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Hundreds of bee removals from trees/houses/roofs/sheds/water meters/etc have been done over the years. Hive access is sometimes difficult and sometimes easy. Every removal situation is different and always an adventure. If you have bees that need removing give us a chance to relocate them to a good home in an area hobby beekeeper’s apiary. The NaplesBees apiary owner is licensed by the state of Florida for live bee removal. Not all types of removals, based on access, can be done. Click here to contact NaplesBees for a quick response to any request. Below is a chronological listing of a few of the bee removals done over the years.
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1/5/2021 – Removal from a water meter on Mustang Island Circle located in south Naples. Comb was removed and mounted on frames and the queen was caged. The box was left overnight for the bees to move in to.
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1/20/2021 – Removal from a water meter on 45th Street SW located in Golden Gate city. Comb was removed and mounted on frames and the queen was caged. The box was left overnight for the bees to move in to.
1/31/2021 – Removal from a water meter on St Andrews Blvd located in south Naples. Comb was removed and mounted on frames. The box was left overnight for the bees to move in to.
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2/6/2021 – Removal from a water meter on 101st Avenue North located in north Naples. Unfortunately, the water meter lid and its attached comb and bees were removed by the owner to a plastic bin earlier. We did the best that could be done to recover the damaged comb and bees and placed everything in a brood box. The box was left until after sunset for the bees to move in to. Later that night the box was empty and the any bees had left for pats unknown.
2/9/2021 – A small swarm that landed on some brush near the apiary was removed to an apiary brood box.
2/14/2021 – A water meter hive removal from a Burnt Pine Drive address in North Naples. This time, lifting the lid showed the water meter had water up to within an inch of the lid. The poor bees were huddled up on the lid trying to stay out of the water. The bees were removed and placed in a box, but survivability looks to be very iffy.
Update 2/15/2021 — Inspection of the hive box after placing in the apiary showed a nice queen sitting on the underside of the top board!! That is a hopeful sign.
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2/15/2021 This morning, while out in the apiary, a swarm was observed to settle on a used brood frame left on top of a hive box. The frame and its attached bees were placed in its own brood box and they seemed to settle in OK…. we shall see what they decide to do…..stay or leave………maybe this will be free bees!!!!
2/28/2021 Removed a small hive from a water meter on 50th Lane SW in Golden Gate City. The queen was caged and a sugar syrup bottle was placed inside the brood box.
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3/4/2021 Removed a large hive in a tree. The bees were vacuumed up, the comb mounted in frames, and the queen found and caged.
 Fairly large hive hanging from a tree branch. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 One of the comb sections to be removed. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 Mounting the comb sections in frames. The queen was caught and placed near the brood comb. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 Tree branch after all comb and bees have been removed. Click on picture for a larger view. |
3/14/2021 Removed a medium size swarm that settled on a branch near the apiary. The queen was caged and all was placed in a brood box in the apiary.
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3/16/2021 Removed a medium size hive from a water meter box on Knights Court in Kings Lake, Naples, FL.
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3/18/2021 Removed a medium size hive from side of a house on Fort Charles Drive, Naples, FL.
 BEFORE: Click on picture for a larger view. |
 AFTER: Click on picture for a larger view. |
3/25/2021 Removed a small hive from a stump. During the process of cutting out the comb and mounting in frames, the bees swarmed and settled in a tree about 200 hundred feet away. The queen in the swarm was found and caged and the branch was cut and placed near the box entrance.
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3/30/2021 Removed a small hive from the soffit near a front door of a house on Terrazzo Lane. Toward the end of the comb removal, the queen was spotted and caged.
 Before removal. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 After removal. Click on picture for a larger view. |
4/1/2021 This morning a swarm was found on the ground in the apiary. The queen was spotted and caged and a swarm box’s entrance was placed near the bees and left. In a short time all the bees had move in and the box was moved to a stand.
4/9/2021-saw no queen/brood…added a frame of brood/eggs.
4/6/2021 This morning a water meter removal was done on Viking Way in North Naples. It was a small hive. A box with comb and a sugar water feeder was placed near the water meter and the bees starting walking in after a few minutes.
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4/7/2021 This morning a removal was done at Sandpiper Street in Naples. It was a hive at the top of a post holding part of a canopy of vines. The hive comb was embedded with vines making removal difficult. The queen was spotted and caged toward the end of the comb removal.
 Before Removal — Click on picture for a larger view. |
 After Removal — click on picture for larger view. |
 Before — close up. Click on picture for a larger view. |
4/10/2021 In the early afternoon of Saturday, a small swarm was spotted hanging on a Brazilian pepper branch near the edge of the apiary. The queen was spotted and caged and all the bees were removed to a brood box. About 15 minutes later all the bees started to swarm from the brood box and a cloud of bees in the air drifted about 40 feet away. After about 5 minutes, the whole cloud drifted back toward the box and all the bees landed on the outside of the box. After about another 5 minutes, bees started marching back in to the box and soon all the bees had entered the box where their caged queen was. Just an awesome display of the influence that the queen has on a potential new hive. There is little doubt that if the queen had not been caged, the bees would have swarmed away!!
4/12/2021 This morning, a swarm was observed to settle on a stand leg in the apiary. The bees were scooped up and placed in a hive box with used comb. The queen was never spotted which was a little unusual since it was a small swarm and the number of bees was not that large. If they do have a queen, hopefully, they will stay.
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4/18/2021 A swarm located on Normady drive in East Naples was removed this afternoon. The queen was caged. The swarm was placed in a hive box with a feeder and drawn comb.
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4/27/2021 A hive was removed from a water meter on Las Palmas Circle in Bonita Springs. It was a small hive with about one frame of comb which had been intricately attached to a large coil of wire stuffed inside the water meter.
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5/5/2021 A swarm in a shrub next to the apiary was captured and placed in a brood box. This time I am keeping the box confined to see if that helps the bees and queen to stay.
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5/12/2021 A very large hive was removed from a carport ceiling at a house on 12th Street North in Naples. The hive consisted of three spaces formed by the roof beams and the extent of the hive size was revealed as sections of the plywood was cut away. There had to be at least 30-40K bees. Around 30 pounds of honey was removed. Toward the end of all the comb removal, the queen was spotted and caged.
 First section cut away – Click on picture for a larger view. |
 Second section cut away – Click on picture for a larger view. |
 Two weeks later we had to go back and remove this small comb and bees that remained trying to build a queen cup. |
5/14/2021 A fairly large swarm was spotted high up on a tree trunk on a neighbor’s property south of the NaplesBees apiary. Not much could be done to reach the swarm, but it was kept under watch to see where it might go as some scout bees were seen checking out a few of the area swarm boxes. Toward the late afternoon the swarm took flight and went over in to one of the brood box size swarm traps set up near the apiary. It was an awesome sight to see how quickly thousands of bees can suddenly take flight to a new home. FREE BEES!!!!
5/18/2021 A hive was removed from the backyard of a house on 4th Street South in Naples. The hive was located in a piece of upside down pottery, with the bees going in and out via the pot’s drain hole. Upon examination, the pot was packed with built out comb. It was decided to remove the hive by placing the whole pot in an empty brood/super box setup. Once transported, the comb was cut out and rubber banded into frames.
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5/20/2021 A large hive was removed from a side of a house on Hendon Court in Naples. The beevac was used and all the comb was cut out and rubber band mounted, filling a 10 frame brood box.
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 After some of the bees were vacuumed off, the comb extent could be seen. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 The size of some of the comb pieces was very large. Click on the picture for a larger view. |
5/25/2021 A hive in a packed water meter was removed at a house on 10th Street North in Naples. As can be seen, lifting the lid broke loose some comb, but most pieces were able to be rubber band mounted in frames. All together there were about 9 brood frames of comb with brood/pollen/nectar.
 Water meter. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 Lifting the top broke some of the comb. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 Almost all of the comb was rubber band mounted in frames. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 All done and waiting for them to move in. Click on picture for larger view. |
 Hive after move in to the NaplesBees apiary. Click on picture for a larger view. |
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6/3/2021 A water meter removal was done at a house on Willoughby Drive in Naples. All the removed comb was rubber band mounted in frames and the box left near the water meter for a short time, giving the bees a chance to move in.
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 Comb to be removed. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 After all the cut out comb was mounted, the box was positioned so the bees could move in. Click on picture for a larger view. |
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6/3/2021 A swarm settled on the ground near the apiary and was coaxed in to marching in to a hive box placed near the swarm.
6/19/2021 Another swarm settled on the ground in the apiary and was coaxed in to marching in to a hive box placed near the swarm. This was a very large swarm.
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6/22/2021 A water meter removal was done on 10th Street North in Naples. All together, about 7 frames of rubber banded comb was removed and mounted in a brood box. The hive box was later closed and picked up at sunset.
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 Click on picture for a larger view. |
6/24/2021 Another water meter removal was done and this time it was on Tahiti Street on Isle of Capri. The water meter was wall to wall comb. All the comb was cut out and rubber band mounted in frames. The beevac was used to get all the loose bees. Photos courtesy of B&L.
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6/29/2021 A small hive was removed from the lid of an underground LP gas tank at a house on Monterey Drive in Naples. The comb was cut out and mounted in frames, the queen was caged, and the the beevac was used to get all the loose bees.
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7/3/2021 Multiple swarms have shown up under and in swarm boxes located high up on the side of the big garage near the apiary. The bees eventually entered the boxes and appear to be establishing good hives. 7/17/2021 the two brood box size hives were removed to the holding apiary about a mile away.
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7/11/2021 A small swarm settled in to one of our nuc boxes and a recent inspection showed them doing well.
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7/28/2021 A small swarm in a tree settled in to one of our new Jester nuc boxes.
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7/29/2021 A hive was removed that had settled in an owl box. The owl box was taken down with the bees inside and placed in a couple stacked brood size boxes for transport to the apiary. Once the bees are settled in, the owl box will be opened up and the bees/comb arranged in a single brood box.
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8/6/2021 A swarm settled in a Jester nuc box hung in a bush.
8/17/2021 A hive was removed from the roof overhang on a house located on Pondview Circle in the Quail West community.
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8/19/2021 A small hive was removed from a water meter at a house on Mooring Line Drive in Naples.
8/26/2021 Moral of this story…….. keep old beehive containers around because if they once had bees they might attract bees again.
A large swarm moved in to a heavy old copper planter (from a removal a long time ago… see 6/18/2019 removal #55) that had some drain holes on the sides and I kept on the ground in the apiary thinking it might attract bees some day. It took a couple years, but today I noticed a lot of activity around the side holes and I flipped it over and it had a huge number of bees festooning inside and they had built a couple small pieces of comb so the bees had been there only for a few days. I was able to flip the planter up and remove and mount the comb and add a few foundation frames in a brood box and they seemed to settle in.
Below is a picture of the brood box sitting on the planter this evening. It took 2 years, but bees did finally come to that big copper planter again !!!! The hive box was eventually moved to a local beekeeper’s apiary.
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8/27/2021 A large swarm was beevac removed from a front yard bush at a house on Mustang Island Circle.
8/27/2021 A large swarm moved in to one of the side wall swarm brood boxes. In the space of only a few days, they had built 4 large sheets of comb attached to the top. The comb was removed and mounted in frames and then the box was filled with 10 frames. The hive is to eventually be moved to a local beekeeper’s apiary.
9/1/2021 A very small hive was removed from a water meter box located at a house on Fairway Circle in Naples.
9/1/2021 A medium size swarm was removed from a tree branch at a house on 95th Avenue North, Naples.
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9/7/2021 An owl box with an established bee hive was removed from a Teak Wood Drive house location. The owl box will be disassembled and the comb and bees will be moved in to a apiary hive box.
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9/7/2021 A swarm in a low bush next to the NaplesBees apiary was coaxed to go in to a brood box swarm trap.
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 After the bees went in to the box, a few days later it was opened for a check and they had already built some comb from the top. This was removed and mounted in frames. During this the queen was spotted. Click on picture for a larger view. |
9/16/2021 A hive was removed from a underground LP tank lid located at a house in Marco Island. The comb was cut out and mounted in frames. The queen was spotted and caged.
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9/22/2021 A hive was removed from the soffit of a house on Pinnacle Court in Naples. The beevac was used and all the comb was removed and mounted in frames for a brood box.
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9/23/2021 A very large hive was removed from an old wood box located at a house on Hawthorn Woods Way in Naples. The box was full of comb and bees. All the comb was cut out and all the bees were vacuumed up in to a brood box.
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10/5/2021 A large hive was removed from the wall of a stored boat in a shed on 66th Street SW, Naples. Access was difficult but 5 frames of comb were removed and framed in a brood box.
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10/7/2021 A large hive was removed from a water meter on Yahl Street in Naples. About 8 frames of comb was removed and the queen caged. The hive was transported to the BB&G holding apiary.
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10/9/2021 Another two brood box size swarm traps in the apiary became well populated with bees. They were closed up early this morning and then they were transported to a Bee Boyz & Girlz beekeeper’s apiary in Marco Island.
10/12/2021 A very large hive was removed from the side of a house located on Monterey Drive in Naples. Comb was removed and rubber band mounted in 8 brood size frames. The box was later transported to the Bee Boyz & Girls holding apiary
 Before removal. Click on picture for a larger view. |
 After removal. Click on picture for a larger view. |
10/14/2021 A birdhouse that bees had occupied was removed from a house on Sharwood Drive in Naples. The birdhouse was later transported to the Bee Boyz & Girls holding apiary
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10/21/2021 A small hive was removed from under an electrical and cable box on the side of a house in Pelican Marsh. The queen was spotted and caged.
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11/9/2021 A small hive was removed from the side wall of a two story house located on 66th Street SW.
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12/7/2021 A small hive was removed from a water meter at a house in Fiddlers Creek
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12/28/2021 A small hive was removed from a water meter at a house on Palmetto Dunes Circle in Naples. The queen was spotted and caged.
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