For avid gardeners or those who are trying to be more eco-conscious, having a swarm of bees decide to colonize on your property might seem like a welcome treat. You might be surprised to learn that, in Florida, there are laws around beekeeping that require registering a colony and having yearly checks done by the FDACS and that you must have written permission to keep bees on non-agricultural land. Until you are ready to comply with the legal obligations of being a beekeeper, you’ll need to use bee relocation services any time you are aware of a bee colony taking up residence on your property.
On the other hand, some people may think the best thing to do is just kill the bees and destroy the hive, assuming it’s less of a hassle than getting other people involved. Bee relocation is a safer, more eco-friendly alternative to eliminating a hive or swarm of bees on your property. Using pesticides or other chemicals may seem like a tempting, quick, and easy option, but it can have serious environmental impacts that you may not have considered. Bees are major pollinators, with honeybees routinely visiting flowers up to 3 miles from their hive location. Healthy bee colonies are a critical part of the global agriculture industry, with some farms even hiring beekeepers to transport their colonies from farm to farm for the pollination season. Instead of killing a swarm or colony on your property, consider using a bee relocation service that will come out to your property and remove the bees and safely transport them to a local apiary.