May 4, 2025 • 33 mins
In Hour 2, Dean Sharp is joined by bee expert Nicole Paladino of Bee Catchers for a deep dive into the vital role of bees in our ecosystem and what homeowners should know during spring swarm season. They bust the myth that bees are pests, explain the truth behind Colony Collapse Disorder and 2025’s surprising hive loss numbers, and teach listeners what to do (and what not to do) when a swarm or hive shows up on their property. It's a powerful hour about coexisting with nature—right in your own backyard.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Follow us
on social media. We only do the good kind. It's uplifting,
it's informative, it's inspiring. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all the usual suspects.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm gonna name them anymore. Home with Dean, same handle
for all of them. And by the way, if your
home is in some need of personal house Whisper attention,
I mean personal like Dean and the t standing in
your living room staring at the problem, talking just to
you about what is possible. You can do that. You
(00:39):
can book an in home design consult with me and
the tea you just go to house Whisper dot Design. Okay,
So we are taking the morning, this lovely spring morning
here in southern California, and we are talking about life,
bringing life into your backyard, life onto your property and
where you just finished up talking to Richard Armerding, my
(01:00):
good friend from wild Birds Unlimited, and now I want
to switch the conversation from the birds to the bees.
And to do that I've got now in studio my
dear friend Nicole Palladino from bee catchers, Nicole, Good morning
and welcome home.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Good morning. How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I'm great, I'm so glad that you're here.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I love our conversations, always, always, always, So you know,
we've got a list of things that we've got to
accomplish for everybody today because and gonna I'm gonna I'm
gonna hold us to it. I'm gonna hold our feet
to the fire. Here. There are four things I want
to talk about with you today, okay, and if we've
got time to talk about other things, that's great too.
Number one, first rule about bees. Bees are not pests. Okay. Second,
(01:48):
I want to ask you whether b mcgeddon is really over,
whether colony collapse disorder is done and finished, because nobody's
talking about it anymore. And if that's the case, what
is the state of bees right now? Especially in southern California.
I want our listeners to understand what the spring swarms down.
The weather's been funky, so we haven't had a lot.
(02:09):
I haven't noticed any big swarms yet happening in our neighborhood.
But it's coming. It's going to come, as it always does.
And as always, people completely must understand what a spring
swarm is they think they're a hive has taken up,
you know, a residence in their front of their home,
in their front yard, in the tree or on the wall,
(02:29):
or on the fence or wherever. So I want everybody
to understand what spring swarms are so that they don't
do the wrong thing with those bees. And then finally,
I want to make sure you know, bookending this idea
that bees aren't pests, and they're not. But sometimes bees
(02:49):
make their home in the wrong place, wrong for them,
wrong for us. And when that happens, you guys, you
specifically are uniquely qualified to tell us what should we
do when it comes to that. So that's where I
want to go. Okay, all right, So first of all,
back to it with the couple of minutes we have
left before we go to break here. Bees aren't pests,
(03:10):
this is correct. Tell me this.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
They are not.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
They are a very critical part to our ecology, to
our agriculture, and they are responsible for more than eighty
percent of our food supply.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
When we say more than eighty percent of our food supply,
we're talking about the fact that they pollinate these critical
crops that end up making it into the market with us.
Is is it just that or is it more?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It's more.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
It goes into grass fed meats and all the afalfa
that you're eating with your meat supply. It has to
do with the health of the soil, the health of
the air, much more than just all the fruits and
vegetables that they're pollinating and allowing us to you know, enjoy,
(04:00):
because without them, we would have things like roots, root
potatoes and rice and things that you would not be
able to you know, sustain a population, to feed people with. Right,
So it's much more. There's an entire circle that they
fall into as far as making this work. And without
(04:22):
them we could have a huge.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Glass okay and now and and regionally, yeah, absolutely, regionally.
This is not one of those things that we can
think about in terms of Okay, well, yeah, out there
in the agricultural we're out there in nature out there
where it's It's something that I'm hoping that that I
can really communicate to all of our listening to every homeowner. Yes,
(04:45):
is that nature is not something that's out there right.
Nature is something that we are all in right now. Now.
It may we may have paved streets and concrete curbs
and driveways. But that's kind of it's really an illusion,
the sense that somehow we have pushed nature elsewhere from
where we are. And when it comes to bees and
(05:05):
bee populations, now that cities are sprawling the way they are,
the presence of bees in the urban environment is critical
to bees everywhere period.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Correct.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Just like you have all of your birds that you
love and have, the bees are the ones that are
responsible to pollinate these wild plants that feed the birds exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
They're just part of that chain.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Small mammals, other insects. Of course, it's all kind of
all right.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
So when we come back, we're going to talk about
I'm going to ask you about b mageddon and colony
collapse and all of that stuff, and we're going to
figure out where we're at, what's the state of bees
this year, because it's a little weird right now because
we're having some unusual weather, and we'll figure it all out,
all right. I am sitting here with my special guest,
Nicole Palladino from Bee Catchers. We'll talk about that more
(05:53):
as well more on bees in your yard when we
return your home with Dean Sharp the house whisper.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
We're talking all things spring and life in your garden. Yes,
like I thought this was a show about how to
fix my garage door. Well we have those moments too,
we do. No. Our show is called Home, and the
reason it is is because it follows my approach to
home design and home construction, architecture and all of those things,
(06:30):
which is, I would like to think, a very holistic
approach and a very biophilic approach. You've never heard that
word before. It simply means a love of all things nature,
and it is the direction of architecture and home design.
I'm glad to say moving forward, we are every cutting
(06:52):
edge architect I know is more and more concerned about
bringing the outside in, bringing the inside out, and improving
the way that we recover from the displacement of our homes.
And when I say displacement, I simply mean this. This
is a reality. Every creature in nature, when it builds
(07:14):
its home, displaces some other form of nature. When a
gopher digs a tunnel under a yard and comes up
and there's a little burrow, even if it's not somebody's yard,
if it's out in the middle of a prairie. Soil
is displaced, roots are displaced, plants are displaced. It is
the nature of all living things to displace other living things.
(07:34):
And human beings don't need to feel overwhelmingly guilty about
the fact that we build shelters for ourselves and when
we do that, we displace nature. But unlike the other
creatures on this planet, we are exceptionally good at displacing things,
and we have an exceptional level of hubris when it
(07:55):
comes to the fact that we just feel like, well,
we're here and nature can just go over there, and
that's simply not the case. And so what I want
from every home design that we work on, every project
that we're a part of, I encourage homeowners, all, right,
now that we have displaced some nature with your home,
how do we bring it back into the yard, the
(08:17):
surrounding property. How can we reintegrate all those elements? And
our home stands as an example, our tiny little cottage
out here in Thousand Oaks stands as an example of
just that. If you were to walk down our street,
and I am not exaggerating when I tell you this,
You're to walk down our street on any given day
you will hear, you know, some bird song, a little
(08:39):
bit of this, a little bit of that, and when
you get in front of our home, you will hear
considerably more of it. And as you enter our backyard,
you'll hear even more than that. And that is because
we haven't just done a backyard, we haven't just planted
a garden, but we have intentionally created a habitat that
(08:59):
is both beautiful and functional, habitat for birds, for bees,
for all kinds of creatures back here. And as a result,
they literally flock to our home and we gain all
the benefits of that as well. So that's the kind
of stuff I'm talking about. And right now we need
to talk about bees and displacement of bees and the
(09:19):
state of bees. And sitting across the table from me
is my dear friend Nicole Palladino, the owner and operator
of Bee Catchers, a live bee removal service that covers
all of southern California that all of you need to
know about. And we'll get to that in just a bit.
But Nicole, give us the state of bees right now.
This year. You know what's going on with them? We
(09:42):
got weird weather and how are we doing?
Speaker 4 (09:45):
So? I didn't think we would be coming back to
talk about any collapse or issues with a decline in
bees because we haven't really spoken about it in.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
The last few years.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Nobody's talking about it right now.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
It seems to be like things have recovered and we're
doing better. But for twenty twenty five, there are some
record breaking numbers of colony loss up to about sixty
to seventy percent that beekeepers are reporting. That is more
than the forty to fifty percent that is usually reported
from issues of overwintering, you know, the stress on bees
(10:17):
and populations dying. We never really see the numbers of
what happened last year until the year you know that's
coming in the future.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And now we're knowing that.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
We are seeing some considerable losses and there are there
are some reasons for it. You have asicidence, which are
the neon nicod denies. You have bra mites and diseases,
habitat loss, yes, change of weather and weather extremes, and
(10:46):
some you know, industrial agricultural practices that could be much better.
And so we have a variety of mixture of things
that are causing this right.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And a lot of it honestly, honestly is you know,
this is not to lay this burden on everybody's shoulders.
A lot of this is just outside of the control
of like the typical homeowner, right, and so this is
not like we're not trying to guilt anybody or lay
So here's my here's my goal. Yeah, is to let
everybody know how critical the bee is to our lives.
(11:23):
Number one. Number two, to understand that there are still
a lot of forces working against bees in urban areas
all across the United States, including here in southern California.
So if you understand those two things, then we've come
a long way. And Third, now, based on that, based
(11:44):
on this understanding, not that everybody has to go out
and start picketing or this or that, but based on
that understanding, individual homeowners to understand when they encounter bees
on their property that they have the right responds and
an informed response. So can we do this, Nicole when
(12:05):
we come back, I want to talk about the spring swarm. Okay,
B colonies rece themselves every spring, there's a surgeon B
populations and colonies split and they divide and other certain
groups of bees from the original colony go looking for
(12:25):
a new home. Yes, and when that happens. Most people
I've ever met completely misunderstand that cloud of bees that
is flying overhead. They completely misunderstand that beard of bees,
that clump of bees that suddenly just out of nowhere
showed up in the elm tree out in their front
yard or on the side of the palm tree, or
(12:48):
hanging off the fence or wherever that was. Completely must
understand it, and as a result, at this critical moment,
they end up calling an extermination company and those bees
are destroyed. Right at the moment when a bees are
trying to grow and.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Reproduce one hundred percent, and they are the most vulnerable
at that time because people don't understand that they have
eaten their last meal, they have branched off, they have
a queen with them with maybe five to ten thousand workers,
They have no shelter. They are extremely vulnerable, and this
is the time that we should protect them the most.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
So, yeah, we can find and they are not dangerous
at that moment.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
They are not dangerous, and generally bees aren't really dangerous
in general, but this is the time that we could
really protect them and make a difference in the numbers
going forward.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
All right, if you have never fully understood what one
of those clumps of bees or clouds of bees flying overhead,
what that really means. Go nowhere, because when we come back,
we're going to explain it to you and give you,
hopefully open your eyes to what's happening around you at
that very critical juncture. All Right, you guys, hang with
(13:55):
us your Home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI Am six forty.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
We're talking all things home like we do every weekend,
every Sunday morning from nine to noon. And yes, I
spend most of my time talking to you about construction issues,
design issues, architectural issues. But every spring I set time
aside so that we can talk about even more important
things that are happening around us. Because our homes exist
(14:29):
here on this planet, and they exist in the middle
of nature. It may not be your definition of nature,
but it is nature nonetheless, and around us things are happening.
Important things are happening every year this time of year, springtime. Now, normally,
by the time I take this show and we're talking
about bees, swarms are already occurring, and things are already happening.
(14:51):
But this time around, because the weather's been cold, a
little damp, a little rainy, a little this, a little
that the swarms have not stopped. It started popping out
at the with the same frequency. I'm not saying there
aren't any out there, but there aren't as many right now.
It is going to happen. And if you don't understand
(15:11):
the difference between a swarm of bees and a hot
then I need you to listen up very carefully to us.
Right now, I'm sitting here in studio with my dear
friend Nicole Palladino from the owner and operator of Bee Catchers,
a live bee removal service. I know no one who
(15:31):
knows more about bees than Nicole and Nicole our goal
right now for the next six minutes is to explain
to people what is happening when they're standing outside and
they see a cloud of bees move overhead. Are they
being attacked? Are they is there life at risk? Or
let's say suddenly they look out the kitchen window and
(15:52):
see there's a there's a gigantic clump of bees the
size of a basketball hanging off the oak tree or
the tree in the front yard or the fence, and
they're freaking out and they're like, who do I call? Oh,
my gosh, a hive of bees has made its home
in my yard. Not true, Not true at all. Explain
(16:13):
what is going on?
Speaker 4 (16:15):
So we're having every spring, you're going to see where
bees split. Another queen and a portion of the workers
will migrate to propagate their numbers and start colonies in
other places.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
So a colony of bees, a colony, that's the proper
term for them, a colony of bees. They multiply, and
so they appoint another queen, and so now there are
two queens, and one queen takes a portion of that
high and they head off to form another independent colony.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Correct, And they need to do that by what we
call a swarm. So they will leave the colony and
generally go about three to five hundred feet from where
they are branching off from. And at this critical time,
and the queen has not flown in quite some time,
so she's not as strong or doesn't have as much
energy as she would because she hasn't taken a flight
(17:09):
path in a while.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
She's typically the old queen.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
She's typically the older queen that will leave and her
successor once she's been in the.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Hive for maybe years, laying the eggs, not flying.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
And now she needs to slow down on her She's
taken time to slow down and reduce the size of
her ovaries so that she's not laying eggs right now
and she's not as heavy in her ovaries aren't as big.
So she needs to take this flight again. And she's
protected by her family of daughters, her workers. And so
(17:39):
what they will do is they will swarm out and
find a place and it can be really anything.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
They don't discriminate.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
It could be your bicycle, your car, It could be
you know, your umbrella, trees, bushes, all kinds of things.
They are coming out just to take a resting spot
while scalpies go out and look for areas with more shelter.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Okay, so we call this thing a beard because it's
a clump of bees. It is not a hive. A
hive actually has a physical structure to it. There's honeycomb
they have found, and a hive never, no hive ever
is built out in the open.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
No, that's not true.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Okay, because you will have established colonies that maybe are
high up in a tree somewhere that people don't notice,
and they can be hanging from a branch. That's probably
maybe five percent of all colonies.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Okay, but most hives are because they're trying to protect
their home. Correct.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
You would see that everywhere if that was true.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Right, they would just be you know, honeycomb just hanging
off of trees everywhere. But they're trying to protect their home,
not just from people, from birds and everything else that
wants that honey.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Yeah, and the temperature because they need to regulate the
tempt they have to regulate, so they.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Need to get inside somewhere in some shelters. So that
clump of bees is not a high It is a
colony in a very very vulnerable state. And in the
middle of that pile of bees is the queen. She's
in there being protected. Yes, and that. And they've taken
(19:08):
a break and you said earlier, before the break, you
said they've eaten their last meal. Yes, what does that mean?
That sounds like a death SiGe.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I know they have actually filled their bellies with honey,
and they have and left home, and they left with
no shelter.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
They don't get to go back.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Now they're on a house hunt, right, so now they
have no they don't know where they're going to go yet,
but the queen isn't going to be the one to
go and do that because they need to preserve and
conserve her energy. So scalpes go out and look for
these areas.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
So scalpees are heading out from there and they're looking
for ideal, optimal conditions and if they find something they
think is possible, they'll come back. They'll report back. Yep,
they talk about it. They can, they really do. There's
a full on dance and communication process. They are handing
out samples and pheromoe.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
All directions on where food and water is, how far
it will be from where they decide to colonize, and
so that's that you see that cloud in the sky.
All the years I've been doing this, I've never seen
a swarm attack anybody. And I've been caught in them
in the middle of crossing a crosswalk. I've seen people
I'm driving by and a swarm will come by, and
somebody's in the street and a swarm will come through.
(20:15):
And it's scary looking at the moment, yes, but it's
their way of communicating. If people can understand, it looks
scary because it's meant to because they're trying to protect
their queen because if she doesn't survive, they don't either.
So they're communicating in this flight path. It can be
very loud looking and you can hear the sound, and
(20:37):
it's sporadic, but they are in a very controlled environment.
They're protecting her like a little cyclone, keep her safe.
So where they do land, they will all kind of
gather over her and protect her. So now they can
just relax for a moment and get their bearings and
start looking where they're going to go.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
So now I've been stung by bees. I keep bees, yes,
and I'm mildly allergic to beastings, so it's you know,
the EpiPen, and my mother is is incredibly allergic. I
mean it's like dangerously allergic. So I want everybody to
know that. When they to understand that, and I keep bees,
(21:15):
you know, we've got we have a new colony coming.
We'll have thirty forty thousand little ladies just a few
feet away from everything. It doesn't change the number of
bees in my yard, by the way, because they're forging.
Radius is huge. But the point is, again, I just
want to underscore this, that cloud of bees, that swarm
of bees, the last thing on their mind is attacking anybody.
(21:38):
They are searching for a new home. And that is
very different. And people are like, well, but listen, I've
been attacked by a swarm of bees. Like you haven't
been attacked by a swarm. If you've disrupted an actual hive,
you've If you've gotten too close and disturbed or threatened
an actual hive, then a colony of bees will send
(21:59):
out a stinging party to like protect themselves. It's a
like a like an air force base. You're launching a
squadron of fighters in order to protect the base. Right.
That is different than you know, fifteen thousand bees flying
through the air all at one time. That is a swarm.
They are going to gather somewhere. And here's the critical thing.
(22:20):
Oh you know what, Okay, we're up against the break
so cliffhanger literally a cliffhanger hanging on the tree. Yes,
you see them there they are. Don't answer right now?
How long are they going to be there? And do
I need to do anything about it? Well, we're going
to answer that after.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
We're talking all things life and living in our yard today.
That's our special spring program. We've talked about the birds.
I'm sitting here talking with my good friend Nicole old Palladino,
who is the owner and operator of Bee Catchers. We
have just a few minutes left. I left you hanging
because we're talking about spring swarms and they are not hives.
(23:11):
They are not invading your home. They are not there
to hurt you in any way, shape or form. Now
there's this clump of bees hanging off our tree or
our fence or our umbrella in the backyard. The question, Nicole,
And it's not that if you do the wrong thing,
you go out there and hit them with a broom
or spray them with the hose, you're gonna get them upset.
(23:32):
But that is not where their heads are at at all.
They are looking for a new home and that is
all that is on their mind. There's a queen, an
aged queen, in the center of that clump. There is
no structure. That's not a hive. They're not building honeycomb.
It's it's not where there. There are scouts going out
back and forth, desperately trying to make the decision about
(23:53):
where they're going. To go to next, and so here
we're telling everybody, chill out, chill out now. Critical question,
how long is that clump of bees going to be
hanging from my patio or umbrella.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
So it depends.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
They could literally be there an hour, and if they're
lucky enough to find something that they all agree upon
and the scouts were really on it and they were
out working quickly, they could be gone very very soon,
or it can take them a day or two or three.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
It depends.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Sometimes you have some super warm weather and the weather
can change become much more cold in a couple of days,
and that might hinder their process of finding another place,
you know, by a day or so. But generally swarms
will land and rest maybe one to three days before
they're completely gone. It's like an instantaneous they were there.
I get calls all the time, this this is here,
(24:45):
it's fully established.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
How long has it been there? Well, it wasn't there yesterday.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
They can as fast as they show up, are as
fast as they take off, exactly just like that.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
And I get the same calls because our friends know
that we keep bees, and they're like, okay, Dan Dane, Dane, Dane, Dane,
I know there's a hive in my front yard. I'm like,
really on your tree? Yeah, in the in the tree. No,
on the tree. I'm like, okay, in the tree. I
could believe yes, you just noticed it. Okay, there's a
hollowed out section of a tree. That's like that's kind
of ideal, right, but no, no, no, there's I can
(25:16):
see them all they're hanging. I'm like, okay, don't do anything.
Call me at this time tomorrow if they're still there.
And now, personally I think I can. Maybe twice i've
seen a swarm hang out for more than forty eight hours. Yeah,
but that's in my experience, that's been super rare. And
(25:36):
sometimes I'll get a text or a voicemail because I'm
in a meeting and it'll be like dan bees bees
in my yard, And then by the time I actually
get back to them, they're like, okay, never mind, Yeah,
they're gone. So they really are not there to They're
not going to be there long.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
No, and they're not going to hurt you. They're not
going to hurt your pets. Think just think for a
moment when you're nervous about that. But you know in
your lifetime there are hives all around us everywhere that
are established. They don't bother us. They're just pollinating, they're forging.
They're not here to attack your animals. If you get stung,
it's mostly because people might walk in the flight path
of a bee or step on a bee. Because bees
(26:16):
can still sting you even after they die for a
certain amount of time. It's accidental, you know. But if
you do something to provoke, of course, you know. But
this is a critical time. So please leave them in
their environment, feral, give them the opportunity, enjoy them while
they're there, Take a few photos, videos, share them with
your family and friends, you know, post on social media that, look,
(26:36):
i was just a.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Lucky recipient of a beautiful swarm that.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Landed in my backyard, and I've learned that they're not harmful.
I'm going to give them a little bit of time
to rest and figure out where they need to go.
And you can spread information this way and help people understand.
Don't be nervous and always call and ask these questions
and I will be more than happy to walk you
through it. But by the time there's no reason to
(27:00):
chase swarms, because by the time we get there, they're gone.
That's how quickly. And I'm honest with people, and I
could come out and charge you to relocate them.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
But why they're about to relocate them.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, they're going to go by themselves. They're already out
the door.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
So I'm just going to couch it. In these terms,
if you see a swarm of bees hanging somewhere on
your property, call everybody you know, take video and take photos,
and stay back away from it and let it be there,
because you're watching a birth take place. You are literally
watching an amazing birth take place. A new colony of
(27:38):
bees has temporarily stopped at your house to say, hey,
guess what, We're about to go do amazing things for
this town as soon as we find our new place.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
And they felt they felt good enough to stop close
to you.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Okay, so now we've got we've got just a few
minutes left. I want to spend the rest of this
time now talking about what you do, because you're not
a sponsor of the show, but I talk about you
every single chance I get, every ever call I ever
get about bees. If there are situations where bees take
up residents on our property in places like eves or
(28:17):
in an attic space, or in a chimney or you
know you places where they shouldn't be and places where
we don't want them to be. These are hives where
structures are being built and a colony is going to
live when that happens. If we see walk outside and
we notice, oh my gosh, there are bees flying in
and out of that little hole in the screen in
(28:39):
my attic, now what do we do?
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Okay, So if you see the bees are flying and
out of your fence, eve of a roof, a hole
in your wall, it could be the area smaller than
the size of a dime that an entire colony can
come into and establish in the soffitt of your roof
wall voids. If that happens, then all a live be
removal company. This is where we come out and do
(29:02):
free inspections. Use some thermal imaging, see where the bees are.
And that's where the bees that you see flying on
the outside are just forging bees. It's less than one
percent of the colony because all the other bees stay
inside and they all have jobs based on their age.
So inside the queen is laying eggs, They are tending
to the to the babies, They are turning pollen and
(29:23):
nectar into honey. They got a whole thing going on
in there. But you if you leave them, they will
continue to grow and grow and grow in there. So
you don't want to leave them in structures like that
one because it can attract other things that are attracted
to that honey as a food source. You sometimes honey
can attract moisture, so it can ferment at times and
cause mold issues, especially when people are killing the bees
(29:46):
and leaving an entire colony to rot. Those are the
times where you can have a lot of issues with
honey and mold issues.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Okay, so that's critical. Let me just underscore that real quick.
Be removed. When you guys come out, you do live
be removal. You don't kill the bees, you rehome them. Yes,
an the entire car, and you remove all of the structure,
all the honey, all of the comb everything. Because if
you just kill bees, if you call a pest control
company and they come out and they're like, all right,
(30:16):
we're going to kill the bees, you just killed the bees.
Number one, we've destroyed a colony unnecessarily. Number two, it's
not going to cost you less than you guys coming
out and now We've got all this stuff that's unregulated
now by bee activity, unmaintained honey moisture, wax, all of
(30:37):
this stuff melting inside, all of that's there's no bees
to feed the baby, there's no there's no bees to
take care of it all. There's no bees to maintain it,
and now it causes a structural issue with the house.
So you want everything removed correct, Everything is removed, properly cleaned. Uh,
it's treated. We use eco friendly treatments that are chrysanthemum
based to neutralize the smell of pheromone which is very strong.
(30:59):
Because we don't want to try bees back to that location.
We don't want another colony saying hey, hi, hey, this
place smells great.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Yeah you're listing.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
We found.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Exactly the bls.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
So yes, we want to get it all cleaned out
and we take care of everything from start to finish
for you, one stop shop. The bees are saved, relocated.
We uh take great pride in what we do. This is,
you know, our life's work. And then we get everything
repaired for you too, so you don't have to call
somebody else to come in to repair your roof, your wall.
You're stucco you're sighting, you're fencing. All work is guaranteed,
(31:35):
so we try to make it as easy as possible
and affordable. You know, help the bees, and also when
you kill them, you're spreading super toxic pesticide that is airborne,
you know, to you and your family. So it's another
thing that.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
That's a whole other thing. I wish we had time
to talk about the big I know, all right, you
serve us all of southern California except San Diego, Okay,
So how do people get.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
A hold of You can visit us on our web
site at bcatcherssocol dot com. So you can also call
toll free eight sixty six five four four zero zero
seven four and locally. I can always be sent a text,
a video. It's super easy, always reachable at eight one
eight four four eight two one four nine. You call,
(32:20):
ask questions, you just need some advice, whatever it is.
I'm always here to help. We're available twenty four hours
a day. And yeah about it. Social media, Facebook, B Catcher, Zing, TikTok, Instagram.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
You're all over the place. Yeah, be Catchers socol dot com,
Becatchers soo cal dot com. Nicole, thank you so much
for being here.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
I really appreciate it. Always such a pleasure to see
you and them you again.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
All right, all right, y'all, when we return, we're gonna go.
We talked to birds bees. Now we're kind of talk
trees with a certified arborist, Bob Loft. We will do
that right after we get some news. You are listening
to Home with Dean Sharp on KFI. This has been
Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the
(33:10):
live broadcast on KFI Am six forty every Saturday morning
from six to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning
from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand
on the iHeartRadio app.
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Follow us
on social media. We only do the good kind. It's uplifting,
it's informative, it's inspiring. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all the usual suspects.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm gonna name them anymore. Home with Dean, same handle
for all of them. And by the way, if your
home is in some need of personal house Whisper attention,
I mean personal like Dean and the t standing in
your living room staring at the problem, talking just to
you about what is possible. You can do that. You
(00:39):
can book an in home design consult with me and
the tea you just go to house Whisper dot Design. Okay,
So we are taking the morning, this lovely spring morning
here in southern California, and we are talking about life,
bringing life into your backyard, life onto your property and
where you just finished up talking to Richard Armerding, my
(01:00):
good friend from wild Birds Unlimited, and now I want
to switch the conversation from the birds to the bees.
And to do that I've got now in studio my
dear friend Nicole Palladino from bee catchers, Nicole, Good morning
and welcome home.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Good morning. How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I'm great, I'm so glad that you're here.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I love our conversations, always, always, always, So you know,
we've got a list of things that we've got to
accomplish for everybody today because and gonna I'm gonna I'm
gonna hold us to it. I'm gonna hold our feet
to the fire. Here. There are four things I want
to talk about with you today, okay, and if we've
got time to talk about other things, that's great too.
Number one, first rule about bees. Bees are not pests. Okay. Second,
(01:48):
I want to ask you whether b mcgeddon is really over,
whether colony collapse disorder is done and finished, because nobody's
talking about it anymore. And if that's the case, what
is the state of bees right now? Especially in southern California.
I want our listeners to understand what the spring swarms down.
The weather's been funky, so we haven't had a lot.
(02:09):
I haven't noticed any big swarms yet happening in our neighborhood.
But it's coming. It's going to come, as it always does.
And as always, people completely must understand what a spring
swarm is they think they're a hive has taken up,
you know, a residence in their front of their home,
in their front yard, in the tree or on the wall,
(02:29):
or on the fence or wherever. So I want everybody
to understand what spring swarms are so that they don't
do the wrong thing with those bees. And then finally,
I want to make sure you know, bookending this idea
that bees aren't pests, and they're not. But sometimes bees
(02:49):
make their home in the wrong place, wrong for them,
wrong for us. And when that happens, you guys, you
specifically are uniquely qualified to tell us what should we
do when it comes to that. So that's where I
want to go. Okay, all right, So first of all,
back to it with the couple of minutes we have
left before we go to break here. Bees aren't pests,
(03:10):
this is correct. Tell me this.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
They are not.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
They are a very critical part to our ecology, to
our agriculture, and they are responsible for more than eighty
percent of our food supply.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
When we say more than eighty percent of our food supply,
we're talking about the fact that they pollinate these critical
crops that end up making it into the market with us.
Is is it just that or is it more?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It's more.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
It goes into grass fed meats and all the afalfa
that you're eating with your meat supply. It has to
do with the health of the soil, the health of
the air, much more than just all the fruits and
vegetables that they're pollinating and allowing us to you know, enjoy,
(04:00):
because without them, we would have things like roots, root
potatoes and rice and things that you would not be
able to you know, sustain a population, to feed people with. Right,
So it's much more. There's an entire circle that they
fall into as far as making this work. And without
(04:22):
them we could have a huge.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Glass okay and now and and regionally, yeah, absolutely, regionally.
This is not one of those things that we can
think about in terms of Okay, well, yeah, out there
in the agricultural we're out there in nature out there
where it's It's something that I'm hoping that that I
can really communicate to all of our listening to every homeowner. Yes,
(04:45):
is that nature is not something that's out there right.
Nature is something that we are all in right now. Now.
It may we may have paved streets and concrete curbs
and driveways. But that's kind of it's really an illusion,
the sense that somehow we have pushed nature elsewhere from
where we are. And when it comes to bees and
(05:05):
bee populations, now that cities are sprawling the way they are,
the presence of bees in the urban environment is critical
to bees everywhere period.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Correct.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Just like you have all of your birds that you
love and have, the bees are the ones that are
responsible to pollinate these wild plants that feed the birds exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
They're just part of that chain.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Small mammals, other insects. Of course, it's all kind of
all right.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
So when we come back, we're going to talk about
I'm going to ask you about b mageddon and colony
collapse and all of that stuff, and we're going to
figure out where we're at, what's the state of bees
this year, because it's a little weird right now because
we're having some unusual weather, and we'll figure it all out,
all right. I am sitting here with my special guest,
Nicole Palladino from Bee Catchers. We'll talk about that more
(05:53):
as well more on bees in your yard when we
return your home with Dean Sharp the house whisper.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
We're talking all things spring and life in your garden. Yes,
like I thought this was a show about how to
fix my garage door. Well we have those moments too,
we do. No. Our show is called Home, and the
reason it is is because it follows my approach to
home design and home construction, architecture and all of those things,
(06:30):
which is, I would like to think, a very holistic
approach and a very biophilic approach. You've never heard that
word before. It simply means a love of all things nature,
and it is the direction of architecture and home design.
I'm glad to say moving forward, we are every cutting
(06:52):
edge architect I know is more and more concerned about
bringing the outside in, bringing the inside out, and improving
the way that we recover from the displacement of our homes.
And when I say displacement, I simply mean this. This
is a reality. Every creature in nature, when it builds
(07:14):
its home, displaces some other form of nature. When a
gopher digs a tunnel under a yard and comes up
and there's a little burrow, even if it's not somebody's yard,
if it's out in the middle of a prairie. Soil
is displaced, roots are displaced, plants are displaced. It is
the nature of all living things to displace other living things.
(07:34):
And human beings don't need to feel overwhelmingly guilty about
the fact that we build shelters for ourselves and when
we do that, we displace nature. But unlike the other
creatures on this planet, we are exceptionally good at displacing things,
and we have an exceptional level of hubris when it
(07:55):
comes to the fact that we just feel like, well,
we're here and nature can just go over there, and
that's simply not the case. And so what I want
from every home design that we work on, every project
that we're a part of, I encourage homeowners, all, right,
now that we have displaced some nature with your home,
how do we bring it back into the yard, the
(08:17):
surrounding property. How can we reintegrate all those elements? And
our home stands as an example, our tiny little cottage
out here in Thousand Oaks stands as an example of
just that. If you were to walk down our street,
and I am not exaggerating when I tell you this,
You're to walk down our street on any given day
you will hear, you know, some bird song, a little
(08:39):
bit of this, a little bit of that, and when
you get in front of our home, you will hear
considerably more of it. And as you enter our backyard,
you'll hear even more than that. And that is because
we haven't just done a backyard, we haven't just planted
a garden, but we have intentionally created a habitat that
(08:59):
is both beautiful and functional, habitat for birds, for bees,
for all kinds of creatures back here. And as a result,
they literally flock to our home and we gain all
the benefits of that as well. So that's the kind
of stuff I'm talking about. And right now we need
to talk about bees and displacement of bees and the
(09:19):
state of bees. And sitting across the table from me
is my dear friend Nicole Palladino, the owner and operator
of Bee Catchers, a live bee removal service that covers
all of southern California that all of you need to
know about. And we'll get to that in just a bit.
But Nicole, give us the state of bees right now.
This year. You know what's going on with them? We
(09:42):
got weird weather and how are we doing?
Speaker 4 (09:45):
So? I didn't think we would be coming back to
talk about any collapse or issues with a decline in
bees because we haven't really spoken about it in.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
The last few years.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Nobody's talking about it right now.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
It seems to be like things have recovered and we're
doing better. But for twenty twenty five, there are some
record breaking numbers of colony loss up to about sixty
to seventy percent that beekeepers are reporting. That is more
than the forty to fifty percent that is usually reported
from issues of overwintering, you know, the stress on bees
(10:17):
and populations dying. We never really see the numbers of
what happened last year until the year you know that's
coming in the future.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And now we're knowing that.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
We are seeing some considerable losses and there are there
are some reasons for it. You have asicidence, which are
the neon nicod denies. You have bra mites and diseases,
habitat loss, yes, change of weather and weather extremes, and
(10:46):
some you know, industrial agricultural practices that could be much better.
And so we have a variety of mixture of things
that are causing this right.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And a lot of it honestly, honestly is you know,
this is not to lay this burden on everybody's shoulders.
A lot of this is just outside of the control
of like the typical homeowner, right, and so this is
not like we're not trying to guilt anybody or lay
So here's my here's my goal. Yeah, is to let
everybody know how critical the bee is to our lives.
(11:23):
Number one. Number two, to understand that there are still
a lot of forces working against bees in urban areas
all across the United States, including here in southern California.
So if you understand those two things, then we've come
a long way. And Third, now, based on that, based
(11:44):
on this understanding, not that everybody has to go out
and start picketing or this or that, but based on
that understanding, individual homeowners to understand when they encounter bees
on their property that they have the right responds and
an informed response. So can we do this, Nicole when
(12:05):
we come back, I want to talk about the spring swarm. Okay,
B colonies rece themselves every spring, there's a surgeon B
populations and colonies split and they divide and other certain
groups of bees from the original colony go looking for
(12:25):
a new home. Yes, and when that happens. Most people
I've ever met completely misunderstand that cloud of bees that
is flying overhead. They completely misunderstand that beard of bees,
that clump of bees that suddenly just out of nowhere
showed up in the elm tree out in their front
yard or on the side of the palm tree, or
(12:48):
hanging off the fence or wherever that was. Completely must
understand it, and as a result, at this critical moment,
they end up calling an extermination company and those bees
are destroyed. Right at the moment when a bees are
trying to grow and.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Reproduce one hundred percent, and they are the most vulnerable
at that time because people don't understand that they have
eaten their last meal, they have branched off, they have
a queen with them with maybe five to ten thousand workers,
They have no shelter. They are extremely vulnerable, and this
is the time that we should protect them the most.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
So, yeah, we can find and they are not dangerous
at that moment.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
They are not dangerous, and generally bees aren't really dangerous
in general, but this is the time that we could
really protect them and make a difference in the numbers
going forward.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
All right, if you have never fully understood what one
of those clumps of bees or clouds of bees flying overhead,
what that really means. Go nowhere, because when we come back,
we're going to explain it to you and give you,
hopefully open your eyes to what's happening around you at
that very critical juncture. All Right, you guys, hang with
(13:55):
us your Home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI Am six forty.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
We're talking all things home like we do every weekend,
every Sunday morning from nine to noon. And yes, I
spend most of my time talking to you about construction issues,
design issues, architectural issues. But every spring I set time
aside so that we can talk about even more important
things that are happening around us. Because our homes exist
(14:29):
here on this planet, and they exist in the middle
of nature. It may not be your definition of nature,
but it is nature nonetheless, and around us things are happening.
Important things are happening every year this time of year, springtime. Now, normally,
by the time I take this show and we're talking
about bees, swarms are already occurring, and things are already happening.
(14:51):
But this time around, because the weather's been cold, a
little damp, a little rainy, a little this, a little
that the swarms have not stopped. It started popping out
at the with the same frequency. I'm not saying there
aren't any out there, but there aren't as many right now.
It is going to happen. And if you don't understand
(15:11):
the difference between a swarm of bees and a hot
then I need you to listen up very carefully to us.
Right now, I'm sitting here in studio with my dear
friend Nicole Palladino from the owner and operator of Bee Catchers,
a live bee removal service. I know no one who
(15:31):
knows more about bees than Nicole and Nicole our goal
right now for the next six minutes is to explain
to people what is happening when they're standing outside and
they see a cloud of bees move overhead. Are they
being attacked? Are they is there life at risk? Or
let's say suddenly they look out the kitchen window and
(15:52):
see there's a there's a gigantic clump of bees the
size of a basketball hanging off the oak tree or
the tree in the front yard or the fence, and
they're freaking out and they're like, who do I call? Oh,
my gosh, a hive of bees has made its home
in my yard. Not true, Not true at all. Explain
(16:13):
what is going on?
Speaker 4 (16:15):
So we're having every spring, you're going to see where
bees split. Another queen and a portion of the workers
will migrate to propagate their numbers and start colonies in
other places.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
So a colony of bees, a colony, that's the proper
term for them, a colony of bees. They multiply, and
so they appoint another queen, and so now there are
two queens, and one queen takes a portion of that
high and they head off to form another independent colony.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Correct, And they need to do that by what we
call a swarm. So they will leave the colony and
generally go about three to five hundred feet from where
they are branching off from. And at this critical time,
and the queen has not flown in quite some time,
so she's not as strong or doesn't have as much
energy as she would because she hasn't taken a flight
(17:09):
path in a while.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
She's typically the old queen.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
She's typically the older queen that will leave and her
successor once she's been in the.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Hive for maybe years, laying the eggs, not flying.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
And now she needs to slow down on her She's
taken time to slow down and reduce the size of
her ovaries so that she's not laying eggs right now
and she's not as heavy in her ovaries aren't as big.
So she needs to take this flight again. And she's
protected by her family of daughters, her workers. And so
(17:39):
what they will do is they will swarm out and
find a place and it can be really anything.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
They don't discriminate.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
It could be your bicycle, your car, It could be
you know, your umbrella, trees, bushes, all kinds of things.
They are coming out just to take a resting spot
while scalpies go out and look for areas with more shelter.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Okay, so we call this thing a beard because it's
a clump of bees. It is not a hive. A
hive actually has a physical structure to it. There's honeycomb
they have found, and a hive never, no hive ever
is built out in the open.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
No, that's not true.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Okay, because you will have established colonies that maybe are
high up in a tree somewhere that people don't notice,
and they can be hanging from a branch. That's probably
maybe five percent of all colonies.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Okay, but most hives are because they're trying to protect
their home. Correct.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
You would see that everywhere if that was true.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Right, they would just be you know, honeycomb just hanging
off of trees everywhere. But they're trying to protect their home,
not just from people, from birds and everything else that
wants that honey.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Yeah, and the temperature because they need to regulate the
tempt they have to regulate, so they.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Need to get inside somewhere in some shelters. So that
clump of bees is not a high It is a
colony in a very very vulnerable state. And in the
middle of that pile of bees is the queen. She's
in there being protected. Yes, and that. And they've taken
(19:08):
a break and you said earlier, before the break, you
said they've eaten their last meal. Yes, what does that mean?
That sounds like a death SiGe.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I know they have actually filled their bellies with honey,
and they have and left home, and they left with
no shelter.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
They don't get to go back.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Now they're on a house hunt, right, so now they
have no they don't know where they're going to go yet,
but the queen isn't going to be the one to
go and do that because they need to preserve and
conserve her energy. So scalpes go out and look for
these areas.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
So scalpees are heading out from there and they're looking
for ideal, optimal conditions and if they find something they
think is possible, they'll come back. They'll report back. Yep,
they talk about it. They can, they really do. There's
a full on dance and communication process. They are handing
out samples and pheromoe.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
All directions on where food and water is, how far
it will be from where they decide to colonize, and
so that's that you see that cloud in the sky.
All the years I've been doing this, I've never seen
a swarm attack anybody. And I've been caught in them
in the middle of crossing a crosswalk. I've seen people
I'm driving by and a swarm will come by, and
somebody's in the street and a swarm will come through.
(20:15):
And it's scary looking at the moment, yes, but it's
their way of communicating. If people can understand, it looks
scary because it's meant to because they're trying to protect
their queen because if she doesn't survive, they don't either.
So they're communicating in this flight path. It can be
very loud looking and you can hear the sound, and
(20:37):
it's sporadic, but they are in a very controlled environment.
They're protecting her like a little cyclone, keep her safe.
So where they do land, they will all kind of
gather over her and protect her. So now they can
just relax for a moment and get their bearings and
start looking where they're going to go.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
So now I've been stung by bees. I keep bees, yes,
and I'm mildly allergic to beastings, so it's you know,
the EpiPen, and my mother is is incredibly allergic. I
mean it's like dangerously allergic. So I want everybody to
know that. When they to understand that, and I keep bees,
(21:15):
you know, we've got we have a new colony coming.
We'll have thirty forty thousand little ladies just a few
feet away from everything. It doesn't change the number of
bees in my yard, by the way, because they're forging.
Radius is huge. But the point is, again, I just
want to underscore this, that cloud of bees, that swarm
of bees, the last thing on their mind is attacking anybody.
(21:38):
They are searching for a new home. And that is
very different. And people are like, well, but listen, I've
been attacked by a swarm of bees. Like you haven't
been attacked by a swarm. If you've disrupted an actual hive,
you've If you've gotten too close and disturbed or threatened
an actual hive, then a colony of bees will send
(21:59):
out a stinging party to like protect themselves. It's a
like a like an air force base. You're launching a
squadron of fighters in order to protect the base. Right.
That is different than you know, fifteen thousand bees flying
through the air all at one time. That is a swarm.
They are going to gather somewhere. And here's the critical thing.
(22:20):
Oh you know what, Okay, we're up against the break
so cliffhanger literally a cliffhanger hanging on the tree. Yes,
you see them there they are. Don't answer right now?
How long are they going to be there? And do
I need to do anything about it? Well, we're going
to answer that after.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
We're talking all things life and living in our yard today.
That's our special spring program. We've talked about the birds.
I'm sitting here talking with my good friend Nicole old Palladino,
who is the owner and operator of Bee Catchers. We
have just a few minutes left. I left you hanging
because we're talking about spring swarms and they are not hives.
(23:11):
They are not invading your home. They are not there
to hurt you in any way, shape or form. Now
there's this clump of bees hanging off our tree or
our fence or our umbrella in the backyard. The question, Nicole,
And it's not that if you do the wrong thing,
you go out there and hit them with a broom
or spray them with the hose, you're gonna get them upset.
(23:32):
But that is not where their heads are at at all.
They are looking for a new home and that is
all that is on their mind. There's a queen, an
aged queen, in the center of that clump. There is
no structure. That's not a hive. They're not building honeycomb.
It's it's not where there. There are scouts going out
back and forth, desperately trying to make the decision about
(23:53):
where they're going. To go to next, and so here
we're telling everybody, chill out, chill out now. Critical question,
how long is that clump of bees going to be
hanging from my patio or umbrella.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
So it depends.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
They could literally be there an hour, and if they're
lucky enough to find something that they all agree upon
and the scouts were really on it and they were
out working quickly, they could be gone very very soon,
or it can take them a day or two or three.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
It depends.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Sometimes you have some super warm weather and the weather
can change become much more cold in a couple of days,
and that might hinder their process of finding another place,
you know, by a day or so. But generally swarms
will land and rest maybe one to three days before
they're completely gone. It's like an instantaneous they were there.
I get calls all the time, this this is here,
(24:45):
it's fully established.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
How long has it been there? Well, it wasn't there yesterday.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
They can as fast as they show up, are as
fast as they take off, exactly just like that.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
And I get the same calls because our friends know
that we keep bees, and they're like, okay, Dan Dane, Dane, Dane, Dane,
I know there's a hive in my front yard. I'm like,
really on your tree? Yeah, in the in the tree. No,
on the tree. I'm like, okay, in the tree. I
could believe yes, you just noticed it. Okay, there's a
hollowed out section of a tree. That's like that's kind
of ideal, right, but no, no, no, there's I can
(25:16):
see them all they're hanging. I'm like, okay, don't do anything.
Call me at this time tomorrow if they're still there.
And now, personally I think I can. Maybe twice i've
seen a swarm hang out for more than forty eight hours. Yeah,
but that's in my experience, that's been super rare. And
(25:36):
sometimes I'll get a text or a voicemail because I'm
in a meeting and it'll be like dan bees bees
in my yard, And then by the time I actually
get back to them, they're like, okay, never mind, Yeah,
they're gone. So they really are not there to They're
not going to be there long.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
No, and they're not going to hurt you. They're not
going to hurt your pets. Think just think for a
moment when you're nervous about that. But you know in
your lifetime there are hives all around us everywhere that
are established. They don't bother us. They're just pollinating, they're forging.
They're not here to attack your animals. If you get stung,
it's mostly because people might walk in the flight path
of a bee or step on a bee. Because bees
(26:16):
can still sting you even after they die for a
certain amount of time. It's accidental, you know. But if
you do something to provoke, of course, you know. But
this is a critical time. So please leave them in
their environment, feral, give them the opportunity, enjoy them while
they're there, Take a few photos, videos, share them with
your family and friends, you know, post on social media that, look,
(26:36):
i was just a.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Lucky recipient of a beautiful swarm that.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Landed in my backyard, and I've learned that they're not harmful.
I'm going to give them a little bit of time
to rest and figure out where they need to go.
And you can spread information this way and help people understand.
Don't be nervous and always call and ask these questions
and I will be more than happy to walk you
through it. But by the time there's no reason to
(27:00):
chase swarms, because by the time we get there, they're gone.
That's how quickly. And I'm honest with people, and I
could come out and charge you to relocate them.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
But why they're about to relocate them.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, they're going to go by themselves. They're already out
the door.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
So I'm just going to couch it. In these terms,
if you see a swarm of bees hanging somewhere on
your property, call everybody you know, take video and take photos,
and stay back away from it and let it be there,
because you're watching a birth take place. You are literally
watching an amazing birth take place. A new colony of
(27:38):
bees has temporarily stopped at your house to say, hey,
guess what, We're about to go do amazing things for
this town as soon as we find our new place.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
And they felt they felt good enough to stop close
to you.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Okay, so now we've got we've got just a few
minutes left. I want to spend the rest of this
time now talking about what you do, because you're not
a sponsor of the show, but I talk about you
every single chance I get, every ever call I ever
get about bees. If there are situations where bees take
up residents on our property in places like eves or
(28:17):
in an attic space, or in a chimney or you
know you places where they shouldn't be and places where
we don't want them to be. These are hives where
structures are being built and a colony is going to
live when that happens. If we see walk outside and
we notice, oh my gosh, there are bees flying in
and out of that little hole in the screen in
(28:39):
my attic, now what do we do?
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Okay, So if you see the bees are flying and
out of your fence, eve of a roof, a hole
in your wall, it could be the area smaller than
the size of a dime that an entire colony can
come into and establish in the soffitt of your roof
wall voids. If that happens, then all a live be
removal company. This is where we come out and do
(29:02):
free inspections. Use some thermal imaging, see where the bees are.
And that's where the bees that you see flying on
the outside are just forging bees. It's less than one
percent of the colony because all the other bees stay
inside and they all have jobs based on their age.
So inside the queen is laying eggs, They are tending
to the to the babies, They are turning pollen and
(29:23):
nectar into honey. They got a whole thing going on
in there. But you if you leave them, they will
continue to grow and grow and grow in there. So
you don't want to leave them in structures like that
one because it can attract other things that are attracted
to that honey as a food source. You sometimes honey
can attract moisture, so it can ferment at times and
cause mold issues, especially when people are killing the bees
(29:46):
and leaving an entire colony to rot. Those are the
times where you can have a lot of issues with
honey and mold issues.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Okay, so that's critical. Let me just underscore that real quick.
Be removed. When you guys come out, you do live
be removal. You don't kill the bees, you rehome them. Yes,
an the entire car, and you remove all of the structure,
all the honey, all of the comb everything. Because if
you just kill bees, if you call a pest control
company and they come out and they're like, all right,
(30:16):
we're going to kill the bees, you just killed the bees.
Number one, we've destroyed a colony unnecessarily. Number two, it's
not going to cost you less than you guys coming
out and now We've got all this stuff that's unregulated
now by bee activity, unmaintained honey moisture, wax, all of
(30:37):
this stuff melting inside, all of that's there's no bees
to feed the baby, there's no there's no bees to
take care of it all. There's no bees to maintain it,
and now it causes a structural issue with the house.
So you want everything removed correct, Everything is removed, properly cleaned. Uh,
it's treated. We use eco friendly treatments that are chrysanthemum
based to neutralize the smell of pheromone which is very strong.
(30:59):
Because we don't want to try bees back to that location.
We don't want another colony saying hey, hi, hey, this
place smells great.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Yeah you're listing.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
We found.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Exactly the bls.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
So yes, we want to get it all cleaned out
and we take care of everything from start to finish
for you, one stop shop. The bees are saved, relocated.
We uh take great pride in what we do. This is,
you know, our life's work. And then we get everything
repaired for you too, so you don't have to call
somebody else to come in to repair your roof, your wall.
You're stucco you're sighting, you're fencing. All work is guaranteed,
(31:35):
so we try to make it as easy as possible
and affordable. You know, help the bees, and also when
you kill them, you're spreading super toxic pesticide that is airborne,
you know, to you and your family. So it's another
thing that.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
That's a whole other thing. I wish we had time
to talk about the big I know, all right, you
serve us all of southern California except San Diego, Okay,
So how do people get.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
A hold of You can visit us on our web
site at bcatcherssocol dot com. So you can also call
toll free eight sixty six five four four zero zero
seven four and locally. I can always be sent a text,
a video. It's super easy, always reachable at eight one
eight four four eight two one four nine. You call,
(32:20):
ask questions, you just need some advice, whatever it is.
I'm always here to help. We're available twenty four hours
a day. And yeah about it. Social media, Facebook, B Catcher, Zing, TikTok, Instagram.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
You're all over the place. Yeah, be Catchers socol dot com,
Becatchers soo cal dot com. Nicole, thank you so much
for being here.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
I really appreciate it. Always such a pleasure to see
you and them you again.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
All right, all right, y'all, when we return, we're gonna go.
We talked to birds bees. Now we're kind of talk
trees with a certified arborist, Bob Loft. We will do
that right after we get some news. You are listening
to Home with Dean Sharp on KFI. This has been
Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the
(33:10):
live broadcast on KFI Am six forty every Saturday morning
from six to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning
from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand
on the iHeartRadio app.
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