Why use a Bee Exterminator?
Bee exterminators are the people you call when you want get rid of bees and are unable to reach them because of where they have chosen to build their hive, inside a wall or even under the floor of some older houses. Making use of a bee exterminator should really be a last resort in freeing yourself of the bees.
Word of the Africanised bee being a killer bee is much exaggerated, all bees if provoked are dangerous, and no bee will just sting you because it can. Remember Bees die if the sting so when they do it is usually not without some form of provocation or as a defence for the colony, a last honourable move if you will. African bees are call that because they are from Africa, much the same that African bees found in Brazil are called Brazilian bees.
People are generally against the killing of bees as they serve a greater good than just flitting about the garden and randomly stinging people. if you are allergic to bees you should at all times carry an Epipen in case you get stung by a bee, if you feel that there are to many bees in a vicinity to make it safe, go inside and wait it out.
On the scale of things, bees do more good than harm, so think twice before you call an exterminator, rather have a bee remover do the job.
The Extermination process
The extermination process starts out like any bee removal, locating the hive and the queen, judging accessibilty etc. The exterminator then sprays the hive and the bees with a toxin that will kill the entire colony. Once the bees are dead the exterminator will remove the hive, leftover honey and honeycomb and clear the area of the dead bees.
Once the hive has been removed and the site cleared of any bee related matter the exterminator will spray the area with the same poison in order to ensure that there is not another infestation.
The poison used is highly toxic, so ensure that area is not accessible to pets or young children.
The ongoing poisoning of bees is having a negative effect on bee populations worldwide
Neonicotinoids are one of the main offenders behind the die-off of honey bees. Dr. Krupke of Purdue University in the USA has reported that farmers are hard pressed to find seeds for crops which have not been tainted by neonicotinoids.
Seeds are coated with the neonicotinoids which are intended to prevent crops from being decimated by insects. It is a systemic poison meaning it is absorbed throughout the plant, including the flowers and the pollen, causing insects including bees to become fewer and fewer.
The grains which are harvested with the purpose of planting a new crop will contain trace elements of these neonicotinoids so even if they are not treated again, the traces will remain, and are in fact sufficient to continue doing damage to the bee population.
Unfortunately neonicotinoids are among the most widely used insecticides in the world, and they are still quite prevalent in South Africa, which is why we do not harm or exterminate any bees when we remove them from your premises. We prefer to relocate the bees in as natural an environment as can be found, often it is farms but we try to ensure that these are farms that depend on bees for pollination of crops and as such will do their utmost to limit the use of insecticides on the crops.
Keep up with snippets of news and information regarding bees
updated on January 21 2015