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Free beekeeper service in Southern California?

S

sisq0kidd

Lifer
UPDATE (5/18): Bees left.

So, I need someone to come take these bees away from my persimmon trees.

Are there any free services in Southern California or bee aficionados who are willing to come out here (90716) and adopt several hundred bees?

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Call Cooperative extension and ask for a list of local bee keepers they woul love to have them. If I was nearby I would grab them.
 
You would be surprised how much that hive would be worth if sold. 😛

Also that's likely several thousand bees not several hundred.
 
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Where in SoCal are you located?

(that would make it easier for someone to provide you with pertinent info)
 
Feral colonies are in high demand for their expected genetic diversity in an attempt to stave off Colony Collapse Disorder from the failing/problematic over-hybridized inbred bees in the rest of the industry.
 
CZroe said:
Feral colonies are in high demand for their expected genetic diversity in an attempt to stave off Colony Collapse Disorder from the failing/problematic over-hybridized inbred bees in the rest of the industry.
Click to expand...

Good to know. Wanna go search for bees later?
 
That colony would probably be worth as much as the Ipad, so definitely would be fair...😛
Though as hes having it taken for free that might not matter.
 
A swarm of bees like that happens when there's a hive nearby (you probably don't even know about the hive, but it's likely within a few hundred feet) and the hive became overcrowded. The bees split into two separate groups; roughly half stay and half go with a new queen (or often the old queen.) They'll form a group like that in your persimmon tree, surrounding the queen, while a bunch of them go searching for a new home. Once one finds a home, it'll come back and do a dance. A few will follow him. Once enough are coming back doing the same dance, the entire group will leave to a new home. From the time they first form that swarm until they leave (for good), is anywhere from a couple hours to about 72 hours. It's rarely much longer than that. If you just leave them alone, they won't bother you.

I'm also surprised that a pet got stung by them, unless the pet was able to actually reach that swarm. Most of the time, those swarms are incredibly well fed on honey, and just really not in the mood to sting anyone.

In fact, I just dealt with 3 such swarms myself this weekend. The first two, I was dressed like crazy, making sure I wasn't going to get stung. But after realizing that the bees weren't even landing on my face mask, and generally not on my clothing at all, I took care of the 3rd group of bees while wearing just shorts and a t-shirt. I didn't get stung once, despite tons of bees swarming around me. I posted a video in a thread & will probably update the thread with pics once I get a chance in the evening.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2245770&highlight=bees video in OP. Just shorts and tshirt while taking that video; zero stings.

Also, since you have a bunch of fruit trees (and logically blossoms), it sounds like you have a decent amount of space. If you can get a couple of the hive boxes, it really is incredibly simple to move that swarm into a new hive. You could end up with a shitload of honey, more or less for free.
 
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DrPizza said:
A swarm of bees like that happens when there's a hive nearby (you probably don't even know about the hive, but it's likely within a few hundred feet) and the hive became overcrowded. The bees split into two separate groups; roughly half stay and half go with a new queen (or often the old queen.) They'll form a group like that in your persimmon tree, surrounding the queen, while a bunch of them go searching for a new home. Once one finds a home, it'll come back and do a dance. A few will follow him. Once enough are coming back doing the same dance, the entire group will leave to a new home. From the time they first form that swarm until they leave (for good), is anywhere from a couple hours to about 72 hours. It's rarely much longer than that. If you just leave them alone, they won't bother you.

I'm also surprised that a pet got stung by them, unless the pet was able to actually reach that swarm. Most of the time, those swarms are incredibly well fed on honey, and just really not in the mood to sting anyone.

In fact, I just dealt with 3 such swarms myself this weekend. The first two, I was dressed like crazy, making sure I wasn't going to get stung. But after realizing that the bees weren't even landing on my face mask, and generally not on my clothing at all, I took care of the 3rd group of bees while wearing just shorts and a t-shirt. I didn't get stung once, despite tons of bees swarming around me. I posted a video in a thread & will probably update the thread with pics once I get a chance in the evening.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2245770&highlight=bees video in OP. Just shorts and tshirt while taking that video; zero stings.

Also, since you have a bunch of fruit trees (and logically blossoms), it sounds like you have a decent amount of space. If you can get a couple of the hive boxes, it really is incredibly simple to move that swarm into a new hive. You could end up with a shitload of honey, more or less for free.
Click to expand...

You sir, have earned a permanent man card.
 
DrPizza said:
A swarm of bees like that happens when there's a hive nearby (you probably don't even know about the hive, but it's likely within a few hundred feet) and the hive became overcrowded. The bees split into two separate groups; roughly half stay and half go with a new queen (or often the old queen.) They'll form a group like that in your persimmon tree, surrounding the queen, while a bunch of them go searching for a new home. Once one finds a home, it'll come back and do a dance. A few will follow him. Once enough are coming back doing the same dance, the entire group will leave to a new home. From the time they first form that swarm until they leave (for good), is anywhere from a couple hours to about 72 hours. It's rarely much longer than that. If you just leave them alone, they won't bother you.

I'm also surprised that a pet got stung by them, unless the pet was able to actually reach that swarm. Most of the time, those swarms are incredibly well fed on honey, and just really not in the mood to sting anyone.

In fact, I just dealt with 3 such swarms myself this weekend. The first two, I was dressed like crazy, making sure I wasn't going to get stung. But after realizing that the bees weren't even landing on my face mask, and generally not on my clothing at all, I took care of the 3rd group of bees while wearing just shorts and a t-shirt. I didn't get stung once, despite tons of bees swarming around me. I posted a video in a thread & will probably update the thread with pics once I get a chance in the evening.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2245770&highlight=bees video in OP. Just shorts and tshirt while taking that video; zero stings.

Also, since you have a bunch of fruit trees (and logically blossoms), it sounds like you have a decent amount of space. If you can get a couple of the hive boxes, it really is incredibly simple to move that swarm into a new hive. You could end up with a shitload of honey, more or less for free.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. My dog was stung once on the nose and once near her butt. Mind you, my dog is a very small and somewhat aggressive Shih Tzu that chases things around so I doubt the bees themselves attacked her unprovoked. She was probably chasing them around or perhaps even laid on some of them by accident.

I've talked to my neighbor and he said there was a swarm at his house just a few days ago so you might be right. They're probably in transition to another home.

Anyway, none of the beekeeping services returned my calls yet, so I'll just let them bee 🙂 for now.
 
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