Oompetesbees

01/03/2026

Another community removal. Hh4b requested assistance with another Tree hive in a public space recently. This one on the shore or homestead dam… now completed and removed from site. We avoid advertising whilst busy with the removal to avoid the criminal elements making off with our hives…

Humans can co habit in the bees space for many years without incident. As a bee colony grows in size with the various seasons, it does however become less tollerent of our presence and objects strongly to being interfered with. They where around a few million years before us but we believe we have the property rights. 🙈 95% of all issues with a honey bees colony are a direct result of human I interference with the colony.

To avoid damage to the host tree we trapped the bees out and gave them an alternative new home… a process that takes at least a month.. These girls moves across with very little objection…. They are now housed on a new site in benoni small holdings.

25/02/2026

It takes 7 times the volume of honey ( food energy) to produce 1 part wax…. That's why bees wax is even more valuable than honey.

24/02/2026

Removal examples are queing up for the next beginners course. (Usually the 3rd weekend of the month) these Removals recently uplifted in self contained items need attention. As part of the beginners course we remove bees and install them into a hive so they can be moved to there forever home…. Always a popular practical session. Where not only do students learn the basics of removals but also the intricate structure of a hive. Giving an insight into the workings inside these lovely ladies home… what makes them tick and how they roll…. Disassembly and reassembly of the hive ensures an understanding of their needs… and did I say its supper fun too!👍

22/02/2026

Last nights removal was awesome in many ways, not only did the weather play ball, a 4pm shower cooled everything down nicely, not to the extent that warranted cancelation. But enough to calm the bees nicely… then the family was all in to watch and learn… about the most important species on the planet…

Having taken up residence probably about two seasons ago. As usual they are only really noticed when they become an issue. On lifting the garden table we where treated to a mass of some 30,000 bees or so.
A Nice size. And such good manners…. Once the table was on It's side the family could get quite close for a good view… what started as a simple removal became a bee keeping 101… but when the interest is there a Beekeeper just talks🤔😂😂😂. In this clip they even witnessed a spider descending to grab its supper…

21/02/2026

https://youtu.be/xzn-EQUl7po?si=crqL5rBW9dcQHbFq

Be A Friend So We Can Continue With These Reports🙏🏻🇬🇧 http://www.youtube.com/ UK Honey Is Made In Factoryhttps://www.youtube.com/playlist...

21/02/2026

In the nick of time as they say. A conservation minded security estate has been a Client for many years. After they paid a deposit to a bee keeper from the east a portion of his extortionate amount of his quote then he diasppeared. The true cost of that removal should have been less than the deposit paid… one has to be so very carefully! There are chancers in every industry..

This is the second owl box I have removed from this particular estate… the first was very full and bulky. This one, had it been allowed to grow, was a serious accident waiting to happen… but by strapping it very carefully we where able to lower it safely to the ground (owl boxes are always set very high in the tree) without it coming apart. The fabrifull seen is closing the massive split in the box where the box body is coming away from the back board… by the end of this season (it is a new swarm settled in) they whould have collected enough winter Food (honey). That the Weight would, in all likelihood, have brought it crashing to the ground during even a light breeze…
Talk about being saved by the bell… this Disater was avoided thanks to a very attentive estate manager..

19/02/2026

Don't get so Much time to show many jobs these days, but we are still busy with removals even this late in the season. I don't like under bath removals, Normally I would trap them out as I favour Trapouts as being a less stressful removal method on The bees. But in this case it was urgent, there was a pipe blockage (not caused by the bees) but a plumber needed access urgently. So a cutout had To be the way to go. We always try to limit the damage to access the girls…so didn't want to cut Into the breather pipe unless absolutely necessary. We Don't want to cost the client more in repairs, just for bee access.
Fortunately it wasn't a really old hive so they where still just inside. With the minimum of smoke use, so the bees don't run toooooo far… we opened the vents, to save the pipe it cost one vent brick. We vacuumed the majority of the bees whilst still on the comb.. Removed the comb then had to chase the stragglers who hide themselves away in the most inaccessible places for us, with our massive hands and equipment. We can use our bee vac pipes to push smoke to the back of the cavity to chase them towards us and the bee vac. Then with small cameras we can locate the last few straglers to vacuum or smoke them towards the opening.. A very time consuming task And stressfull for the bees hence my preference for Trapouts in such circumstances… but all sorted and the plumber was happy the next day to work with fewer female “supervisors” look if bv over his/her shoulder.

10/02/2026

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/08/uk-employers-beehives-office-workplace-mental-health-community-nature?CMP=share_btn_url

Done a coupe of corporate training sessions already. Great fun when that already know rack other.

Providers report rise in demand as companies seek mental health benefits and increased sense of community

01/02/2026

Honey from both the Loskop (Bushveld) sites and very rich Buffelsdrift /Roodeplaat site honey will be available at next weekends Honey show at Heckers. Like it is this weekend at both the Heckers market and the popup at blue valley golf and country estate.

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

17/01/2026

Last visit to this site was a bit of a disappoint, but was made up for yesterday. The girls, the weather and nature In general had gotten back into sync…. Seemingly. Even after raging fire at the start of the season (also part of nature).

Mike was quicker on the draw with the camera so thanks Mike!

Of the 10 hives, 2 had absconded but re colonised since our last visit, and whilst our girls are lodgers in this luxury apartment building in the bush, we have a high number of uninvited guests…. Large hive beatle are a pest we and the girls have to contend with in veld areas. Its not often however one sees the destruction they cause so clearly…
One could almost say they have been watching us clearing veld or rain forests….. and adopted our tactic of destroy everything in our path…

15/01/2026

https://facebook.com/events/s/honey-bee-show-heckers-garden-/1458565869610926/

Well worth diarising the dates! Be great to see you there …

20/11/2025

So we go from not having a Chimney removal for a while, to one almost every night🫣🫣. This one wednesady night has been a pain in the neck, arm and just about everywhere else….🫣🤣🤣. A realy hectic hive was a problem for the new owners of the property. We see now it has been there for many years…

A very otherwise hive when first approached. So, as access was not easy, i decided to trap them out…. Managed to set up the initial cone with only minor irritation. But so big was the field force that they bent the cone in the first couple of days… Armed with the bee vac to take away the guards…. And a substantial number of bees trapped outside i approached at dusk, vacuumed and reinforced the cone.

The volume of bees always seems to add to their determination to stay in the home they have created…. Then These clever girls figured out how a trapout cone works and found the way back in. Another visit lengthened the cone…..
Just days later, no good! they bent the extension to the cone🫣🫣🫣😵‍💫 as well…. time to consider alternatives.

It’s now been a while, we have decreased the workforce (and combined them into another weaker hive). We make an appointment for the removal of the chimney…. Warn the neighbours, and approach with caution… and it’s like like butter would not melt in their mouths…🤔🫢.

Very few bees wanting to kill us any more in fact none… very subdued bunch of girls…. Which did assit in the process of dismantling the chimney sections…. Even when we lifted the 1.2 meter top section….. no reactions….

With the top section removed and laid flat on the roof we can access the remaining comb in the chimney section within the roof… extending about 70cms down we release and remove the lower sections (containing the brood) and mount it in our brood box. No eggs and all brood of at least 7 days old. We suspect all the messing with them has caused a swarm off. But then we find them cowering way down in the chimney well below the last bits of comb.
A good number were chased out with a jimmy juice bomb but not all by any means. So we remount the brood box, put the vacuumed bees back on the brood and let them regroup at their own speed.
Bless em!

Remarkable their change in attitude now numbers are reduced.