WACO, TX — Trey Miller of Allen Miller's Bees Be Gone said they've been getting daily calls for bee removal since the beginning of March.
"The phone rings off the wall," Miller said. "We're daylight to dusk every day."
Miller said this is typical for the summer season. On Tuesday, he responded to seven calls for bee removal.
His first stop was Bill Dietz's house, where thousands of bees have made a home right outside his son's room.
"He woke up Saturday morning because he heard the bees," Dietz said. "We enjoy pets, but 7,000 bees would not be a good addition to the home."
Dietz said they had this same issue three years ago. He hired a beekeeper to remove the bees and relocate them to College Station.
Now that the bees are back, he hired Miller to fix the problem.
After taking a look at the hive, Miller said it's probably closer to 60,000 bees. He said that's the size of most hives in Central Texas.
He used a poisonous dust to send the worker bees out. He said the dust kills the queen bee, shutting down production.
"I killed about eight percent of the hive," Miller said. "90 to 92 percent is out, doing their deal to support the hive. We're not interested in killing all the good bees, we're just not."
Miller said those bees will end up making another hive elsewhere.
He added that the most common bee, a European honey bee, is harmless. It's the aggressive, Africanized bee, commonly known as a "killer bee" that you have to worry about.
Miller said they're becoming more common in the city.
"I've been doing this six years," Miller said. "When I started, 40 percent of our job was aggressive bees. Now its easily 90."
Miller believes preventative measures may have been able to save the man in Moody, who died after being attacked by a swarm of bees last Friday.
Miller said a common bee will sting you, then die. He said a killer bee will sting you, then let out a pheromone that alerts other killer bees to attack the victim.
"The bees are highly aggressive in the hot weather," Miller said. "A honey bee flies like its in a Disney movie, it's looking for a pretty flower and he's going to take it back to the queen. A killer bee, it's like he's on crack. He's in a hurry to get somewhere and doesn't know where."
Miller said they'll be even busier come July and August, when the temperature frequently hits 100 degrees.
"You're more likely to see bees in the sunshine on a pretty, hot day," Miller. "If a killer bee attacks you, you're going to get stung many, many times."
Miller said if you're even being attacked by a bee, you need to stay calm and immediately seek shelter in a house or car.
"Roll up the windows and turn on the air conditioner full blast," Miller said. "They hate cold air. Don't jump in a pool, don't try to out-run it."
Dietz isn't taking any chances this summer, he'd rather be safe than sorry. He said other people may want to consider doing the same.
"There were a lot more bees in there than I thought," Dietz said. "I didn't realize that within a weekend, there would be that many bees."
Miller said they work with local bee keepers in the area to try and save the bees whenever it's an option.
If you need bees removed from your property, you can contact Allen Miller's Bees Be Gone at 254-749-0541.
