Sawgrass (another cutout)

[Understudy]

Home owner associations and condo commandos suck.

I received a call from a gentleman who is a biologist. he has some bees living in the soffit of his entryway at his townhouse. He really didn't want to kill them but he needed them removed. The condo commandoes tried to spray foam to seal the entrances. The bees were smarter than that. 

So the HOA sent nasty grams telling him to get rid of the bees or else. So I got a call asking to do the removal. I came out and did the survey. I explained to him in order to get these guys I was going to have to cut an opening in the soffit. He would have to repair that afterward.

My next visit was to remove the bees. I brought all my stuff and went to work on finding the  bees. I drilled a few holes to help me locate them. I could see traffic but not the hive. I eventually cut a small opening. I couldn't spot the bees. But I could here them. So I drilled a few more holes where I heard the buzzing.  Then I found the hive. I cut a nice workable opening and exposed the hive.

It is no fun when bees use truss beams to make their nests on. The comb is never a straight cut. So with all the delicacy of a slaughterhouse butcher I went to work. I was actully abble to get most of the comb into the hive. Once again however no idea if i got the queen.

Now while I am doing this the condo commando(CC) shows up and wants to know what I am doing. i explain I am removing the bees from the soffit. The CC wants to know when I will be patching the hole. I explain I am the bee person not the general contractor or the stucco guy.
This immeditally miffs the CC. "Well you shouldn't have made a hole that large."
Sir, I have 15,000 bees here. Do you really need to be making any kind of comments at all?

Well he was put off, but not so much. Because he mentioned there are two more townhouses with hives. I explained I will be more than happy to remove them but I will be making bigger holes.

Here are the pictures:
http://www.brendhanhorne.com/coppermine_dir/thumbnails.php?album=81


Sincerely,
Brendhan

[JP]

Great job Brendhan, I had one last yr where the 80yr old home owner sealed the main entrance the bees were using to get to the hive that was in his ceiling. The bees would just move down and find another opening to gain access. He would seal some more. Long story short, the bees were traveling through the walls and ceiling to get to that hive, 18' from where I removed the hive. It was a tough one to deal with. I wish people would just call us first, before doing something foolish! Nice neat job you did there.

[bluegrass]

I need to move to Florida. Do you use a vac? I haven't seen one in any of your pictures.

[Understudy]

I have a vac. I use it on rare occasion or for those tight corner spaces. It is basically a bee killer.  I used it on this one after I had brushed everything out. To go after a few very tight corners. I may have gotten a few hundred bees with it. The rest were brushed in or placed with the comb.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Kirk-o]

Oh Yes I know people like that they look stupid.When they open there moth they sound stupid .Some of these guys run for PRESIDENT
kirk-o

[Greg Peck]

I did not see any pics of the condo commando. lol

[bluegrass]

I did not see any pics of the condo commando. lol

I got a picture of a Jeep Commando :-P

[livetrappingbymatt]

looks to me like you did them a favor! condo comando's may need a little sting in their check book.
have friend bid next job by 4-5 times more than your last job.double your price,if they aren't nice make them pay for being rude!
bob

[UtahBees]

Perfect reply, in my mind,

> I explained I will be more than happy to remove them but I will be making bigger holes.

Nice work Understudy. I'm learning a ton reading everyone's experiences here!

UtahBees