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Bee Busters has always believed in giving back to the beekeeping community.  Company president David Marder does countless presentation to school, community, and all variety of other groups (always free), and he and other company members have always been very involved in the local Orange County Beekeepers Association.  In 2012 Bee Busters was busy with the international community service!

Head Beekeeper Kris Fricke took some time off during the slow season to travel to Africa to help train beekeepers there.

The organization Winrock International organized the logistics and on-the-ground support while much of the funding came from the USAID farmer-to-farmer program.  Bee Busters, in addition to supplying Kris himself, has donated several hundred dollars as well in the form of bee suits and other equipment.

In 2012 Kris did projects in Ibadan in south-west Nigeria, Nasarawa in central Nigeria, the Amhara region in Western Ethiopia, and the Tigray region in Northern Ethiopia. In 2013 we worked in “Sakiland” in Nigeria and up and down the Nile in Egypt.  In 2014, next month (as of this writing in May of  2014) we’ll be sending Kris to Guinea in West Africa.  But there’s so much to say about each one of these projects we’ll keep this page about 2012 and have to create another page for each year.

Beekeeping is of a lot of interest to development agencies because with very low input costs farmers can produce a valuable product.  It is more than sustainable — it not only doesn’t degrade the environment in any way, but in fact helps the environment and neighboring farms through pollination.


In most places there are already traditional methods of beekeeping, but their productivity can be substantially improved through modern beekeeping methods.  In the case of Nigeria, they traditionally construct hives out of hollowed out logs. They put boards or corrugated metal or whatever is at hand across the two ends, hoist it to the top of a tree (bees are more likely to move into a home that’s elevated), wait, and during harvest season they climb up there at night, kill the bees, and harvest everything in the hive!

Without getting into beekeeping details, let me tell you, this method can be improved upon.

In the photo above you can see we’re working on a hive in which the top can be removed and the honeycomb is attached to removable “topbars.”  This allows for much better bee management in a wide variety of ways.  Also, since they don’t work with their bees much, even the beekeepers weren’t terribly comfortable around their bees and were at first shocked when Kris took off his glove and placed it among the bees. After a short time though, they saw he wasn’t getting stung and several followed suit — that’s what I call a hands-on lesson!

The dimensions of a topbar hive need to be very exact, so in addition to showing them diagrams, Kris had them construct one out of cardboard — not a sturdy enough material for a working beehive but it was a good exercise in measuring the correct dimensions and putting it together.

Many people have asked, “do they have Africanized bees in Africa?”  Well, the answer is “of course not!”  They don’t have Africanized bees in Africa, they have African bees in Africa. This is actually a very important difference, because the hybrid bees are said to be much worse than either purebred bee.  Nevertheless they can get mad as well, and the above picture illustrates the fact that bees (of any of the subspecies) are more likely to sting darker colors than lighter colors (ever wonder why beekeeping suits are always white?) — you can see they homed in on the Bee Busters logo like a dartboard.

 Wax is often an under-appreciated hive byproduct. Frequently it is just discarded!  So Kris taught them how to make candles (they cleverly came up with sections of papaya stalk as a great candle mold!), as well as lotion/body-cream making and general wax processing.

In Ethiopia (pictured above) they had their own traditional method of making candles — by dipping strands of wool in wax repeatedly they make the candles traditionally used by the Ethiopian church.

We also talked about mead making. In Ethiopia they have a very long tradition of making a mead with hops, which they call tej (pictured above).  Even on this subject though, Kris, who happens to an avid hobbyist homebrewer (like many of us at Bee Busters actually) was able to offer the Ethiopians some tips (racking for clarity and how to make a simple “ventilation lock” to vent excess carbon dioxide from fermentation).


Here’s a group of beekeepers in Nigeria.  I loved the outfit of the guy on the left.  Here’s how he inspects bees:


And here’s a picture of some of the Ethiopian Beekeepers:

As you can see, parts of Ethiopia are actually quite forested, and much of the country is actually pretty mountainous.

Food could be interesting.  In Ethiopia they commonly eat RAW MEAT.  Kris, having probably an under-developed sense of personal safety, gave it a try, and so far has not reported any horrible parasite infections. We’ll have him on zombie watch for awhile though.

 And this looks a lot like those giant snails

  A snake slithered out of a beehive in Nigeria.  Crikey!

And there was a monkey (/baboon?) in a bee yard in Ethiopia!!  Kris was unable to grab it by the tail, however.

Beehives with a view!! These hives look out over the Great Rift Valley. Off to the left a waterfall cascades down the cliff face.

Village children in Ethiopia, many of whom are the children of beekeepers who will benefit from this training.

Many many more pictures can be found here:
Nigeria I (Ibadan)
Nigeria II (Nasarawa)
Nigeria III (Sakiland)
Ethiopia I
Egypt

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Happy Customers

Thank you for getting rid of wasp nests in my eaves! Scheduling the appointment was very easy. Jeremy came out at the time specified and spent time inspecting the nests I had identified as well as walking the perimeter checking for any additional ones I may have missed. The removal process was very quick. Highly recommend!

Allison D

Thank you, Jeremy, for your prompt service after I found a wasp nest outside my patio door keeping me from going outside. I so much appreciated your professional and friendly demeanor and highly recommend Bee Busters to everyone.

Isabelle

BeeBusters are great. I called them about a huge number of bees buzzing around and inside my laundry room exterior vent. They showed up as scheduled the next day, Sunday, afternoon and within a short time, had the whole situation under control. They did the work at a very reasonable price also. I definitely recommend them.

Hasnain K

I had bees coming in my house via the chimney to the fireplace and into my family room. Bee busters told me what was most likely happening, how to block them from coming in and made an appointment for me in about five days. That was the first available one. Jeremy did a great job checking my chimney and giving me my opinions.
I know more about bees than I ever did.
Thankfully my dogs and I are feeling safe inside again.

Trudy R

It started with just a few bees near my shed. Apparently they liked what they saw and told all their “bee friends.” Soon there were dozens and as I waited for them to leave there were more.

I called Bee Busters and soon they were gone. Very reasonably priced compared to others, nice people and they wrapped up the problem quickly.

I like their motto: “Who you gonna call?? Bee Busters!!” I’m glad I did. Call them. You’ll like these people.

Steve S

Awesome service! We had bees in our chimney coming into our home through the fireplace. I called Bee Busters and Nicole helped get my appointment booked today and she was very helpful and friendly. Our technician Jeremy was absolutely fantastic. He was able t get rid of our bee problem and explained the process of the bee removal. I highly recommend Bee Busters for their great customer service and bee removal! They are truly the best! Thank you, Bee Busters!

Staci F

Very responsive with professional skills and knowledge. Provided different quotes with explanation so we can easily understand what to expect. We had Daniel over to remove the swarm of bees so quickly and learned a lot. Highly recommended !

Gina C
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If you’re facing a bee-related issue on your property, don’t hesitate to contact Bee Busters. Our friendly and knowledgeable staff is ready to assist you and provide the best solution for your specific situation. We take pride in our prompt response times and our ability to handle even the most challenging bee removal and rescue cases.

Trust Bee Busters to safely and effectively remove bees from your property while ensuring their survival. With our expertise, dedication, and eco-friendly approach, you can have peace of mind knowing that your bee problem will be resolved efficiently and humanely.

Don’t let bee infestations disrupt your daily life or pose a risk to your family and property. Contact Bee Busters today and experience the difference our professional bee removal and rescue services can make. We look forward to serving you and protecting the invaluable bee population in Orange County, CA.

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