Bees Looking for a Home
Question from Dave:
I happened to come across your website because I am starting to do a lot of organic gardening here at my home in North County San Diego. I love your site! Lot’s of great helpful info on here.
I perform live bee removal and I am looking for a couple places to be able to drop off my bees. I am a small business just starting off so I don’t have a ton of hives as of yet. Would you or anyone else you know be interested in taking them? I do get semi frequent calls where the bees are in small bird houses.
Normally I vacuum them up and then transfer them into a bee box here at my house. Let me know if you or anyone else would be interested in taking them. I don’t charge for dropping the bees off by the way.
Answer from Pat:
Thank you for letting me know about your bees. I may know someone who would take them. I will email you back again if he wants some. Also anyone wanting your bees can reply here on my blog.
I am interesting in couple beehives for my back yard
Any help ?
Thanks
I strongly applaud your idea. Some cities have an ordinance preventing backyard beekeeping, but I know a man who lives in such an area and has maintained a backyard beekeeping operation for 20 or more years despite the ordinance.
If you have a lawn, be sure to check that you are not using Scott’s fertilizer with white grub control or any other fertilizer containing Merit (imidacloprid), nor any systemic pesticide, such as contained in flower and rose fertilizers manufactured by the Bayer company. These products kill bees. Also, if you can, try to encourage your neighbors to eschew these products. Most people are ignorant of the harm that systemics do to bees and other beneficials.
I spent my teen years on our family’s farm in Pennsylvania. My brother was the beekeeper in my family and though I helped him occasionally and took an interest in the subject I am not expert. If I were you, I would begin by searching for a beekeeping club or society in your area, such as the Los Angeles County Beekeepers. Also, contact the Master Gardeners and the California Extension for written information on beekeeping. Read all you can on the subject. There is a beekeeping research institute at UCDavis in the Department of Entomology and this too might be a source of information. Interest in Beekeeping is growing in California, but in Southern CA particularly we are behind other states in putting out information that can help the home-grown beekeeper. I think we can expect more information from the Extension as public interest increases and ignorant attitudes such as fear of Africanized bees, fear of swarming (during which bees are totally harmless) and fear of being bitten lessens.
I would definitely read a few informative books, such as “Bee Keeping for Dummies”, “the Backyard BeeKeeper” (get the new 3rd Edition) and “The BeeKeeper’s Handbook.” (Read the reviews on Amazon since there are various opinions on these books.)
Good luck and I hope you undertake this grand and environmentally friendly hobby.
Thanks Pat