Honeybees, established with combs, are seen more frequently hanging from tree limbs or on the face of structures. Honeybees construct beautiful waxen combs, containing thousands of hexagonal cells. These chambers may contain honey, pollen, brood, and----regrettably; disease organisms and parasites. Feral bees, such as those seen above, may pose a threat to commercial operations and should be moved from the vicinity of apiarized colonies.

Honeybees distribute their activities among three variant castes, queen, drone, and worker.

Queens ( gravid females ) produce and place eggs into the wax cells. All fertile eggs are produced by the queen who maintains pheromonal control of many hive functions. She does not appear to instigate swarming. However, her absence from a departed swarm will normally prompt the bees to either return to the parent hive or search incessantly for her.

When resting swarms are treated with pesticides, the novice may not thoroughly eradicate all the bees. The survivors may take on a very aggressive attitude and, if the queen is displaced at a distance, the remaining bees will search the vicinity for her. This activity can cause much aggravation for bees and humans.

Drones are broader-bodied than queens or workers. They possess exceptional eye sight and aeronautical astuteness which assist them in copulating with a queen. It is necessary for queens to mate with several superiorly fit drones in order to produce thousands of successful offspring in her lifetime.

Workers are infertile females, relegated to fulfilling numerous hive duties. They sacrifice themselves for the good of the colony and instinctively defend their hive to the death. They are, by far, the most numerous caste and can number well into the thousands.

Displaced hives of honeybees may often require euthanasia. Due the arrival of Africanized bees in Florida, DACS currently recommends destruction of feral honeybee colonies and the practice of good beekeeping procedures.

Honeybees are helpful to man and agriculture. Their preservation is cherished by those who know of their usefulness as pollinators. Honeybees have come to depend more on good beekeeping practices since the importation of overly protective strains, bacterial and viral disease, and parasites which threaten their survival.  The removal of feral honeybees is necessary to promote the success of bees managed in apiaries. Apian Sting Operation is dedicated and prepared to both preserve managed honeybees and to remove feral colonies from the population.