Las Vegas beekeepers rescue bee colonies from destruction

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A nationwide movement to save our biggest pollinators has been underway for years. In the last year, nearly 50% of bee colonies were lost for a creature responsible for 80% of pollination worldwide, according to the Save the Bees Foundation.

While you may not want them buzzing in your yard or home, many people are getting rid of bees incorrectly by using pesticides and destroying their habitat.

Dave Sharpless with No Kill Bee Removal, and Steven Droste, and his son Andrew of Best Bees are beekeepers who travel across the valley, removing hives from people's homes and transporting them to bee farms at one of four locations across the valley.

"A couple of Bee Yards around the valley that I'll do the removal and take them there and put them in the boxes and they can keep being bees but once in a while we get lucky with honey," Droste said.

"The rescue operation once we expose the hive the bees get extremely confused. At the end of the rescue operation, his box has two-thirds of the bees, the queen, and the comb. The rest of the bees will join after two to three days," Sharpless said.

While the most popular place for hives is under sprinkler covers, during one recent removal, the bees were in a client's garage wall. The past exterminator did not get the entire hive. In those cases, the remnants of the hive and honey can drip down and lead to rat infestations. The removal of entire hives is recommended but it can be a multiple-day process.

The sweet side to this removal is that the beekeepers cultivate the fresh honey from the hives.

The bee removal visit costs a few hundred dollars.