The job: a big hive in a roof soffit
This hive had a lot of bees. The colony had moved into the soffit of a home in Coral Springs, and we took it out alive and moved it to our apiary.
The soffit is the flat panel under the edge of your roof, between the wall and the roof overhang. It covers a hollow space that is dry, shaded and out of the wind. To a swarm looking for a home, that space looks a lot like a hollow tree. All the bees need is a small gap, a loose vent or a crack where the panel meets the wall.
What a soffit removal involves
- We find where the bees go in and out and where the comb sits inside.
- We open the soffit panel over the hive so we can reach all of the comb.
- We cut the comb out piece by piece and vacuum the bees with a gentle bee vacuum built for live removal.
- We take out all of the comb and honey, not only the bees.
- We close the opening so the next swarm cannot move into the same spot.
Why all the comb has to come out
Honey and wax left in a soffit go bad fast in our heat. They can melt, drip down the wall and pull in ants, roaches and wax moths. The smell also tells the next swarm there was a good home here. Taking out every piece of comb is what keeps bees from coming back.
That is also why spraying is a bad idea. Spray leaves the whole hive in your roof, and we never kill bees anyway. Every colony we remove comes out alive.
Signs you have bees in a soffit
- Bees flying in and out of one spot under the roof edge, all day.
- A hum you can hear from inside a room near the roofline.
- Dark stains or sticky spots on the soffit panel.
See more roof jobs like this one: an Oakland Park roof hive and a Chase Bank roof in Fort Lauderdale. Read how live bee removal works, or visit our Coral Springs bee removal page. If bees are getting inside the house, see emergency bee removal. Call or text 954-546-0220.