Today we’d like to introduce you to Bee Man Dan.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
15 years ago bees moved into my shed in Escondido. I left them there for two years because they didn’t bother me and I didn’t bother them. But then the city came by and slapped me on the wrist for having them there, apparently it’s illegal to have bees in the main city area, so it was $2,000 fine, jail time, or get the bees out. So one of my buddies came out who was just starting beekeeping at the time, he came up with his mentor and got my bees rescued! What started as a curiosity became a hobby, which turned into a business, and then now an obsession.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not! There’s a plethora of beekeeping books but there’s absolutely zero resources on live bee removals, especially back before YouTube university! I’ve fumbled through this whole process, trial by error and fire. Back when I started to take live bee removals more seriously, there weren’t really any options. You either got pest control or a beekeeper who just wanted the bees. Most beekeepers did it for free, others might have taken a donation but definitely nothing on a professional level.
Breaking into a new industry/ niche is definitely not easy. You’re having to break preconceptions, and 90% of my conversations are educational in nature to help people understand what’s going on so they can make an informed decision instead of having a be fear-based or half-truths. We still get a handful of people thinking we should be working for free since they magically think that the beehive will just start popping out a bunch of honey we can make money off of. Doesn’t quite work that way. It requires land, equipment, time, and a full year of getting reestablished before the bees might consider producing surplus honey.
By far, the toughest part for myself has been finding suitable lands for our rescues. It’s a very involved process, the removals make really neat stories, but then afterwards is a lot of TLC that the bees require to make sure they get reestablished, strong enough again before they can be moved to a permanent home.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We specialize in live bee removals. 100% by hand, no vacuums, no chemicals, no gimmicks. I’ve personally performed over 4,000 extractions and my team had rescued over 10,000 in the last 15 years. We have yet to come across a hive we couldn’t rescue!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Watching behavior of our clients over the last ten years, there’s a huge upward swing towards requesting live removal instead of resorting to extermination. I think in ten years, live bee removal is going to be the standard and extermination across the board will be banned and illegal.
Contact Info:
- Email: Dan@wesavebees.com
- Website: Wesavebees.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/bee_man_dan
- Facebook: Facebook.com/wesavebees
- Youtube: Youtube.com/wesavebeessandiego
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/we-save-bees-lake-forest
