I had bees taking up residence in a big pot underneath a bird bath; I would loved to have kept them unfortunately it's right next to my driveway -- not a good place. The beekeeper came this morning; smoked the bees to move them to a hive he brought. They're settling in and he will come back when it starts to get dark to take them away. The first one is the bird bath with the pot underneath where the bees had set up; the beekeeper smoking them before moving; then moving them into his hive (look at all the honeycombs) and the last one is the hive in my garden, temporarily. The birdbath boy is looking very forlorn !

We have friends who are beekeepers; they have some tales to tell about places from which they removed bees...

Wow, that is very interesting. I love bees and what they do for the garden but I sure wouldn't want a hive so close by. I'm glad you found a beekeeper to remove them.

Out of curiosity Elfie, did the beekeeper charge you anything or was he just happy to have the bees?

There was no charge; he wanted to start more bee colonies. However, I have had two sources give me new information. Our county agent took a look at my photos and said they were Africanized bees because they nested so low and because they formed the four combs in three weeks. she said that the European honey bee would take at least 5-6 weeks.
I just spent three days at the UF in Gainesville taking courses and one of the classes was on bees; given by a UF professor of entomology. He said it was more than likely that all bees now in Central Florida, where I live, would be Africanized. They can be docile, especially when just foraging. However, when their hive is threatened then watch out. They also don't like noise; car engines, lawn mowers, barking dogs, vibrations; and so on. I am now feeling very lucky that I didn't get stung because I was walking among them; and I had actually lifted the bird bath off the pot in which they were colonizing and making their combs. Won't be making that mistake again; I am just going to assume they are Africanized.

We are good friends with a beekeeper and he says all this talk about Africanized bees is what is contributing to the demise of the honeybee. People will grab the pesticide out of fear. He removes dozens of hives a week and says he has rarely come across any aggressive bees.

Here is their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Counc...

I remember all the "hype" a few years back about Killer African Bees and it was scary. It would indeed be frightening to be attacked by aggressive bees or wasps or hordes of any insects and I think many folks do grab the pesticide first out of fear! With conflicting reports, it's also confusing to know the proper thing to do regarding the Africanized bees. It says here that the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services recommends that all wild bee hives be exterminated. http://solutionsforyourlife.uf...

I read that rather than aggressive, the Africanized Bees are just defensive of their hives but it is scary because this article states that they will chase a human or animal for a mile!! http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic...

Not knowing one bee from another, if I ever find a beehive on my property I won't call an exterminator but I'd definitely call a beekeeper to come check it out and hopefully remove it.

Thanks for the info and pictures, Elfie.

About two years ago, I think, I had quite a few bees at my kitchen window...many got caught between the window and screen. I took one (it was dead) to a friend who has hives. She said they were honey bees and perhaps they had gotten into the crawlspace. She was gonna bring a "trap" over, but it never happened and I haven't seen them since. In fact when the Carolina Cherry Laurel is in bloom it is usually COVERED with bees, but not this year. However they had a field day on the saw palmetto...I assume they were "the good guys" as they did not mind me bothering that to get pictures.