Bees survive attempt to burn them out!

We were called to remove a colony of bees from under a shed. The owner had attempted to burn the bees out by setting a bonfire where the bees were entering under the shed. When we opened the floor we found the bees thriving. The bees had just kept fanning to keep the heat of the fire away.

Removing Bees From a Floor Space In a Two Story House

The bees were going in where the balcony attached to the 2nd floor. We opened the soffit and removed half of the nest.

In order to reach the rest of the nest we had to go
through the floor of the second story.

We pulled the carpet back, cut the plywood flooring, and removed the rest of the comb.


We stuffed the space with insulation, put the flooring and carpeting back down.

Removing Bees from a Stucco Arch Entry Way.

This is a typical Florida home with an entry way made with block and topped off with a plywood and stucco finished box above the block. Some homes have an arch made of plywood and others just a straight column look. The area above the block is hollow. In this case the spot where the roof and gutter met became deteriorated due to standing water in the gutter. This gave the bees a small entry hole into the wall.

Here you see bees entering the hole by the gutter. Someone had tried to fill the hole with expanding foam, but the bees just chewed right through it.

After determining the bees were in the wall, the stucco and plywood were cut to gain access to the bees and comb. The bees were captured in our vacuum box for later transfer to a regular bee hive box.

Here you see the cut out section of the wall.

Here you see a close up of the comb the bees had built in the wall space.

The comb was cleaned out and the void was stuffed with insulation to make sure there was no vacancy for future bees. The hole the bees were using was covered with screen from the inside and the stucco and plywood were reattached.

After replacing the cutout, the cut lines were filled with stucco patch and finished to match the texture of the rest of the wall. Once painted the wall will look as good as new. Without bees inside.

Removing Bees From A High Tree Limb

Removing bees from a stucco column

These bees found a hole in the corner of a stucco column just below the soffit. They were also getting in at the corrugation of the soffit. You can see the yellow discoloration at the front of the column. The bees track pollen as they enter and leave.

Builders leave these columns open at the top with just the aluminum soffit to cover the hole. This gives the bees access to the space inside. It happens to both stucco and block columns.


The resident said the bees were first noticed on Sunday. That means the bees had been there four days. Using a laser heat sensor I determined the bees were in the column. Cutting open the stucco revealed the bees and the comb they had built in only four days. I vacuumed off some of the bees so the comb could be seen. Examination of the comb confirmed the bees had only been there four days. Eggs were seen in the cells but none had hatched to larvae. Bee eggs take four days to hatch.

After the comb was removed a coating of repellent was applied and a screen barrier was placed at the top of the column to keep future bees out. The column was closed up and the hole the bees were using caulked closed.

Removing Bees From a House On Pilings

Bees like the space between the floor joists on houses built on pilings. On most of these houses there are gaps around pilings and blocking left by the builders. The bees only need a 1/4 inch opening to get into the floor space and start a nest. The bees had gained access through 1/4 inch gaps around the blocking. Blocking is the wood builders place at the outside of the floor joists to close them up and keep bugs and animals out.

You can see the bees going in and out in the closeup picture of the blocking.

On the other side of the support beam you can see where the bees had chewed through the drywall to make another access into the floor space.

We cut the drywall and saw that the bees had built two nests. One close to the support beam and one about 24 inches back from the beam. We had to cut a larger hole on that side.

Once the two nests were exposed we vacuumed the bees off the comb into the bee vacuum. We then removed all the comb. The bees will be placed in a regular beehive and the queen will be replaced with a queen from a breeder of European bees. This will insure they are not Africanized bees.

Removing Bees from inside a wall.

The bees were entering this stucco wall through a gap at the sill plate around an overflow pipe from a water heater. A feeble attempt to catch them with a soda bottle wasp trap was made by someone. It is not possible to stop a nest of 10,000 to 60,000 bees with a soda bottle and sugar water. Not one bee was trapped in it.


To get at the bees we had to remove the drywall from the inside wall. There was a water heater which was removed to get at the wall. Removing the drywall revealed the bees and comb. The bees were captured with the bee vacuum and the comb was placed in a tub for transport to the bee yard where the bees will carry the honey back to their hives.

The opening to the outside was caulked with elastomeric caulk and the wallboard was replaced, painted and the water heater reconnected.