Bee removal Singapore

​On the rooftop of Temasek Shophouse, there is literally a buzz that does not stop. Look closer, and you will see bees hovering around the garden. Before you call pest control, these bees are welcome guests – part of a new urban beekeeping project that was unveiled in July.
Managed by Temasek Shophouse and beekeeper Xavier Tan, this project aims to raise awareness about the benefits that bees bring to our ecosystem.
He runs Nutrinest, an enterprise that conducts educational workshops, beekeeping and non-lethal bee removal. Operating mainly at The Ashram, a halfway house in Sembawang, he keeps about 20 hives of various species of honey bees – that’s about 200,000 to 400,000 bees.
When he first started 10 years ago, he was stung 68 times in one sitting due to his inexperience handling the hives. Today, he only suffers the odd sting. Keeping bees has its rewards – he gets to harvest the honey and sell it on his website, with eye-catching flavours such as bitter gourd and cinnamon on the shelves.
There is currently only one hive at Temasek Shophouse, but he plans to shift two to three more to the location eventually. The honey produced will be incorporated into his workshops and visitors can learn how it is made and harvested.

Before you head up to the rooftop for a visit, here are five facts about bees:
1. Bees survive better in an urban environment compared to agricultural areas
Bees thrive in an urban environment due to the variety of flowers and plants, which offers a balanced diet that keeps bees healthy. Pesticides used in urban areas are also not as potent as the ones used in agriculture.
“There are so many flowers in Singapore so the bees have no lack of food. And people try to coexist with bees here,” Mr Tan said, adding that he’d convinced five to six people not to remove beehives near their homes if they aren’t disrupting their lives.”
 2. The bee population is declining worldwide
The global bee population is dipping for three reasons – their natural habitat is reducing due to urbanisation, a rise in monoculture plantations that lack a variety of plants for bees to pollinate, and widespread use of pesticides.
Mr Tan said a lot of Singaporeans don’t actually want to kill bees and prefer more humane forms of removal, so they call him instead of the pest control.

3. Bees are nature’s pollinators
Remember Bee Movie? In the cute cartoon Hollywood movie, flowers and trees died after bees stopped “working” to collect pollen to turn into honey. It is true, bees do most of the pollination and are critical for the health of our biodiversity. Without them, our food supply will decrease and lead to a shortage.
Mr Tan said that tropical plants like bitter gourd, brinjal and lime are food we always eat, so it will benefit us and the bees.
4. The bees in Temasek Shophouse were relocated from Mandai Zoo development area
During the development of the Mandai Zoo area, bee hives were found and rehomed to a bee farm before they were relocated to the Shophouse. “We believe that bees play an important role in our ecosystem. In support of the urban bee-keeping pilot project, we have set aside a space on the rooftop of Temasek Shophouse for the pilot. It’s our way in playing an active role in making sure the wild bees are protected as we believe urban development can coexist with sustainability,” said Ms Cherine Ang, a staff of Stewardship Asia Center and a representative of Temasek Shophouse Bees Club.

She added: “We would like to raise awareness about the huge benefits of bees to our ecosystem and biodiversity. By bringing plants, birds, butterflies and bees into Temasek Shophouse right in the heart of town, we are hoping to sustain nature’s biodiversity at the heart of Orchard Road. Eventually, we aim to invite the young and even the adults into Temasek Shophouse and share with them about the importance of bees and also how to interact safely with them.”
When the bees from Mandai were rehomed to Mr Tan’s bee farm, he said he kept the bees for a while before deciding they were good candidates for the Shophouse when he was approached to co-manage the bees-keeping project. “Beehives are almost everywhere, from Jurong Island to MBS. I can’t think of a place where I haven’t gone.”

5. Bees are not dangerous
Beekeeping is uncommon in Singapore due to the lack of space as well as some people’s fear of bees. However, this fear is misplaced as bees do not sting indiscriminately.
“Currently, Temasek Shophouse only has stingless bees. We will increase the level of public engagement when more bees are introduced,” said Mr Tan.

The read more visit
​https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/our-community/temasek-gives/community/Urban-Bee-Keeping

There are 5 types of common honey in Singapore.  Namely Apis Dorsata, Apis Cerana, APis Andreniformis, APis Florea, and Apis Trigona.  All honey bees are docile but some are more easily provoked then the other and also depending on the stage of the colony.  In case you have a bee related problem you can alway look for me to help you with.
To begin, you have to know what types of bees and the location of the beehive.  The easiest way is to take a short video clip and send to me.  I will be able to help to identify the type of bees and advice on what you should do. In most cases, people call me to resolve their bee problem even before the bees have stung anyone.  It is more for prevention. However, with a little adjustment to your daily routine, you may be able to just leave the bee alone and enjoy their companion.
In case you wanted to remove the beehive, I will prepared a wooden box to trap the queen and the colony.  All the honey comb will be removed together with all the broods and young bees and stored inside the box.  When majority of the bees are already inside the box, I will then seal the box and transport them to a prearranged private garden.  The colony of bees will then be setup in their new home to help pollinate the garden.  The process can takes from 2 hours to days.  Depending on the size of the colony.
The rate I charge to remove a colony of wild honey bees will depends on the difficulty to access, the type fo honey bee, and the size of the colony.
The process in relatively more complete as compare to the pest control (exterminator).
When I remove the bees the main objective is to help to resolve the bee problem for the client but at the same time do not create any environmental issue.  Not many people know that honey bees are the main pollinators to your environment, without them our environment will not be balanced and could lead to destroying of the mankind.  When exterminator start spraying toxic chemical to a colony of bees, a huge amount of the chemical is also introduced to the surrounding.  Bees were killed in the process too.
I hope our government will take the lead to prohibiting pest control company to spray chemical to the bees as they are not pest. Much like many developing and developed countries.
Human activities is the main cause for the bees to move and build beehives closer to our urban environment.  We should learn to co-exist with the bees and stop killing them just out of fear of being stung.

​Call me at 91474065 or email me at [email protected] if you have a bee related problem.  Help to conserve our local honey bees and stop killing them!  Thank you!

I have been helping many people to relocate wild beehive in Singapore for a few years.  I have learnt about the different type of people that call for help and mainly the looking for free service, looking for cheap service, and the true conservationist.  I would like to share with you the different between these 3 types and also the rationale behind why this service should be charged.

Looking for free: There are a small percentage of caller fall into this category. Bee conservation is not their business, removing the bees is.  They wanted their problem to be solve for free.  After knowing they have to pay for the service, their reply can be as follow:
-You conserving the bees why are you charging, after all you get to keep the bees and the honey!
-If you really concern about the decline of the bee population then you should come and keep the bees!
-Oh have to pay! Never mind I can get someone to do it for free! I thought you want the bees!

Looking for the cheapest: half of the caller belongs to this group.  They would make a few enquiries from different company and ask for a similar price quoted by another service provider what they say normally are:
-Oh that is expensive, so and so is charging as $XX, can you do cheaper?
-Wah! Why so expensive, Last time I only paid $XX,

Caller who are concern about the decline of bee population would say:
-I prefer to not kill the bees can you come and relocate them how much will that cost me?
-I rather pay a little higher but to save the bees.

Why this is a pay service:
1. If this service is free, the motivation to co-exist with the bees will be low.  It will be a no brainer to get the bee removed as it cost nothing.
2. To make this service sustainable, there are cost for the transportation, making of beehive boxes, some perishable item.  It is not only to go and remove the beehive but also to transport the bees to some other places and setting up the beehive.
3. Most of the honey from the beehive are reserved for the bee colony. unlike the honey hunter that go for the honey and care less to the bee colony health, I always return the honey to the bees after their new settlement.  This can greatly increase their chance of survival.
4. After all people have to pay for the pest control to exterminate the bees.  Compare with spraying pesticide of smoke away the bee and leaving the broods in the comb chambers to cold to death.  I have to carefully locate the queen into the Beehive box, getting the rest of the bees to reunite with the queen.  The process can some time take ups to 8 hours.  There after I still need to bring the bee colony to a garden and set them up which will takes another 2 hours.  Comparing the number of hours spend and work load.  As long as, it is sustainable, I will continue to save the bees.

Hope more people will support bee conservation, it is important as it is a key factor in balancing our eco system.   We are doing this for our future generation, making sure they still have a healthy environment to live with.

​You can contact me at 91474065 for any local honey bee related issues. Thanks.