ABOUT ME AND MY BEES
- I am a certified MASTER BEEKEEPER through the University of Florida (Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences). It took over three years of intensive learning about honey bees, bee biology, bee management and beekeeping practices, including IPM, and the course also covered bee toxicology, Africanized bees, pest control, practical training and all sorts of bee related issues.
- I am a registered beekeeper with FDACS (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services)
- I have about eight years experience in assisting with live bee removals (although I do not do any myself because I cannot relocate any rescued bees to my property – but refer people to highly experienced and AMAZING bee removal professionals.)
- I give educational workshops at various botanical Gardens in south Florida about honey bees, beekeeping, honey (including honey tastings).
- I am a staunch advocate and voice for our precious friends, the amazing honey bees. They get treated so badly, struggle to find suitable habitats to build their homes, and are so vital to our own survival, pollinating one third of our food crops.
- To contact me, please email me at [email protected] or TEXT ME (no calls please) at (9 5 4) 6 3 7 – 3 1 5 3.
- Please scroll down for information about LIVE BEE REMOVALS
I’m very proud to be a Master Beekeeper, but don’t often talk about it – (yes, I’m that modest) – in fact, looking at me in my plain unmarked bee suit, you’d never know.
I fell in love with bees when someone back in 2018 asked me if I wanted to host a beehive in my garden (he said he would manage the bees, do inspections etc.). I jumped at the opportunity and pretty soon caught “bee-fever” – falling madly and passionately in love with them. This person started a bee-removal organization focusing on urban beekeeping and bee removals, and as his most important (i.e. only) volunteer for a long time, I managed his website, assisted with bee removals, did the photography and videos, fund raising, focused on raising awareness of the plight of the honey bee, attended markets and fairs selling their honey and raising more bee awareness.
I established an apiary in my garden that received the bee removals he did – I’d watch over them for a month, making sure everything was good, queen was laying etc., and then he’d move them to one of his bee yards. In 2022, for various reasons, I left and decided to branch out on my own – not doing removals, but just keeping the apiary myself and inspecting the bees. I renamed my apiary “The Beemuda Triangle” as I always seem to notice strange and unusual things there!
Although I knew a fair amount about bees and beekeeping, I wanted to learn as much as possible, and decided to go for the Master Beekeeping certification through IFAS (University of Florida), a three-year program, and it was one of the best things I ever did. At some point I had a swarm in my garden that was way too high for me to reach, so I contacted Brian Schafer to do the removal and was so impressed with him from just that one removal that he has become my number one “go to” guy for bee removals (I recommend him for all commercial and residential removals) and he is just amazing (although I do list three other removal pros below as well). He allowed me to volunteer with him (for my specialization to complete my Master Beekeeper class) – helping him do a trap-out and a few pretty wild (Africanized) bee removals – experience that I really appreciated and helped me earn my certification. I’ll always be grateful to him for that!
I REALLY love my bees, and hopefully people realize that they pollinate one third of our crops, we need them desperately, and that they need to be removed alive (not exterminated).
Thank you to all our precious honey bees for working so hard, with very little reward. We really appreciate you.
I also support beautiful irridescent green Orchid Bees by putting out cotton balls soaked in clove oil (the NOW brand works best) in my Orchid Bee Pods – the male Orchid Bees come and rub it on their legs to attract the ladies.
LIVE BEE REMOVALS
Got a bee problem and want a live bee removal? Doing it sooner rather than later is a GOOD idea (otherwise the bees may expand their home into places you really don’t want them). Please DON’T EXTERMINATE – bees are SO important to our own survival. I can recommend a few really great bee removal professionals – please note they do LIVE REMOVALS ONLY (no exterminations).
1) My friend and absolutely AMAZING bee removal specialist (including trap-outs and Africanized bee removals) – BRIAN SCHAFER. With YEARS of experience, Brian has an apiary in Broward County where he relocates all his removals – not only that, he is specially trained to work with Africanized bees. If you have an Africanized swarm, he is the one to call. The great news is that you do not have to kill Africanized bees: however, you MUST get them removed IMMEDIATELY – they must then be requeened immediately and within two months, once all the current Africanized worker bees die off and all eggs have “hatched” (eclosed), the new worker bees will be sweet and gentle and the colony will be lovely and docile. Call or text Brian: (9 5 4) 6 1 2 – 3 6 6 2 and tell him Joanna sent you! He does not have a website – it’s purely word of mouth – he does commercial and residential removals, from the easiest to the most difficult. He is my “go to” person, but due to his popularity and very busy schedule, if he is not immediately available, you can try any of the following professionals;
2) JAKE DUDAS of Dudas Farms – he and his lovely wife Veronica have an apiary in Delray Beach where they take all the removals – and can be reached via their website https://dudasfarms.com/ or Contact them at 813.777.3880 [email protected]
3) I have heard great things about GOTBEEZ.COM – I have spoken to the owner Nick, and verified that they NEVER exterminate – only do live removals – requeen feral swarms (essential to keep the honey bees in the area docile), and more than that, they have incredible equipment – like a boom lift truck to access HIGH up nests!!! They do Broward and Palm Beach counties – and can be reached at https://gotbeez.com/ or Broward County 954.546.0220 and Palm Beach County 561.867.0507
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST
4) A friend of mine watched SERGIO do a live removal at her neighbor’s house and said how amazing he was!!! So, based on that, I’m happy to recommend him too for reliable removals: https://www.instagram.com/amberreservehoney is his website and his phone number is 786 970 6003
I’m really proud to be a Master Beekeeper. I recently designed a new style of “ache free” beehive because my back just cannot take the heavy lifting any more – the prototype works great but needed a few tweaks and once it’s done, I will post more information here (most likely will patent it). It’s a total game changer when inspecting bees and I want to convert all my hives to this new style.
And my modest little apiary, The Beemuda Triangle, below.
