The very term "Honey Bee Extermination" may sound like butchering a helpful friend who is restlessly busy in keeping the Earth green, the plants laden with fruits, storing the liquid gold "Honey" in their hives and seldom did any harm to anybody knowingly. The whole race of honey bees seems so selfless that one may wonder why on Earth anyone would want to exterminate the honey bees. What harm did they do to us humans? Will not it have very damaging effects on the environment and the greenery around us? Will not it be an injustice against the noble task of pollination that these honey bees do restlessly, and had been doing for millions of years? Where from we will get that golden, sweet honey had honey bees been not there? Hundreds such question may arise when it comes to honey bee extermination. We shall try to address and answer as many of them as possible.

Before we start, let me tell you that honey bee extermination is really a condemnable act and I personally dislike it. After all the priceless contribution they are contributing towards our planet by keeping it green, pollinating the flowers to fruits and supplying the whole world with that highly sought after "Honey"; the act of honey bee extermination seems really unjust. But, sometimes it is needed too. Why? Let us know.

The Bitter Need: What I personally feel is honey bee extermination should never be done unless it is obstructing our daily life adversely and posing threat to us and our family. This threat, although not deliberate, can be fatal sometimes. Actually, honey bees and humans were not designed to live side by side, close to each other. This is just not possible due to their different natures, living habitats and habits. Honey bees, however beneficial they are for humans, are primarily wild species. However, one species, named Apis Mellifera, is said to be the most domesticated one, but that does only mean that it is the most domesticated among the wild ones, since it lives close to localities and often cultured for honey. It is so called because it is the most reared and are very aggressive. At the slightest disturbance or hint, they launch a severe attack on the offender. Although this is rather instinctive and not deliberate and this is just their way of protecting their nests where their young ones born and grow, but many a times this attack is so severe that it can be fatal for the victim and much more times, the victim does not even intend to harm the bee hive. This is a fact. Those who actually collect honey or harm the bee hives are harmed less by bee attacks while the innocent ones often fall victim. There are innumerable instances when men, women, children and pets have died due to attack of bees which had built hives in nearby trees, shades etc. At the slightest noise, smoke, heat and even movement, these bees attacked the innocent people. Hence, the need for honey bee extermination.

The Severity of Attack: Each honey bee may look tiny and apparently harmless, but they should never be underestimated. The strength of their attack is not in their individuality, but in their unity. If you are ever stung by a honey bee, you may be aware how much it pains and swells. But still, an average healthy person can withstand as many as ten stings per pound of his body weight (this may vary depending upon the age, physical condition, previous illness etc.) and still a few more by a stronger or heavier person. But what happens when thousands of bees from nowhere attack somebody and the poor victim does not even have the time to hide in a safe shelter or run away; the attack being so silent, fast and uninitiated. Added to this severity is the fact that each sting delivers a small amount of poison (called Apitoxin) in the blood stream. This poison causes severe pain and swelling even in small amount. In heavy doses, the pain can become so unbearable that it can cause choking, breathlessness, paralysis, cardiac arrest and even death. At these times, these bees become more pests to us than beneficial animals and honey bee extermination becomes necessary. Then there is another danger. Sometimes even a single sting can be fatal for a person who is highly allergic to honey bees and honey bee stings, and there are innumerable such persons. Being allergic to honey bees (stings) is very common, particularly in cold countries.

The Accused: There are nearly seven known species of bees (some small, small medium sized and some bigger) and all of them attack when disturbed, but the Africanized Honey Bee is the most infamous and notorious in this regard. They are nicknamed “Killer Bees” and they are very aggressive (actually defensive). There are many countries who are suffering this menace which is believed to have originated in Brazil as a hybrid between the local honey bees and a sub-species of African Honey Bees, called Apis Mellifera Scutellata. Again, this certainly does not mean that the other species are harmless. Another species, called the Giant Honey Bee or Apis Mellifera Dorsota (Subgenus – Megapis), which is much bigger, more poisonous and builds giant bee hives are also considered very dangerous. Truly speaking, you cannot accuse any particular one for being aggressive, because every one of them can become potentially dangerous and aggressive at times and the fatality of their attack depends on their strength.

The Extermination: Honey Bee Extermination means mass elimination of honey bees and destruction of their colonies near human colonies, to avoid any unwanted situation or encounter. Sometimes, this also means just destruction of their hives but not killing them (Here, you are exterminating their colonies and not them), to discourage them from building their colonies near human population again. Although this also involves some bee casualties, but that is negligible and rest of them are saved.
o Methods of Extermination: Since there are so many bees in a hive that you cannot finish them counting, it is not possible to kill them one by one when it comes to honey bee extermination. You need some means of mass destruction. There are many such methods and most of them involve use of toxic pesticides. Although I have listed them here, but I tried my best to segregate the methods between Organic and Non Organic methods.

Organic Methods of Honey Bee Extermination: Here are some methods which do not involve use of chemical pesticides.

• Removal of Hives: This is one of the crudest methods and involves a lot of risk too. This also does not discourage the bees to build hives at the same place again. Before applying this method, you must move your family members away from the targeted hive to a save distance if the hive is inside the house or in the attic or shut your family members inside the house with all the windows and ventilators sealed if the hive is outside. Now, if you are interested in doing it yourself, you will need an axe, a bag and a sting proof dress. Now, get dressed properly, grab the axe and the bag, walk up to the bee hive or use a ladder to reach it, approach slowly, put the bag on the hive and remove it from the base using the axe so that it falls in the bag. This should be done very swiftly and in the night because the bees are least active then. Now, tie up the mouth of the bag and dip it in water. Most of the bees will die this way and the few those escaped will find new home.

Note: Do not try this if you are not sure you can do it. Since this involves a lot of risk, the best thing would be to seek service of professionals. Since this kills most of the bees, this is not recommended. The hives can be directly removed by any other method also, depending upon the time, situation and availability.

• Chilly Smoke: This is a very effective method to drive honey bees away from their colonies and is equally effective for enclosed as well as open areas. All you will need is some dried red chilies and some firewood. Now, after securing yourself and your family members as discussed above, light the woods and wait until it produces a lot of smoke. Now put in the dried red chilies in it. This will give out a lot of pungent smoke which will drive the bees away. When they are gone, you can safely remove the hive and enjoy the honey in it. This is a very good method because it does not involve almost any killing.
• Trapping: This is yet another safe method which is employed for honey bee extermination particularly in cases where the bees build their hives inside walls and come out through cavities or cracks. Basically, this involves trapping of bees with the help of a one and a half feet long wire mesh cone with an opening in its apex small enough to just let a bee pass through it at a time, and a queen bee placed in another artificial hive or a box. The cone, with its wider end, is placed on the vent while the smaller end opens in the box containing the queen. Most of the bees from the old hive in the wall will be attracted towards the new queen and will be filled in the box, which can then be sealed and disposed or used for apiculture. The few bees remaining in the old hive in the wall can be taken care of with the help of either chilly smoke or fire. You can also use some pesticide on it but that will spoil the honey, if any, left in it and it is not an organic way either. Thereafter, when all the bees are gone, remove the hive, extract the honey (if any) and seal the vent so that the returning bees cannot build anther hive there.

Non Organic Methods of Honey Bee Extermination: The non organic methods largely use pesticides, in different forms. These methods of honey bee extermination are neither good for the health of the people living in the area of use nor for the environment. Anyway, methods are methods. Here are some.

• Insecticidal Sprays: As the name suggests, in this method, the hives are sprayed with insecticidal solutions which kills most of the bees. Since they are highly poisonous, high precautions should be adopted by the people living around the hives on which the insecticides are to be sprayed.
• Insecticidal Dust: The dust is applied around and on the hives and the bees that come in contact with it die. One such dust is Carbaryl or Sevin dust.
• Insecticidal Fumigants: This is making fumes of insecticides to kill the bees or to drive them away.
  Note: Once the hives are applied with the insecticides, the honey from them should never be consumed. Further, people (especially small children) should be kept away from the reach of these insecticidal dusts, fumes or sprays. Once an area is applied with any of these, the bees do not generally return to rebuild their hives on those places due to the highly noxious odour and toxins that these insecticides release.

Given below is a list of some popular insecticides used for honey bee extermination. These are the names of the chief chemical compound used in them and not the brand names. So, you need to look into the constituents to find these;
1. Acephate,
2. Bendiocarb,
3. Bifenthrin,
4. Carbaryl,
5. Cyfluthrin,
6. Cypermethrin,
7. Chlorpyrifos,
8. Deltamethrin,
9. Diazinon,
10. Fenthion,
11. Permethrin,
12. Propoxur,
13. Pyrethrins,
14. Resmethrin,
15. Tralomethrin 

Common Precautions During Honey Bee Extermination: Whenever you are about to start honey bee extermination, you should inform your neighbours and family well in advance and help them secure themselves in safe shelters. Once provoked, the angry swarms can cover a large area. So, it is always good to call professional exterminators for honey bee extermination.

The Verdict: The best honey bee extermination methods are those which kill least number of bees and do not let them build hives again. Still, honey bee extermination should be avoided as far as possible. You need not panic spring up for extermination of honey bees if you see a few bees around your house or in your garden everyday, because this is just normal. You need to worry only if you find some hives in your window shades, roofs, vents in walls, in your attic or on some tree in your backyard or garden. As far as I am concerned, I myself have a big hive hanging just outside the window of my office and it never troubled me. I just do not disturb them and they do neither. Honey bees are not looking for preys. There is a scientific explanation of their attack too. When you are scared, your body releases some specific pheromones which is easily sensed by animals and insects and they understand that you are up to something dangerous. This alerts them and they attack the source of the pheromones. This is not just true with bees, but all animals like dogs, wolves etc. So, do not panic and they will not react. Live and let live

Thanks.

This article is written by Aparup Mukherjee

Source of photo: nikonvscanon (honeybees)