal time. Some colony removals can be messy and, thus, the beekeeper must account for extra cleanup time in some cases. 

Beekeepers have to dedicate at least two years to professional training in order to develop the skillset that they need for their careers. On top of that, bee removal is another level of expertise that must be learned over years of practice. 

In the process of bee removal, beekeepers are at risk of falling from large heights, becoming injured by machinery or being stung multiple times. In the case of home removals, beekeepers can also be exposed to harmful chemicals that are inherent in old structures.  

Some beekeepers do not even have room for the new colony that they have just removed from a residential area. This situation requires them to make immediate accommodations.

Once a beekeeper has taken in a new bee colony, they are required to care for these bees until the end of their lifetime. So, they will need to invest time and expenses into providing the best care for the colony. 

It is important to understand the process and consequences of bee removal for beekeepers that provide these services. Once people learn about the difficulty of the job and skills required to ensure a successful removal, they can set their expectations for beekeepers being adequately compensated. Even if a beekeeper does not charge an official fee for their services, it is a nice gesture to offer money for gas or perform some other appreciative measure.