Grant's reply stating how easy it is to underestimate the cost of removing
bees in walls was dead on.

When folk call me with bees in a wall or tree, first I ask them if the
"bees" are yellow and black.  If so, I perform nonchemical yellowjacket
removal for a fee.

If we establish that they are indeed honeybees, I tell them that they have
four options:

1.  Hire an exterminator (and I tell them the local cost--over $200).  The
downside is that they can wind up with more than 10 lbs of rotting bees, and
large amounts of fermenting, dripping, or ant-infested honey, and that no
beekeeper will want to touch a sprayed colony afterward.

2.  Trap them out.  This takes about two months, is prone toward failure and
setbacks, and costs a lot, due to labor.  Plus it requires an additional
hive in place at the entrance.

3.  Hire me.  I'm a licensed contractor.  I do the removal, and perform as
many repairs as the owner wishes.  I charge accordingly.  Rarely less than
$100, and if repairs include going back to matching original paint, up to
several hundred.

4.  Do nothing, and let varroa kill the colony.  Then let other bees rob out
the honey.  When the owner sees a flurry of activity, and brown stains at
the entrance, that means that the colony has been robbed out, and all honey
is gone.  Then seal the opening.  In the meantime, enjoy having a feral
colony.  The bees do little damage in the wall.

I leave the decision entirely up to the owner.

Randy Oliver

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