Bees

100% Environmentally Safe! 

Honey Bee trap products from BeeMaster are 100% environmentally friendly and safe. Our manufacturer custom designs our bee traps to our exacting specifications.

The bee trap design we use has been tested in Arizona since 1990 and has proven to be an uniquely effective method for attracting honey bees (both European and Africanized varieties) as they migrate through an area looking for a new home. Because the BeeMaster honey bee traps are baited with a secret pheromone formulation, that mimics the honey bees' own Nasonov pheromone, they catch only honey bees and no other animals. Furthermore, this pheromone is held inside a plastic tube and gradually slow-releases a pleasant lemony scent over a period of many months. These are naturally occurring chemicals found in nature. No harmful synthetic pesticides are used in BeeMaster traps.

Control all of your honey bee problems, not just Africanized Bees!

Based upon our research, there have been few damage awards where an individual was harmed by honey bee stings and the defendant was someone other than a beekeeper. However, as the incidences of Africanized bee attacks increase, this will likely change. Already, many municipalities are considering banning beekeeping within city limits.

On January 25, 1994 the Risk Management Section of the State of Arizona Department of Administration responded to an inquiry regarding the liability of the State of Arizona to workers in their Africanized Honey Bee (Killer Bees) detection and monitoring program. Their response included the following:

"...with the known risk of an anaphylactic shock reaction our exposure could be quite severe."

Bees Attack Woman 100 Times in El Paso

September 2005

From: Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times

An elderly woman is recovering from more than 100 stings in a horrific bee attack Tuesday evening outside her Lower Valley home, her family said.

The bees were so aggressive, a witness said, they covered the woman's face, got into her mouth, hair and ears, and some went along in the ambulance to the emergency room.

"It was just unbelievable ... The swarm just kept coming and kept coming," said Johanna Puga-Martinez, 25, who used a garden hose to help rescue her neighbor Connie Bermes.

"Through an act of selflessness, this lady single-handedly saved my grandmother's life and in my eyes is a true hero," Melissa Quintero said in an e-mail to the El Paso Times.

Bermes, 82, was working in her back yard in the 8100 block of Algerita Court when she was attacked by bees living in a hollow tree by a ditch behind her home, said her son Allen Bermes, a retired El Paso deputy fire chief.

He said a crew was mowing grass at the spot earlier in the day.

The bees chased Bermes into her home, her son said. She ran out and knocked on a neighbor's door but they wouldn't open out of fear. They had a baby.

Then, Puga-Martinez, with her three young children -- two girls, ages 4 and 22 months and 10-year-old Sergio Fraire -- drove up to their home so Sergio could grab a book.

Sergio got to the front door, but sprinted back into the car after being stung by a bee.

"As soon as I looked up, a swarm of bees was coming after him," Puga-Martinez said. She then saw Bermes with her face masked by bees. "She was moving slowly. All she did was tap my car like to say 'help me.' "

Puga-Martinez ran out of the car and got a water hose to hold off the swarm as Bermes collapsed to the ground. Puga-Martinez was stung more than 20 times in the process.

Sergio called 911 from his mom's cell phone in the car. His dad Frank Martinez drove up, went into the house through a back window, opened the front door and helped the women get inside. The bees tried to follow.

"The bees were hitting (the door) hard like somebody was knocking on the door," Puga-Martinez said. Firefighters showed up and the swarm was dispersed.

It was unknown if the swarm was of Africanized bees, or killer bees, fire Lt. Mario E. Hernandez said. Bees are most active in the spring and fall. There were two other bee emergency calls Wednesday, but no one was injured.

What clients are saying about their BeeMaster Traps

After removal of more than 80 swarms of bees in a six month period at SaddleBrooke Country Club, Brent Newcombe, Golf Course Superintendent, has this to say:

"BeeMaster affords tremendous peace of mind. I feel that our members are very safe on our golf course. This includes our maintenance crew as well."

Rodney Maddox, General Manager, Tucson Country Club, stated that:

"Our members feel very satisfied that we did everything possible to make them safe. The concept works very well- I'm very happy with the program and its cost-effectiveness

"Killer Bees" Are Here Now!

"KILLER BEES" arrived in the United States at Hidalgo, Texas in October, 1990. The migration front had advanced steadily several hundred miles per year since their accidental release from Brazil in 1956. Finally, the long-awaited and dreaded arrival of this dangerous stinging insect had come true amidst the media hype and even some scientists who proclaimed that it would never enter the United States.

The first "KILLER BEES" found in the U.S. were collected in a specially-designed survey swarm trap developed by the USDA and further refined by Steven C. Thoenes, Ph.D. of Tucson, AZ., the founder and President of BeeMaster, Inc. Dr. Thoenes shared a national technology transfer award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. The ceremony was in Washington, D.C. and the plaque was presented by Dr. Dean Plowman, then Administrator for the USDA-ARS.

"KILLER BEES" were discovered in Arizona in June 1993, when they attacked an elderly woman and her dog. The dog later died from the number of stings it received. Tragically, two elderly Arizona residents died as a result of attacks by these bees during October, 1995. Already, farm animals, livestock and dogs have been killed in other attacks by these highly defensive and dangerous honey bees.

During the period from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 1995, BeeMaster has removed over 1000 swarms from our customers' properties. Over 50% of these removed honey bee colonies in our swarm traps were positively identified as "KILLER BEES" (the Africanized subspecies of honey bee).

Protect yourself, your loved ones, your customers, visitors, employees, and your pets with the proven Bee Master System TODAY...

When you are dealing with an infestation within a wall of a structure be sure to place honey bee traps close to the flight path of the point of entry.

Your best bet is to hang your traps and then inject a pesticide. The honey bee trap will help capture the stragglers which will sometimes linger for several days after your treatment. This trap will shorten the process of extermination. A bee will only make one visit to this trap and the rest is history, he is caught.

Change out the trap as needed; large nests with many bees could fill 
several of these traps before the nest is totally eradicated

HONEY BEE TRAPS

1 Trap	$24.95
4 Traps	$68.95 FREE SHIPPING
10 Traps	$155.95 FREE SHIPPING
25 Traps	$285.95 case FREE SHIPPING

Honey Bee Swarm Box
Give a swarming colony an ideal “home”! When used in conjunction with a swarm lure, swarming honeybees find our Swarm Traps irresistible! Our Swarm Traps are constructed of a molded fiber material that will hold up through many swarm seasons, mimicking the hollow of a tree, which is a favorite home of swarms. Ship wt. 6 lbs.
Swarm Lure sold separately.

HD-375 Bee Swarm Box	$55.95 each
Free Shipping

 
Swarm Lure
Our Swarm Lure emits a slow-release blend of pheromones that attract the swarm and entices the scout bees to declare the Swarm Trap a suitable new home! Use one packet per trap. Ship wt. 1 lb.

HD-376 Swarm Lure $14.05 each

• INTRODUCTION. The common name of bumble bee possibly comes from their rather large, clumsy appearance and/or the buzzing sound they make as they fly. In the urban setting, bumble bees do not usually nest in structures but are of concern because of their abundance around the many flowering plants typical of yards, and because they can sting. There are about 51 species (45 in Bombus, 6 in Psithyrus) in the United States and Canada, and as a group they are found throughout the United States.
• RECOGNITION. Adult worker body length about 1/4-1" (6-25 mm), queens about 3/4-1" (17-25 mm) long; robust in form. Color black with yellow (rarely orange) markings; with overall fuzzy appearance, including top surface of abdomen. Head with distinct space between base of compound eye and base of mandible. Hind tibia with apical spurs. Front wing with 2nd submarginal cell more or less rectangular, about as long as 1st submarginal cell. Hind wing lacks a jugal lobe (lobe on rear margin near body). Stinger relatively smooth, with small barbs. In addition, Bombus with hind tibia modified into pollen basket (surface bare and polished, marginal hair fringe) whereas, Psithyrus lacks pollen basket, hind tibia slender.
• SIMILAR GROUPS. (1) Carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.) with top surface of abdomen largely bare and shining, front wing with 2nd submarginal cell triangular, and hind wing with jugal lobe (lobe on rear margin near body). (2) Some robber flies (Diptera: Asilidae) with only 1 pair of wings. (3) Some hawk moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) with siphoning mouthparts.
• BIOLOGY. Bumble bees are social insects which live in nests or colonies. The adults are represented by workers (Psithyrus spp. lack workers) which are sterile females, queens, and males (drones) which come from unfertilized eggs and usually appear in late summer.
• Typically, only inseminated queens overwinter and do so underground. In the spring, the queens of Psithyrus species wait until the Bombus nests are moderate in size and then parasitize them. The Bombus queens select a suitable subterranean cavity or surface grass clump as a nesting site. Then the Bombus queen fashions a honey pot of wax scales near the nest entrance into which she regurgitates nectar. Next she makes a pollen clump on the nest floor and lays 8-10 eggs on it. The queen will periodically add pollen and nectar to the peripheral edges of the clump, and eventually more eggs. Developmental time (egg to adult) is 16-25 days, with 4 larval molts. Workers live about 2 weeks. Most first brood workers are small due to nutrition. The queen will increase the number of eggs laid as the number of workers to care for them increases.
• During the summer, parasitism may eliminate up to 50% of the colony's workers each week. However, a mature bumble bee nest ultimately contains about 50-400 bees at any given time; the largest known nest contained 756 bees and 385 brood (larvae and pupae).
• The nest temperature is regulated to about 86 degrees F (30 degrees C). This thermoregulation is accomplished by the bee relaxing the 3rd axillary muscle to its wings which unhinges the wings from the main power-producing thoracic muscles. Then contractions of these large muscles produces body heat without wing movement.
• In the late summer only males (drones) and new queens are reared in the nest. Once these new queens emerge, they mate and find a suitable place to overwinter.. The males, workers, old queen, and any virgin new queens die with the onset of cold weather.
• HABITS. Depending on the Bombus species, the overwintering queen will select an appropriate nesting site the following spring. The queen of some Bombus species locate a dark cavity at least 3/4" (2 cm) high by 1 1/8" (3 cm) wide containing fine plant fiber; such a nest is usually underground and often an abandoned mouse nest. Queens of other Bombus species select a dense clump of grass on the surface for a nest, adding grass on top. The queens of Psithyrus species are all parasitic on Bombus nests, so they bide their time until the Bombus nests are moderate in size and can therefore support them. They then enter the nest, kill the Bombus queen, and take over the nest using the Bombus workers to care for her young. Bombus queens of later emerging Bombus species sometimes also parasitize the nests of earlier emerging Bombus species.
• Bumble bees foraging for nectar fly at 7-12 mph (11-20 km/hr) and spend only 2-4 minutes inside the nest between trips. Probably they will travel at least 3 mi (5 km) if necessary for nectar. They orientate by the sky's polarized light via their 3 ocelli, so they can forage before and after light when objects and landmarks are not visible. They use their thermoregulation procedure to warm up flight muscles before the sun rises and to also forage when temperatures are below 50 degrees F (10 degrees C; lowest observed flight at 26 degrees F/-3.6 degrees C) whereas, most bees stop foraging at 61 degrees F (16 degrees C). Each worker forages independently, and bumble bees never exchange food. Old cocoons are used to store both pollen and nectar. Only enough food (honey and pollen) for a few days is stored at any given time which helps discourage nest predation by skunks, foxes, etc.
• Defense is usually done by using their relatively smooth stingers which can be used over and over. Some species will also spray feces, and some cover the intruder with regurgitated honey. People sensitive to insect venom should exercise care around bumble bee nests.
• CONTROL. Bumble bees are considered beneficial insects because they pollinate the flowers of many plant species. However, if their nest is located in or close to an occupied structure or recreational area, then control is warranted. During the day find the location of each nest by observing where the bees disappear into the ground, grass clump, or structure. At night using background light and while wearing a Bee Bonnet, apply an appropriately labeled pesticide .