Once a colony has built comb behind stucco, drywall or roof tile, taking it out alive is a cut-out job, in Fort Lauderdale or anywhere else in Broward County. Thermal imaging pinpoints the sheets so the structure is opened in one place, and each one is cut free by hand. The brood rides with the bees to a beekeeper, the honey comb is bagged and hauled away, and our own crew closes and rebuilds the cavity.
Clues the Bees Have Moved In for Good
- The same gap busy with bees for more than a few days.
- Workers returning with pollen packed on their hind legs.
- Pale wax crumbs or dead bees piling up under the entrance.
- A waxy smell by the wall, or a dark stain spreading across paint.
A Swarm Has No Comb. A Hive Has Months of It.
A swarm is a queen and her workers in transit, clustered on a branch or fence while scouts hunt for a cavity, rarely past about three days. With nothing built, that is swarm removal, a smaller job.
Scouts tend to choose a void near 40 liters with a narrow opening at its base. The swarm arrives loaded with honey from the old nest and spends it on wax, roughly seven to nine pounds of honey per pound of wax. New workers emerge 21 days after the queen starts laying.
Why Broward Colonies Get So Big
Fort Lauderdale has a tropical rainforest climate with frost only every few decades, so no winter shuts a colony down. At peak a queen can lay over 2,500 eggs a day, so a few months behind a soffit or between ceiling joists can fill the space with parallel sheets of comb.
Same gap busy for weeks?
That usually means comb. Send one close shot of the hole and one of the whole wall, and we can size and price the job.
Opening From Inside or From Outside
A thermal scan of both faces shows where the brood nest sits. Garage or closet drywall patches easily; a tiled shower, cabinets or a detailed ceiling send us in from the stucco, soffit or roof.
A colony under barrel tile calls for roof and attic work, and stud bays or block cores mean a wall cut-out. In a condo the association often controls the exterior (see condo and HOA rules).
Brood Is Saved, Honey Comb Is Not
Brood comb holds eggs, larvae and capped pupae, and summer workers live only a few weeks, so a colony moved without it fades. Each brood sheet is banded into a frame and travels with the bees through our relocation work. Honey comb comes out broken and gritty with drywall or roofing dust, so it gets bagged.
Why No Comb Can Stay Behind
Honey pulls water from humid air, and in the May to October wet season leftover stores can ferment and seep through paint (see honey leaking through a ceiling). Wax moth larvae tunnel through unguarded comb, small hive beetle larvae leave honey frothy and sour, and old wax lures the next scouts. Every job ends with full comb cleanup and a sealed entry, and if bees ever return to that gap, so do we.
What's Included and What Changes the Price
Part of every job
- Thermal scan before any cutting
- Every comb cut out by hand
- Live colony and framed brood delivered to a beekeeper
- Honey comb bagged and hauled off
- Cavity scraped and sealed; opening rebuilt and painted by our crew
What moves the price
- Colony age: older colonies leave far more comb to cut
- Location: low soffit, second-story wall or under roof tile
- Repair: drywall patches fast; tile, block and stucco take longer
- Night or weekend emergency calls cost extra
A young colony reachable from the ground, in a meter or valve box or a low shrub, usually falls in our $300 to $400 range. Months of comb in a wall, roof or upper soffit, plus the repair, reaches into the thousands. How long the bees have been there moves the number most, so when you text us a photo via (954) 429-5133, mention roughly when they first showed up; the pricing page covers the other factors.
Compare job types on the pricing page.
How a Cut-Out Runs
- Map the combWe trace the flight path, scan inside and out with the thermal camera, tape the brood nest outline and photograph everything untouched.
- Open on the cheaper sideOne opening, no bigger than the mapped comb, on whichever face rebuilds faster, with plastic sheeting over floors and furniture.
- Cut, sort and boxBrood goes into frames, honey into sealed bags, and bees into a vented hive box left by the entry for returning foragers.
- Clean, seal, rebuildResidue is scraped out, surfaces wiped and the gap sealed. Our own contractors, roofers and painters then close the patch and match the finish.
Where Long-Settled Colonies Turn Up
- Fort Lauderdale
Rio Vista, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, mixes 1920s boom and postwar homes, and each addition to an older house creates seams bees can use.
- Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
The town nearly doubles with winter snowbirds, and units shut for summer give a colony months alone.
- Southwest Ranches
Acre-plus lots with horse ranches and small farms hide outbuildings where a colony goes a season unseen.
Questions About Humane Beehive Removal
How long does it take bees to fill a wall?
Workers must build comb before the queen can lay, and homegrown workers appear three weeks after she starts. A few months can fill the cavity, and a Broward winter barely slows it, so a colony found in January may date back to summer.
Can I keep the honey?
Not for eating. Cut-out honey is mixed with wall debris, sometimes with spray someone aimed at the bees earlier, so it is bagged and removed. The brood and queen, which the colony needs to restart, go with the bees to the beekeeper.
Is an established hive more dangerous than a swarm?
Usually. A swarm has nothing to defend; a colony with brood and honey guards its door. Africanized honey bees are established in Florida, so keep kids and pets back, skip the hose and the hammer, and leave the entrance to the crew.
The old hive stained my drywall. What paperwork will I have for a claim?
A photo record and an itemized invoice. The pictures run in order: the entrance before we touch it, the opened cavity with its comb in place, then the finished patch. On the invoice, removal and repair sit on separate lines. Coverage depends on your policy, so read bees and insurance claims before you file.
Bees, brood, honey, wax: none of it stays behind.
For a free quote, call or text (954) 429-5133 and tell us how long that gap has been busy.