Bee advised: Warm weather, blooming flowers cause early start to swarm season

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Abnormally warm temperatures and blooming flowers have caused an early start to swarm season -- a time of year when bees reproduce and search for places to build new hives.

Dennis Langlois, a bee removal expert, said swarming has begun two to three weeks early this year.

On Tuesday, Langlois said he removed an estimated 20,000 bees from the wall of a home in Orange County's Union Park neighborhood.

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"It was really scary," homeowner Theresa Lovaglio said. "I came out and saw a colony of bees."

Langlois said he saw bees flying in out of a hole in the wall, a telltale sign of nesting.

To collect the bees, he said he uses a bee smoker, which emits a calming smoke, and a bee vacuum, which sends the bees into a wire-mesh cage.

Langlois said he does not wear a protective suit because of Florida's dangerous heat.

He said he placed the honeycombs into a box after removing the bees.

"It can invite other pests," Langlois said. "Beetles and ants and roaches and other pests will come in and try to consume the honey ... More importantly, (the honeycombs will attract) bees down the road, because it smells like honey."

He said he will take the bees to an apiary in Oviedo.

"I do want them safe, but not near me," Lovaglio said.

Bees can swarm in urban and rural areas whenever the weather is above 40 degrees and there is no rain.

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