American Honey Bee Protection Agency — Local services in Austin

We closed on a house with apparent bee activity. The previous owner tried exterminating but this failed. The exterminators offered to "take care" of the bees for $2500. Bees were up 2 stories and not easy to access. We thought $2500 sounded high and we didn't want to exterminate anyway. I did a quick search and found American Honey Bee Protection Agency, which is a non profit agency that takes donations. Suggested donation for bee relocation was $500 for each hive. We had 2 hives. This would be cheaper than exterminating and it would be doing the right thing so we were sold. It was a little tricky to contact them at first, but once I spoke to someone, the ball was rolling. They quickly responded and sent someone out. They were able to get the queen out behind some siding, behive and all. I just read a recent review of AHBPA. The reviewer states that their house was torn up from their be removal without warning. My experience was very different from theirs. We were informed that to access bees, they would need to remove some of the siding. Which makes sense. How else are you going to get the bees out? And we were told it would be up to us to repair the siding. Which also makes sense. AHBPA is in the business of removing bees, not repairing siding. We had a similar situation with the replacement of iron piping. Plumbers fix the plumbing, not the decking, which was up to us to repair. It's just the way it works. So prepare yourself for that. The guys with AHBPA were great and they did a great job for us. They are not fancy. They are non profit. They do this job because they love bees and they love the environment. They are in high demand so please be patient with them. I am very surprised that anyone would not be happy with their work. Of note, I also tried to call the pretty girl seen on Instagram who also performs bee relocating, but despite 2 attempts, I never heard back from her. You may be wondering about the 2nd hive we have/had. The guys with AHBPA suggested plugging a hole vs. tearing up more siding because they didn't think there was another queen hive. Bee activity continued, so they came back at not extra cost. They built the scaffolding and and still recommended avoiding disturbing siding. They made sure there were no openings for the bees. They advised us to call them back if bee activity continues. So far, so good. For me, AHBPA was conservative with regards to accessing bees if they did not feel it was needed. But, I would be happy to call them back if I needed them. I would give them 10 stars if I could!

Update: Bees returned last spring at one of the locations at our house. I was never able to track down the original guys who had helped me and never heard back after submitting an email for re-evaluation. Not sure what happened with this company. Crickets. Very...

Fraud Alert I placed an order for them to remove bees from inside of a tree. I paid $250, they came out and put some flimsy cone on top of a tree. The cone fell over in one day. I called and messaged them, They advised me that they would return to fix the issue. The original deal was for them to place this device and come back to remove the honey comb. They have never been back to repair or remove the honeycomb. I disputed the charge and lied in the dispute....

Ordered twice now (foolish) and I finally received the first order months later. I’ve tried to reach them by phone at least 20-30 times and they have never answered the phone. I’ve left messages and no return message from them. I have sent many emails with no reply. They want to save the bees and so do many of us who have ordered so they have the funds and we get honey. Too bad for the bees and too bad for the American Honey Bee...