# Ever been blackmailed to do a removal?



## Gumpy (Mar 30, 2016)

See, experience is what sets you and I apart. This is my first year, and I'd have been all over that just for fun and for some free bees. 

I've not done a cutout yet. I have a tree with my name on it, though, which has bees about 15 feet in the air. I'm hoping it winters and I can either trap them out of collect swarms. 

I'm sure as I get more experienced I'll set limits on stuff like that, too. I'm certainly not criticizing you for your decision. I've watched enough on Youtube to know it can be a big deal, and very time consuming, and those who can make money on it, should do so. Maybe someday I'll get to that point, but today, I would have given her a deal!


----------



## johnwratcliff (Feb 24, 2015)

Your time is worth a lot of money. I ran across this several times and I hang up on them. 

If you have a bee tree my only advice is to set out a trap. Don't trap them out. Just hang a swarm trap. Trap outs kill colonies. You never get the queen.


----------



## Aroc (May 18, 2016)

I have found a lot of folks who want to "save the world" will only do so on your dime.


----------



## ShrekVa (Jan 13, 2011)

johnwratcliff said:


> Your time is worth a lot of money. I ran across this several times and I hang up on them.
> 
> If you have a bee tree my only advice is to set out a trap. Don't trap them out. Just hang a swarm trap. Trap outs kill colonies. You never get the queen.


That should not be stated as a fact. Its very possible to get the queen.


----------



## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Yes only the tree was still standing. 

Get calls all the time for it. It's a real ugly dance but OP described it pretty well. Sometimes it's a swarm call that turns into this established colony that's been up there for 5 years. Power company wants to trim and can't because of the bees. (lol) Have heard a few good ones. 

It took me going thru the dance 3 times until I refused to talk about bees in trees unless it's my tree and my bees.
Cutouts are cool to start out on and get your bees but the people skills required to negotiate a fair deal for both homeowner and beekeeper is way out of my range.


----------



## DavidZ (Apr 9, 2016)

I had that happen a dozen time this summer here in Arizona. They are all nice and fluffy crystal waving on save the planet etc, then turn mean and sour. I get the I'm deathly allergic reaction if their save the planet/bees pep talk doesn't work. Then the last thing is I don't want to kill them but if I have to...I tell them after that threat that the safest way is soap and water, then just politely say I'm sorry but no thanks, and hang up. People are just cheap, and everyone wants your labour for free.


----------



## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

This is exactly why I started the rumor that it is a federal crime to kill pollinators. Uhrhahahah. :no:


----------



## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

> it is a federal crime to kill pollinators


 Geez, I've understated the rumor and relied on their aversion to research; my standard line is "You'd better check state law before you kill a colony."


----------



## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

I get my fair share of those as well. Once I tell them it takes 4 -5 hours to accomplish a removal they still want me to remove for free. THEN I ask them if they would be alright working for free for 4-5 hours. After the long pause (there's always a pause) they have a different tune altogether then.


----------



## challenger (May 27, 2009)

Gumpy said:


> See, experience is what sets you and I apart. This is my first year, and I'd have been all over that just for fun and for some free bees.
> 
> I've not done a cutout yet. I have a tree with my name on it, though, which has bees about 15 feet in the air. I'm hoping it winters and I can either trap them out of collect swarms.
> 
> I'm sure as I get more experienced I'll set limits on stuff like that, too. I'm certainly not criticizing you for your decision. I've watched enough on Youtube to know it can be a big deal, and very time consuming, and those who can make money on it, should do so. Maybe someday I'll get to that point, but today, I would have given her a deal!


I wouldn't blame you for doing this job for free. I did several for free when I first started. It isn't a bad way to get experience IMO AND you are more than likely a much better people person than I am .



johnwratcliff said:


> Your time is worth a lot of money. I ran across this several times and I hang up on them.
> 
> If you have a bee tree my only advice is to set out a trap. Don't trap them out. Just hang a swarm trap. Trap outs kill colonies. You never get the queen.


The only trap out I've ever done netted me the queen?? Maybe I got lucky?



aunt betty said:


> Yes only the tree was still standing.
> 
> Get calls all the time for it. It's a real ugly dance but OP described it pretty well. Sometimes it's a swarm call that turns into this established colony that's been up there for 5 years. Power company wants to trim and can't because of the bees. (lol) Have heard a few good ones.
> 
> ...


Pretty much just keep repeating, "people are liars, people are liars". I don't know where it comes from in some folk (most???)??? I never intentionally mislead people and I never expect someone to work for free. That being said maybe this is why I don't immediately know that a caller asking for free bee removal is about to poke my butt IYKWIM.




DavidZ said:


> I had that happen a dozen time this summer here in Arizona. They are all nice and fluffy crystal waving on save the planet etc, then turn mean and sour. I get the I'm deathly allergic reaction if their save the planet/bees pep talk doesn't work. Then the last thing is I don't want to kill them but if I have to...I tell them after that threat that the safest way is soap and water, then just politely say I'm sorry but no thanks, and hang up. People are just cheap, and everyone wants your labour for free.


Fluffy crystal wavers! Classic. Maybe not "classy" but definitely classic descriptions of a classless subculture of "progressive" thinkers. It's all fun and free and hugging trees while talking to them is the only way to "feel contected to MY planet" UNLESS it costs me a single thin penny. Then the moss drops off the armpits and the fangs come out. Funny how this works.



Tenbears said:


> This is exactly why I started the rumor that it is a federal crime to kill pollinators. Uhrhahahah. :no:


How amny times have people said, "I know bee are endangered so I called you". I usually say, um...........subject change.


----------



## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

johnwratcliff said:


> Trap outs kill colonies. You never get the queen.



With all due respect, just wrong, wrong, wrong...... You need to do some research on tree trapouts.

cchoganjr


----------



## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

I don't even let the story get rolling. I just tell them $250 minimum and additional based on the job. Plus I don't do the repair work, I'll clean up, but won't put it back together.

Thankfully, I haven't had anyone take me up on the offer yet. Which is the goal.


----------



## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

no blackmail, but I have had people bawl on the phone like a school girl who got stood up 2 hrs before the dance. When they are late in the yr I tell them, I'll do it, but it will cost you double what it would if they wait till spring.. because this late in the yr, I don't have time to get a replacement queen if I need one I'm going to have to give em about $200 worth of sugar to try to save them and even that isn't a guarantee.


----------



## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

challenger said:


> . The only trap out I've ever done netted me the queen?? Maybe I got lucky?



I doubt that it was luck. More likely you did the trapout the right way and you got the queen. 

A tree trapout (and getting the queen) during a Spring or Early Summer honey flow is almost a sure thing if you can seal all entrances except one, and you have 4 to 6 weeks to work with it. You can get several starts from a good tree, or combine them back together at the end of the trapout.

Late Summer or Fall is more hit or miss, but, still a very good chance of getting the queen. In a tree trapout, at some point, the queen will abandon the tree colony due to drawdown of bees, honey, pollen. The object is to get her to come into your trap and stay. If properly executed, the queen will come into the trap and stay since the bees in the trap are her offspring, and the trap is an extension of the original colony. Sometimes she will abscond with the remaining bees, but, most often you will get the queen.

cchoganjr


----------



## challenger (May 27, 2009)

Yes! AND Iused your system! Worked like money at mMcDonald'. 



Cleo C. Hogan Jr said:


> I doubt that it was luck. More likely you did the trapout the right way and York u got the queen.
> 
> A tree trapout (and getting the queen) during a Spring or Early Summer honey flow is almost a sure thing if you can seal all entrances except one, and you have 4 to 6 weeks to work with it. You can get several starts from a good tree, or combine them back together at the end of the trapout.
> 
> ...


I actually told this woman it would be $250.00. I knew that was too cheap too. It was maybe 10 minutes away and no ladder needed, big entrance hole in the tree etc etc. Still would have taken at least three hours door to door so that was a great price. Glad I didn'tget it. 

This summer Igot a call from a person about 15 minutes away . Bee in a large oak tree, allergic etc etc. I say I'll take a look. I drive up and there is a very active hive that moved in maybe a week prior. I knock on the door and a woman answers. She is smoking a cigarette and talking to a friend while trying to communicate with me. She was huge. Bigger than the tree. II'm not being ugly. Being large or small, thick or thin, doesn't make a person good or bad. BUT, BUT BUT, BUT, BUTT, WAIT! She was wearing a very inappropriately sized garment and it was not, let me see if I can state this as the gentleman that I am, um, holding things in their proper position?.???!?.? She was, um, frontally gifted?? Anyway her "girls" were, um, roaming free?? 
She went on and on about how she ccan'tleave the house, as IF she ever....... well I won't go there. 
I looked at the bees and there was a pile of dead bees. I said I'mnot interested and the bees were sprayed. She said she ddidn'tknow what her husband had done blah blah blah. 
She was mad that iI'd leave her trapped in her house. 
I said try the back door and left.


----------



## Bengoblue (Apr 10, 2012)

Happens to me several times a year. I'm always entertained to see how "Conservation minded" folks are when they are spending your time, resources, wages, crew time, equipment time and insurance on all of it! When I ask them about them working their job for 4-6 hours for free, in very hot weather, many of them suddenly have that "ah ha" moment, then end the call. I know some folks do removals for free, but I don't anymore. I often remind folks that people generally charge exactly what they think they are worth....and many folks looking for a "free" job usually end up getting a job commensurate with what they paid for it.


----------



## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

johnwratcliff said:


> Trap outs kill colonies. You never get the queen.


That's like saying a hammer breaks fingers. Well YA! If you don't know how to use it.


----------



## MariahK (Dec 28, 2014)

I do not do cut outs from trees just walls and ceilings. But people often threaten to kill the hive. I usually tell them what can happen with ants, mice and honey dripping ect. Then tell them to make sure they have someone come out and open up the wall and remove all the comb and dead bees and to properly seal it after. Most then pay my price to remove the hive. If they don't no problem for me.


----------



## baiz (Mar 26, 2015)

i get few of these a year. As a Contractor i do the removal, permanent seal up, and repairs in 1 shot. As stated above i cant afford to do it for free with insurances, materials, and labor. After the first year of moans and groans i made a 2 page informational packet on why we do removals the way we do, the ramifications of poisoning them in walls, and the time and expense involved with cutting them out without damaging the home more than we have to and repairs. It seemed to have solved most of the issues. I even have them initial that they have read and understand the informational packet when the sign the contract for removal and repairs.


----------



## Nobees (Oct 20, 2016)

I will be completely honest here. I have never been called to a swarm, just a new bee keeper needing a swarm. I am a small business owner, make cabinet doors and cut counter tops, all I can say is, The more people I meet, the more I like my Dogs. People will lie and cheat you out of any profit you can make.


----------

