FOX 4 WFTX - Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples News, WeatherBig Buzz Over Bees
Member Center:
About three years ago, a bunch of little visitors moved into Carol Howard's Arcadia home and never moved out. Now her house in home to thousands of bees and she can't afford to kick them out. She tells me, "I'm on disability and I just barely make ends meet."
I called the DeSoto County Health Department to see if it could get the bees to buzz off. But, we were back where we started. They only referred me to a commercial bee keeper. Howard tells me, "DeSoto County really doesn't look out for people that are on fixed incomes. There's really no help for people that are on fixed incomes."
I called several bee keepers to see if any would do some charity work. After three strikes, I finally got some good news. Bee Alert, also called Councell Farms Professional Bee Removal agreed to remove the bees from Howard's home and they agreed to do it for free. Howard cried when I told her the news. She thanked me but I told her the man to really thank is B. Keith Councell of Councell Farms.
When Councell arrived to remove the bee hive, he told me why he agreed to remove the colony for free, "It's a safety issue. If she has bees that are causing her problems and she can't afford it, I will come out and help out sometimes."
When Councell removes a bee colony, he tried to find the queen bee. Once he finds her, he puts her into a box and all the other bees follow her lead and go into the box. Without killing any bees, he takes them away to a place where they can pollinate plants.
After Councell removed all the bees and honeycomb from under her house, Howard said, "I didn't realize it was that big. I was told it was big but I didn't realize it was that big." Councell tells me about 30-thousand bees were living under her house.
I really want to thank Councell Farms for going all the way from Fort Myers to Arcadia to take care of this problem. I'm told it usually costs about $250 to remove a colony like the one under Howard's house, but prices can vary, depending on the size of the colony and where it's located.
If you ever have a problem and need some help, or just want to tell me about it...you can call the 4 In Your Corner TroubleShooter hotline. That number is 239-829-1118.
MARISA MENDELSON, TROUBLESHOOTER
mmendelson@fox4now.com
