Today I had the sad, but necessary, job of cleaning up a dead European Honey Bee colony.
A homeowner called me to discuss removing an open nest about 4m up a mango tree. He was concerned as members of his family are anaphylactic to bee stings and the colony was quite large. As I was busy with another all-day job, I told him I would visit the following day and remove the colony for him for a modest fee.
The homeowner decided to engage a company that specialised in bee removals (according to their website marketing). He asked them to remove the bees alive and was promised this would happen. He and his family vacated the property while the job was completed, but on their return, they found dead bees under the nest and lots of dead bees on the combs.
It seems this operator, without contacting the homeowner, decided to kill the bees and did a very sloppy job of it.
Leaving the exposed nest (comb, brood, honey etc.) up in the tree, covered in dead bees, presumably poisoned, is a blatant breach of biosecurity best practice and of the general biosecurity obligation that applies to everyone in Australia. There are very clear guidelines about handling honey bee hive material to ensure the risk of the spread of disease is minimised.
Diseases such as American Foul Brood (AFB) and European Foul Brood (EFB) are very easily spread through contaminated honey and brood material. The only "cure" for AFB is to euthanase the bees and either destroy or irradiate the hive equipment. Most often AFB-infected hives are burned. AFB forms bacterial spores that can persist in the environment for decades, and outbreaks can affect large numbers of colonies spreading easily through contaminated equipment, sick bees, and honey.
The exposed nest, covered in poison and dead bees, poses a further risk to every bee colony within 2km or more. Foraging bees will smell the honey in the dead nest, and collect that honey. They'll recruit more foragers from their colony to raid the free resources from the dead nest. Even tiny amounts of pesticide can severely harm or kill entire colonies of bees. They are particularly sensitive to certain common pesticides. If this nest was not removed, potentially dozens of managed and feral colonies might be destroyed by this inconsiderate operator's lazy work.
Furthermore, there is a risk posed to other wildlife attracted to the honey and to people and pets using the backyard. Small children or pets might eat some of the honey dripping from the nest and doing so ingest high doses of pesticide. Clearly, not something anybody should have to worry about.
I really feel for the homeowner. They had an urgent need to remove the bees for very sound reasons - young children, and severe allergies. They wanted the bees dealt with humanely, not killed. They trusted an operator's claims and promises and were let down. They paid quite a lot of money to have the job done, and it was clearly not done with adequate care, attention, or proper adherence to pest control or biosecurity regulations.
This is a cautionary note to anyone out there who may be in a similar situation. Try to ensure the operator you are dealing with is legitimately an experienced beekeeper. Do not pay money before the job is completed (that's a clear warning sign). Get a second opinion if it helps by contacting the council or beekeeping clubs or local beekeepers.
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