If you have a bee swarm in Cardiff or surrounding area we will collect it for FREE on provision that access is easy – otherwise we may need to charge for removal.
We re-home all swarms that we can but this does cost so if you can donate something towards it (even if its just the cost of fuel for collection) this will go to good use (over-wintering bees is not cheap these days: last year it cost £45 per hive in feed alone).
This only applies to bee swarms it does not apply to wasps or bumble bees – there is a minimum charge for call outs to bumble bees or wasps of £55.
We are a local professional pest control business that as well as collecting bee swarms for free, offer all other pest control and wildlife management services.
For FAST, Friendly Service, Call 02920 552243
…Fast and efficient pest control
Be it moles, squirrels, fleas, wasp nests, bedbugs, clothes moths, carpet beetles, ants, pigeons seagulls or any other pest invading your home or business give us a call.
Recognising Bee Swarms
Bee swarms are a collection of several thousand bees that congregate in one location, often in a bush or hanging from an ornament on your house wall that when resting quietly may be as large as a coconut or even a football.
Recognising Bee Hives and Wasp Nests
Most people know what a wasp nest looks like: greyish in colour made of paper-mache type material from chewed plant and wood fibres that wasps have collected from garden furniture and fences in the surrounding area. Dependent upon the type of wasp we may find the nest in or close to the ground or further up out of the way possibly in the roof or wall.
Bees on the other hand have a nest that is usually found in a void of some sort. The bee hive itself is made up of wax comb, it does not have any outer protection layer like the wasps paper mache. For this reason it is common for bee hives to be found in soffits, wall cavities, chimneys and behind other forms of protection.
Often the first time that a home owner is aware of a bee hive being embedded in their property it is to late to remove thru any quick or easy method.
Removing a beehive
If you call a professional pest controller these days to have a beehive removed the usual answer is that bees are a protected species and they can’t be dealt with. On the other hand if you call a cowboy pest controller they will tell you “no problem “- pop round with a can of aerosol and squirt nerve agent into your cavity not realising the consequences of their action.
For the correct treatment of the bee hive it is necessary to look at the accessibility of the hive and to evaluate how large it is and what the best course of action is.
We at Vale Pest Control are able to offer you four different methods for the treatment and removal of the bee hive. These are divided into two non lethal methods that result in the continuation of the hive, or two methods that result in the extermination of the colony through the use of a chemical insecticide or treatments using naturally occurring compounds.
First non lethal method for removing a bee hive
In this method we access the area that the bees have their bee hive (bee nest) in and we perform a cut out which includes the saving of the bees, removal of as much of the comb as we can and the removal of as much of the honey as possible. This method is usually completed within a day. This method may also involve the removal of stonework or brickwork, or sections of ceiling or sections of roof and can be fairly intrusive. It is your responsibility to have the necessary repairs/reinstatement made at your cost.
Second non lethal method for removing a bee hive
In this method we remove all the bees from the hive in the wall over a period of time. This is not a quick fix method and may take as long as 9 weeks to successfully complete. By the end of it, all that will remain is the wax comb empty of honey. This is the least disruptive method for dealing with a honey bee hive in a wall cavity or other inaccessible location.
Extermination of a bee colony: using a chemical insecticide
In recent years we have seen a lot of professional pest controllers shying a way from treating bee hives this is because of the greater need as professional pest controllers to understand the implications of poisoning a hive without preventing access to it by other bees in the future.
Should it be necessary to poison a hive it is essential that all possible access to it by another bee colony be prevented.
If all possible access points are not sealed it is likely that bees from another colony will attempt to rob out the honey from the nuisance hive and take it back to their hive and bee colony; as well as the honey they will take back poison with them, and their colony will succumb to the effects of the insecticide also. This can be repeated several times over with the loss of multiple colonies from one persons unprofessional use of insecticide.
Unfortunately it can be both expensive and time consuming to effectively seal all possible entrances to the bee hive. In addition you are sealing in thousands of dead bees along with uncapped honey stores, older capped honey stores, dieing larvae and a chemical nerve agent. This results in a horrible toxic soup that can in itself cause further damage and attract other unpleasant pests.
Extermination of a bee colony: using non-hazardous chemicals
In a similar fashion to that of using a chemical insecticide a bee colony can be exterminated using a combination of non hazardous natural chemical treatments.
In this situation there is not the same need for the sealing of all entrances as the consequences are not as large – however every attempt to do so should be made.
The draw back to using this method is the quantity of chemical required, the number of treatments required, the fact that there will still be a horrible toxic mess consisting of dead bees, old capped honey, uncapped honey stores and dieing larvae all left in the void. This will develop into a horrible toxic soup attracting mould growth, other undesirable pests and may well stain your ceilings or walls and give off foul odours into your living space.
Wasp Nests
Generally the German / European wasp (Vespula germanica) nests in abandoned burrows and rockeries the Common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) is more often found further up and in attics and roof spaces.
The German wasp is about 13mm long, and has the typical black and yellow wasp colours. It is very similar to the common wasp , but on its face has three tiny black dots. German wasps also have black dots on their abdomen, while the common wasp’s analogous markings are fused with the black rings above them, forming a different pattern
The Common wasp measure about 12–17 mm from head to abdomen, and the queen is about 20 mm long. It has similar colours to that of the German wasp of black and yellow but seen head on, its face lacks the three black dots characteristic of that species.
Additionally, it can be distinguished by a lack of black dots on its back, which are located further up and form part of the black rings on each of the abdomen’s six segments. In addition there is usually a black vertical line in the centre of the face.
All wasp nests are treated with either a chemical insecticide or with organic compounds.
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