Shopping Price? – What Questions Should You Ask Our Competitors?

1. What will they do to prepare and calm the colony?

• We will spend an hour or more, as required, to calm and prepare a colony for extermination. We use a queen simulated pheromone that we have carefully developed over the years in a bee smoker that causes the colony to group up around the queen rather than disperse and work in the cavity. It also keeps the bees calm and allows us to probe the site without exciting the bees and causing even more pheromone secretions and damage.
• During this process, we also wait for the returning foraging field bees to rejoin the colony leaving zero to very few flying insects in the air outside the entrance before we start procedures.

2. Do they just immediately spray the entrance with a strong insecticide?

• Without preparing and calming the colony, just spraying the entrance puts the colony in alarm and attack mode, causes them to secrete even more pheromone scent, and tremendously increases the damage. Additionally, it will cause some of the bees to flee the intrusion and may spread them out throughout your house walls or ceilings and may even drive them inside your house. This is a common procedure among our competitors and the worst possible technique for solving a bee infestation problem.
• Poisoning the entrance only accelerates the problem, does nothing but increase the pheromone scent at the site and can lead to serious bee emergencies.

3. Do they make any effort to probe for honeycomb and how do they do it?

• We spend a great amount of time, sometimes several hours during the preparation phase, and while we are waiting for the foraging field bees to return, probing the site by drilling small toothpick sized holes and exploring the cavity the bees have occupied to develop a concise picture of the damage the bees have caused to your home. We use thin hard line probes that are inserted through these holes. The residual that is removed can tell us the age of the colony by the coloration of the brood comb, exactly where the honey is stored in the cavity, and the quantity, depth, width and height of the comb deposit. We never touch the main entrance during this process in order not to interrupt the flow of returning foraging field bees. Additionally, we will use optical scopes to explore the cavity if necessary.
• Many of our competitors just tell you that you have honeycomb and either refer you to a specialist like us or offer you a removal at an additional price. We will prove to you that you do have a honeycomb problem while we are at your site during the preparation phase and show you the results of our probing. If a honeycomb removal is feasible and necessary, we will carefully explain it to you and provide you with a formal written quotation on a comprehensive, solution based, comb removal process, not just a rip and tear out procedure that still leaves you with residual dripping honey, comb tracks and does nothing for the pheromone deposits at the site.

4. What will the site look like after they are finished spraying?

• Are there still a lot of bees flying outside the entrance? Are bees still going in and out of the entrance?
• After spraying the entrance with a heavy phosphate poison or a strong residual insecticide, our competitors, commonly apply a pest strip at the entrance and tell you that it is sufficient to take care of any bees that are still alive inside the colony or the large number of returning foraging field bees. They commonly say to wait a couple of days and see how it goes. Unfortunately, it often doesn’t go well and you have hundreds of aggravated stinging insects trapped outside the entrance for the period of time they asked you to wait for. Further, as mentioned previously, if the colony is not dead, it will recover and if the entrance is poisoned, the bees will search for another way out and this will often be inside your home.

Caution! You get what you pay for! There is no inexpensive, quick fix to a developed bee infestation. Without proper care and treatment, your chances of re-infestation in the future are almost certain. A passing bee swarm will reoccupy a former bee site before it will choose another location. Don’t risk the disaster of a poorly done job! Call us first and get the facts.