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Bee Pest Control & Removal Services

Our regional bee specialists are here to help remove physical nests where required.

Vergo provide effective honeybee removal services across the UK.

Vergo will carry out a comprehensive survey so that we can create a complete bespoke scope of work that enables us to safely remove the bees and honeycomb from the property.

As honeycomb is protected under UK law, we never recommend spraying honeybees as pesticide will be brought back to the comb by the bees and will contaminate it. This is then a risk of foraging bees stealing the honey, taking it back to and contaminating beekeeper’s hives and entering the human food chain. This is a finable offence.

There is no legal pesticide for use on honeybees in the UK. If you do spray the bees, it will not fix the problem as there will be no bees to maintain the honey and comb. This will lead to honey damage and comb collapsing or rotting in the building.

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    What problems do honeybees cause?

    • Significant building damage
      As bees flap their wings, they generate a large amount of heat. This heat in an enclosed space will result in a dew/moisture point, leading to damp, which can seep into the mortar and brickwork. This can lead to the mortar popping out and damage to the brickwork with cracks and bricks falling from the building, which could be a fall risk to individuals walking under the area. If wood is present wood rot can occur, and in turn encourage an infestation of wood boring insects.
    • Risk of secondary pest issues
      The longer a Honeybee colony is left in an area, the higher the chances of secondary pest infestations occurring. Examples of these are rats, mice, fleas, mites, wax moth, wasps, hornets, and many others, including more honeybee colonies.
    • Serious health risks
      Honeybees can be a health risk to anyone allergic as Anaphylaxis can occur and be potentially fatal. Also, the bigger the colony becomes, the more aggressive the behaviour of the honeybees can become.

    What you need to know about honeybees

    Honeybees are important pollinators for flowers, fruits and vegetables. This means that they help other plants grow. Bees transfer pollen between the male and female parts, allowing plants to grow seeds and fruit.

    Honeybees live in hives (or colonies). The members of the hive are divided into three types:

    • Queen – One queen runs the whole hive. Her job is to lay the eggs that will spawn the hive’s next generation of bees. The queen also produces chemicals that guide the behaviour of the other bees.
    • Workers – These are all female and their roles are to forage for food (pollen and nectar from flowers), build and protect the hive, clean and circulate air by beating their wings. Workers are the only bees most people ever see flying around outside the hive.
    • Drones – These are the male bees, and their purpose is to mate with the new queen. Several hundred live in each hive during the spring and summer. But come winter, when the hive goes into survival mode, the drones are kicked out!

    Why do Honey Bees swarm?

    Honey bee swarming is a natural event and can occur at any time during the Spring and Summer.

    When honey bees swarm, a large proportion of the honey bees leave their nest in search of a new location to start a new colony and that place can be anywhere that is warm, dry and offer protection from the elements with room to expand the colony.

    Common locations for unwanted nests include inside roof spaces, behind facia boards and soffits and within wall cavities or outbuildings such as sheds or garages.

    Common places you’re likely to find honeybees

    Honeybees can thrive in both domestic and natural environments, they prefer to live in places that allows them to hide from predators.

    You may find honeybees in gardens and woodland areas with access to flowering plants offering a great food source.

    Honeybees can also be found in within building fabric, such as cladding, insulation, cavity walls or in airbricks and chimney stacks.

    What do bees feed on?

    Bees feed on and require both nectar and pollen from flowers. Nectar provides energy and pollen gives protein and other nutrients. Most pollen bees use as food for their larvae food, but bees also transfer this from plant-to-plant, providing the pollination services needed by plants and nature.

    Honey tastes different depending on which flowers bees feed on.

    What is the difference between a bumble bee, a honeybee and a wasp?

    Bumble bees

    • Can be up to 25mm big
    • Are much larger and rounder in comparison to a honeybee
    • They are black with one or two yellow stripes

    Honeybees

    • Body size ranges from 5-17mm long
    • They are much smaller and narrower bumble bees and wasps
    • They have a brown/yellow/orange shade to their bodies

    Wasps

    • Wasps have prominent yellow and black bands around their abdomen
    • Adult workers (always females) measure 12-17mm whereas the queen is around 20mm

    Vergo are the wasp nest removal and wasp & hornet control experts. Our local teams of pest control technicians can effectively resolve wasp and hornet infestations in a safe and timely manner.

    Not sure whether you have a wasp or honeybee issue? Contact us today and Vergo will assess the situation, identify the species, and provide a safe treatment plan.

    FAQs

    • How to get rid of honeybees?

      If you have a honeybee infestation, don’t attempt to remove honeybees yourself!

      Contact Vergo the honeybee removal experts, we will carry out a comprehensive survey so that we can create a complete bespoke scope of work that enables us to safely remove the bees and honeycomb from your property.

    • Are bees dangerous?

      Bees will normally only sting if they are feeling threatened, or if their queen is danger. When a bee stings, a pheromone is released to alert other bees that they are under attack, this could result in multiple bee stings.

      Whilst painful in most cases bee stings are not dangerous. However, bee stings can be potentially life threatening to those who are allergic to the venom.

    • Will honeybees go on their own?

      No once honeybees are established, they can remain in place for up to 15 years or more.

    • Can male and female bees sting?

      Male bees cannot sting.

      The female bees (worker bees and queens) are the only ones that can sting, their stinger is a modified ‘ovipositor’ which is the organ used to lay eggs.

    • How often does a honeybee queen produce larvae?

      The honeybee queen can lay up to 2000-3000 eggs a day through the peak summer periods.

    • How many honeybees can there be in one colony?

      In a largescale honeybee infestation, there can be up to 500,000 bees in a colony!

    PEST CONTROL EXPERTS

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    0344 335 0330

    Safe and cost-effective pest removal and prevention solutions