European Honey Bee Control in Bulverde, TX
Bulverde homeowners usually call about honey bees for one of two reasons. Either a dangling, humming clump of bees has landed on a tree or porch post, or a line of bees has started commuting through a crack in the siding, a soffit or the chimney. The clump is a swarm in transit and normally leaves without help. The commuters have moved in and will stay, so that is the case to deal with promptly, without caulking the gap shut or spraying into it first.
Pest Trappers can sort out which one you have: (210) 281-1064 by phone or text, or our booking page.
Passing through or moving in? #
A swarm is a queen and thousands of workers waiting while scouts pick a new cavity. Insects in the City says most swarms leave within a few hours; ENTO-080 allows up to two days. They are seldom defensive, though bees will sting anyone who gets in their face. Watch from across the yard, keep the dog inside, and resist the urge to hose them down.
A colony is different. Once bees are carrying pollen into a wall, they are building wax comb and raising young behind it, and every week adds more comb to clean out. AgriLife's guidance on wall colonies is blunt: the longer you wait, the harder the job.
A Texas Master Beekeeper module puts swarm season at March through July, longer in some parts of the state. Bees sipping from your pool in August are simply getting water.
Where scouts find a way into Bulverde homes #
Bulverde's housing is almost entirely detached houses: 93.5%, per Census housing tables, with the 1990s (36.2% of homes) the busiest building decade. A house that has stood for 25 or 30 years has had plenty of time for caulk to crack, weep holes to open up and a chimney cap to go missing.
The gaps AgriLife's ENTO-080 singles out:
- openings around plumbing lines and electrical cables
- gaps at window trim
- knotholes in wood siding
- weep holes in brick, and seams where brick meets wood
- chimneys without a cap
A soffit colony, Insects in the City estimates, probably holds at least 30,000 bees. Sealing those openings, screening vents with mesh tighter than 1/8 inch and capping chimneys are worth doing before swarm season.
Can you tell European bees from Africanized ones? #
Not by looking. The two are identical to the eye, and telling them apart takes DNA work or microscope measurements. AgriLife goes further and assumes most wild Texas colonies carry some African ancestry, so every feral colony around Bulverde deserves the same respect. Our Africanized bee page for Bulverde covers what to do if bees chase you.
A honey bee is about half an inch, fuzzy and banded, and builds wax comb; a smooth, shiny insect with a paper nest is a wasp (see yellowjacket control in Bulverde).
The legal side #
Texas has no special permit for bee jobs; TAIS says flatly that a "bee removal license" doesn't exist. Under Occupations Code §1951.056, a person paid to take out a honey bee nest has to be a registered beekeeper or hold a pest control license, and unlicensed beekeepers can't apply pesticides. Only an apiary inspector may destroy someone's managed hive without permission. The Texas A&M Honey Bee Lab says honey bees are not a protected species.
TAIS also publishes a bee removal list organized by county, without vetting the names. Bulverde falls under Comal County. A beekeeper may be able to remove a swarm or colony alive when the location allows it, and AgriLife notes that kind of job generally takes longer and costs more.
Leftover comb is the real mess #
Dead bees are only half the job. Honeycomb left inside a wall can ferment, smell, leak and stain, and it feeds a parade of secondary pests, from ants and roaches to wax moths, carpet beetles and mice. Old comb can even lure a fresh swarm to the same spot. Along the same lines, AgriLife warns homeowners not to spray only the entrance (the nest can sit well inside the wall), not to try fumigants or anything flammable, and never to eat honey or wax from a nest that has been treated.
How Pest Trappers handles a honey bee colony #
The technician tracks down where the comb actually sits, sizes up the colony and explains your options, including whether a beekeeper makes sense. If treatment is chosen, every product follows its label. Big colonies may need a follow-up, since AgriLife says brood can keep hatching for up to 10 days, and the comb should come out before the opening is closed for good.
Pest Trappers LLC (TPCL #0887549) is a family business. You get a price after the inspection, and the office confirms when we'll arrive. More: the Bulverde page and our honey bee guide.