Honey bees in a shed, detached garage, barn, stable or coop tend to fill a wall bay, a loft corner or the hollow under the floor, and anywhere in Broward County they come out alive. The job is planned around your animals first. A thermal camera shows where the comb sits, a beekeeper takes the colony, every comb is cut out, and our own licensed contractors replace the siding.
Clues the Bees Live in Your Outbuilding
- Bees streaming into one knothole, siding seam or gap beside the door trim.
- Flights in and out under the floor of a shed set on blocks.
- A stored grill, empty nest box or tire stack with bees coming and going.
- A dark, tacky stain on a wall board, or ants trailing to one spot.
Where Colonies Settle in Sheds, Garages and Barns
Many wood sheds and small barns are stud walls clad in T1-11, a grooved plywood siding. Each stud bay is a dry, dark cavity a colony can fill with comb, and a loose knot or split seam becomes the doorway. Pole barns offer the gap behind metal siding or the hollow over a tack room ceiling.
Kids' playhouses and the crawl space under a shed on blocks get claimed too. UF/IFAS lists old tires, barbecue grills and cement blocks among African-type nest sites, all common shed clutter. Comb along a garage roof edge is a soffit and eave job; bees in the oak shading the paddock call for tree bee removal.
Animals and Stored Gear Come First
UF/IFAS notes that vibration from tractors, lawnmowers and other power equipment agitates African-type bees, which now live wild across South Florida. Machines stay off until the colony is gone, and every horse, hen and dog is moved before the first board comes off.
Cut comb drips. Honey on a saddle, hay bale or feed sack ruins it and brings ants, so anything stored along that wall gets moved or sheeted in plastic.
Colony in the barn, horses in the next stall?
Text a photo of the entry and tell us where the animals are kept.
Closing Up the Outbuilding
Comb left in a closed shed, with no bees fanning it, slumps in summer heat, leaks onto whatever sits below and draws wax moths, small hive beetles and the next swarm, so every live removal we do includes honeycomb cleanup.
Broward is a High-Velocity Hurricane Zone county under the state building code, and plenty of sheds here are strapped or bolted down, so repairs happen in place. Comb reaching the rafters? See roof bee removal.
What's Included and What Changes the Price
Part of every job
- Walk-through to plan around horses, poultry, pets, hay and feed
- Colony and brood rescued alive and handed to a beekeeper
- Every comb cut out, the bay scraped clean, the gap closed
- Plywood, trim or panels replaced and painted by our licensed crew
What moves the price
- A loose item or under-floor colony versus comb packed into a wall bay
- Colony age, a barn loft or roof peak, and how much siding must be replaced
- The clock: holding off until a weekday saves money over an emergency trip at night or on a weekend
A swarm under a shed eave, or a young colony in a grill or cooler, can be handled from the ground, and that kind of call normally comes to $300 to $400. Months of comb in a barn wall or loft, plus siding and trim to rebuild, can push a job into the thousands. For a probable range before the trip, photograph where the bees enter and send it by text to (954) 429-5133. See how we price jobs.
Compare job types on the pricing page.
How a Shed or Barn Job Runs
- Plan around the animalsTell us where horses, hens and dogs live. We agree where they wait, which gates stay shut, and that the tractor and mower sit idle.
- Trace and scanWe follow the flight line to the entry, then scan wall and loft with the thermal camera so the opening lands over the comb.
- Open, rescue, clean outSiding comes off over the comb. The colony goes into a hive box bound for relocation, then every comb is cut away.
- Rebuild and recheckOur contractors hang the new panel or boards and paint them. Should honey bees ever reappear at the seam we closed, the crew makes a return trip.
Where Outbuilding Calls Come From
- Southwest Ranches
Homes need at least an acre and equestrian trails cross town, so one property may hold a barn, a stable and a hay shed.
- Davie
Horseback riding is common in Davie, home of the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds, so stable jobs here start with where the horses go.
- Plantation
Between Hiatus and Flamingo roads, Plantation Acres is a designated rural district of horse farms, pastures and acre-plus estates.
- Parkland
Horses once outnumbered Parkland's residents, and in Pine Tree Estates along Holmberg Road many one- to three-acre lots carry barns or workshops.
Questions About Shed, Barn & Stable Bee Removal
Do my horses have to leave the barn?
If the colony is in the barn, yes. A stalled horse can't escape a defensive colony, and African-type bees may chase a perceived threat as far as a quarter mile. Turn horses out to the far paddock or stable them with a neighbor.
The bees are in my chicken coop. What about the hens?
Crate them, or shut them in a run away from the coop, the morning we arrive. Colonies like an unused nest box or the space under a raised coop floor. Hens can go home once the comb is out and the gap sealed.
My shed is steel or resin, not wood. Where are the bees living?
Both kinds can be cleared; they just hide comb in different places. Without a stud wall to fill, colonies in a steel shed tend to use the roof ridge, a hollow frame channel or the gap under the floor. Double-wall resin sheds are different: comb fills the space inside a panel, and that panel has to be cut open.
Will my homeowners policy pay to rebuild the barn wall?
Coverage for a detached building is a question for your insurer, and nobody on our crew can promise a claim gets paid. For your claim file, the crew can shoot the shed or barn at each stage (before the first board comes off, halfway through, and closed up again) and break the invoice into bee work and carpentry, line by line. Our guide to bee damage and homeowners insurance has more on the subject.
Your barn, shed or coop back in use, the colony rehomed.
For a free quote, text (954) 429-5133 a wide photo of the outbuilding and a close one of where bees go in.