The State of Florida authorizes Florida Registered Beekeepers
to charge to relocate honeybees.
Aside from Licensed Pest Control Operators, only Florida Registered Beekeepers are
authorized by the State of Florida to charge to relocate bees.
Important - Florida Registered Beekeepers need and expect payment for their services. Rescuing and relocating bees is risky, serious work requiring training, equipment, and experience. Transportation, specialized clothing, specialized capture equipment, hive equipment to house the bees, and materials to set up the new location all cost money. No beekeeper is getting rich rescuing bees.
It can go like this - a beekeeper spends a long day removing bees from a location, places the bees and their comb in a hive box, and moves those bees to a location that had to be prepared to receive them. A day later, the beekeeper goes to check on the bees only to find that the rescued bees have left their new home to set out on their own! An experienced beekeeper has described rescuing bees as, "It is like trying to make a feral cat into a house cat...it is a great idea and well-intended, but... it doesn't always work.” The bees will probably be all right and you got the bees out of your wall, but the beekeeper has lost out.
Paying the beekeeper partially offsets these inevitable losses.
If the colony stays, beekeepers are required by state law to purchase a new queen for all captured colonies in order to minimize the likelihood of transmitting Africanized Bee genes to the kept bee population.
There is no such thing as free bees.
All bee cutouts, swarm collections, and trap-out arrangements
are strictly between you and the Florida Registered Beekeeper.
The Suncoast Beekeepers Association is not party to any arrangements
between you and the Florida Registered Beekeeper.
The Suncoast Beekeepers Association merely provides contact information
for Florida Registered Beekeepers who are SBA members as a courtesy.
Florida Registered Beekeepers - SBA Members
Ashley Williams - 941-685-1814
Brad Stiles - 941-312-3124
James Cutway - 941-746-1597
Kevin Lausman - 941-720-3619
Kyle Wooster - 941-914-1953
Michelle Wooster - 941-914-2264
What about the Bees?
Critical - Do not spray bees with anything. Sprayed bees cannot be rescued.
If you have sprayed the bees, please call a pest control company.
The bees will have to be euthanized.
BEE RELOCATION - Swarms, Cut-outs, and Trap-outs by Florida Registered Beekeepers
Is it a Swarm, Cut-out, or Trap-out?
What is the difference? I have bees, come get them!
Swarm relocation is usually free.
Cut-outs and trap-outs are usually done on a fee basis.