The European honeybee.

European Honey Bee

Bee behavior in general throughout the United States is the same, but we will be addressing bee behavior in Orange County specifically. Originally, Orange County was essentially an agricultural community and bees were an important part of the agricultural industry. As Orange County slowly turned into a residential and business community, the bees adapted and started building their hives inside structures. Their favorite place to hive is in the framing between the interior and exterior walls of structures. Other places where they build hives include: under eaves of enclosed fascias, under Spanish roof tiles, in water control boxes and any type of utility enclosed box, in any equipment or vehicles that have been left stationary and unused for long periods of time, underneath standing construction trailers, in the trunks of trees and in the base of olive trees, etc.  We've noticed this past season of the year 2000, that more bees have been hiving and building honeycomb in the branches of trees.  However, the most common place for bees to build their hive is inside the structure of buildings.  Once the honeybee builds a hive and establishes its territory, it generally will not abandon that hive. 

Beehives
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The hive pictured here is in an outside column. The stucco needed to be opened to access the hive.

 

 

A board or fascia board was covering these eaves, which made a perfect hiving box for the bees. The board was removed to access the hive to extract it.

 

This picture shows honeycombs underneath the rounded void area of a Spanish tile roof. The tiles have to be removed for the hive removal. After the hive is completely removed or extracted, and the roof tiles are thoroughly cleaned off, the roof tiles would then be replaced.

Pictured here is a hive inside the stud framing of a structure. To access and remove the hive, the wall had to be opened.

 

 

Pictured here is a beehive in the ceiling. The ceiling had to be opened to access the hive. The bees’ access point was on the outside of the building, and it only needed to be 1/8" – 1/4" to enter the ceiling void.

Pictured here is a hive in a water meter box. This is a very common place for bees to hive.

 

 

This honeycomb is under the roof cap at the top of a roof.

 

 

Here is a hive in between an interior and exterior framing structure.

 

The Bee Man
 Phone (949) 455-0123
Fax (949) 455-9713
Email: b@beemanbuzz.com