Harmony Hollow Apiaries

When my sprinkler contractor arrived for a scheduled service call, he noted active honeybees swarming around & entering the double-check valve box. A large, active swarm was discovered inside the box -- they had only recently set up housekeeping in this location, but their presence precluded any irrigation service until they could be moved. As a beekeeping hobbyist himself, he attempted quite diligently but without success to humanely remove & recover the swarm. At that point, most of the swarm had relocated with the queen to one of my nearby crape myrtle trees. Now I bee swarms in 2 places (yikes!). We knew we needed a pro! So, a quick internet search for "humane bee removal dallas" turned up Mr. Smith's contact info. He was close to my home, appeared to carry suitable credentials (Member of the Texas HoneyBee Guild), and offered humane removal. Best of all, he returned our phone call immediately and arrived in less than 1 hour. He got right to work, demonstrating great expertise and patience in moving the queen and the colony to a bee box, so that they could be relocated off-site to a safe location. As it was a new swarm that had apparently only very recently moved in to my sprinkler valve box, it took a while for the colony members to orient themselves to the bee box containing the queen. IOW, the bees didn't make the expected "bee line" to their new home. However, using a few of his tricks, Mr. Smith eventually succeeded, safely recovering the entire swarm. Having spent approximately 2 hours on this project, he then declined to take any payment!! I didn't feel comfortable with this, so I insisted that he accept at least a very modest sum to cover his trip cost. (My irrigation contractor took the bees home with him, reimbursing Mr. Smith for the cost of the materials.) We both learned a lot of fascinating information about honeybees from Mr. Smith in the course of this adventure. Overall, I could not be more pleased. Mr. Smith was responsive, punctual, professional, patient and expert in his efficient handling of the problem, with a good outcome for everyone, including the bees!