Honey bee extraction

Honey bees in a chimney

Not an average day but a rewarding one, none the less.
Called by Collyer Construction Ltd. out of Fleet to help with a problem: they were working on a restoration project and, while up on the roof, the team were getting constantly stung by bees. It turns out, the homeowner had known for many years that bees were nesting in the (thankfully) unused chimney and never did anything to get them moved on. When the time came for a full renovation of the home, Collyer’s workers got attacked whenever they got too close to the chimney. Help was needed!

Thankfully, Collyer are a responsible developer and every effort to save the bees was taken; the chimney was broken down, brick by brick, until the nest was exposed and could be gently teased away from the remaining stack. Sadly, no queen bee could be found and we believe that the colony was dying out, living off the remains of the soot-blackened honey that was left over from last summer. However, with Pestend’s help, the chimney was dismantled and no one else got stung in the process.

We would also like to thank Carly Hooper, beekeeper and owner of Beeutiful for advice and offering to re-home the colony, if at all possible.