Hialeah, the west side
Live Bee Removal for Hialeah's Close-Set Blocks
In a city packed at roughly 10,300 people per square mile, one colony in one wall quickly becomes the whole block's concern. Here is how a live removal goes in Hialeah, from your first photo to the patched opening.
Around Hialeah
- IncorporatedSeptember 10, 1925
- Population223,109 counted in 2020; ranks sixth statewide
- DensityAbout 10,300 people per square mile
- Western edgeThe Miami Canal, with Medley on the far bank
- Street gridNumbered on its own East and West system, separate from the county's
Hialeah began as open prairie. Glenn Curtiss and James H. Bright drew up the first plat in 1921, the city incorporated in 1925, and the population climbed from about 1,500 that year to 223,109 at the 2020 census. That growth filled the prairie with houses, shops and factory floors, and it left very little space between them.
For honey bees, that crowding cuts two ways. A swarm looking for a home finds endless choices within a short flight: hollow block, curbside meter boxes, eaves, stacked pallets behind a shop. For you, it means a colony rarely stays a private problem. Forager traffic crosses fences, lands in the next yard's pool and circles the neighbor's car. Taking the bees out alive, and closing the gap so another swarm does not move in, protects the street as much as your own wall. The notes below follow the city's own layout, from the racetrack grounds on the east side to the canal on the west.
Where colonies settle on Hialeah property
Hollow block walls
Cement blocks appear on a UF extension list of the small spaces African honey bees will occupy. A crack in stucco, a missing mortar joint or an old pipe hole opens into a hollow core, and the comb can run along the wall well past the hole you can see.
Decorative screen walls
Miami-Dade's preservation office notes concrete block screen walls on postwar houses across the county. The open patterns give scouts plenty of ways in, and the hollow block framing them can hold comb, so a front porch wall or a carport divider can hide a colony in plain view.
Curbside meter boxes
Water meter boxes are named by the same university source as a nesting site. On a crowded block the box sits beside a sidewalk, a driveway and a mailbox, so the lid is easy to step on or bump before anyone notices the bees under it.
Eaves and window frames
Soffit vents, loose fascia and the gaps around older jalousie windows, another postwar feature the county describes, give bees a dry space above head height. Flight in and out of one spot at the roofline is the sign to look for.
Shop and warehouse yards
Commercial and industrial lots hold stacked pallets, old tires, idle equipment and roll-up door housings. The UF list of nest sites includes old tires and barbecue grills, and any sheltered cavity left alone can take a swarm.
Bees in a block wall on your street?
Snap the hole where the traffic goes in, from wherever you can stand safely, and send it over so we can plan the visit with you.
Notes from around the city
Around Hialeah Park
The old racetrack covers about 40 square blocks between Palm Avenue and East 4th Avenue, from East 22nd to East 32nd Street. Because of its flamingo flock, the Audubon Society named it a sanctuary for the American Flamingo. Landscaped grounds that size give foragers plenty to work, so a few bees at your flowers do not always mean a nest in your wall.
Palm Avenue and the old core
A 1921 photo already shows Palm Avenue meeting County Road, today U.S. 27, and the city's planning and zoning office sits on Palm Avenue now. Older buildings near that first crossroads are worth checking for worn stucco and gaps scouts can test.
The U.S. 27 side
U.S. 27 runs parallel to the border with Miami Springs, where a canal marks that city's edge. Expect traffic and limited curb space, so tell us where a truck can stop without blocking a lane.
The Miami Canal edge
The Miami Canal forms Hialeah's line with Medley and Hialeah Gardens. Medley's tax base is mostly industrial, so the far bank is yards and plants rather than houses. Water and open banks are a draw for foraging bees.
West 49th Street and Westland Mall
Westland Mall, at 1675 West 49th Street, opened in 1969 and has more than 100 stores. Big commercial roofs, rooftop units and planted islands in surface lots give bees spots that a store manager may never walk past.
The north edge by Amelia Earhart Park
Just north of the city, in unincorporated county land, Amelia Earhart Park covers 515 acres of lakes, trails and the Bill Graham Farm Village. Homes along that edge sit beside a large stretch of green space.
Why one colony is everyone's problem here
In 2010 Hialeah ranked tenth in population among U.S. cities with more than 10,000 people to the square mile. On blocks like that, the bees living in your wall forage well past your fence and across the yards around you. They drink from the neighbor's pool and fly past the car parked by the fence. That is why we suggest a quick word with the people next door before the visit, especially if a child or anyone with a sting allergy lives there.
It also explains why sealing matters as much as removal. Comb and the scent it leaves behind tell the next swarm that a cavity is worth moving into, and with so many houses close together, a new colony does not have far to come. Our guide to repeat colonies explains the cycle. Every job ends with the entry closed off, and that seal carries a workmanship warranty: should a colony show up again at the same patch, the crew returns. Tenants and owners sorting out responsibility can start with our renting page.
Block, stucco and the small-cavity problem
UF's extension guide on African honey bees makes two points that fit this city closely. Those bees nest in much smaller spaces than European honey bees, including cement blocks and water meter boxes, and they guard a bigger zone around their comb. Since nobody can tell from looking which kind is in your wall, every colony gets treated as if it might be defensive.
Inside hollow block, the comb follows the cores sideways and up, so the hole you see is a poor guide to where the colony actually sits. A thermal camera picks up the warm spot the cluster makes on the wall surface, which lets the crew open the smallest section that reaches all of it; the infrared article walks through a sample image. Once the cavity is empty, the block is filled, restuccoed and painted by our in-house licensed trades, and the block wall removal page goes through that repair in detail. For a curb box, see meter and valve boxes.
Shops, warehouses and industrial lots
Manufacturing and cloth industries made Hialeah an industrial city in the 1970s and 1980s, and its shops, warehouses and work yards still give bees plenty of places to settle. On those lots the colony is often in a pallet stack, a dead piece of equipment, a sign cabinet or the box over a roll-up door. Removal has to fit around deliveries, forklifts and staff who cannot simply stay indoors all afternoon.
Tell us the hours the yard is quiet and who holds the keys. Property managers and landlords can get a certificate of insurance before the crew arrives, and the job file can include photos of the work and an invoice broken out by task, whenever you ask. If nobody on site is at risk, booking Monday through Friday daytime saves money, because a Saturday or late-night emergency run is priced higher. The commercial and property manager page covers paperwork, and the outbuildings page covers storage sheds and detached garages.
How a Hialeah visit runs
Give the East or West address
Hialeah numbers its streets on its own grid, so East 4th Avenue and West 4th Avenue are two different streets. Include the direction and the cross street so nobody ends up at the wrong side of town.
Plan the curb
Tell us whether the truck can use your driveway or must park on the street, and whether the block gets heavy traffic. On tight lots that decides where gear and the bee box go.
Warn the neighbors
Bees get stirred up while the comb comes out. A heads-up lets the people next door keep children, pets and laundry inside for that stretch.
Paperwork and the patch
Businesses and associations get the certificate of insurance first. Once the colony is out, our crew rebuilds the block or eaves, and pictures and a detailed bill go to whoever needs them, on request.
Matching removal work
Questions people ask us
The bees are in my neighbor's wall but fly into my yard. What can I do?
Talk to the owner first, since the work happens on their property. If they agree, either of you can call and get a free quote. Renters should bring in the landlord. If someone is being stung, call right away and we will sort out ownership afterward.
Does it matter that Hialeah has its own street numbering?
Yes. The city's grid runs separately from the rest of the county, with East and West avenues and streets. Give the full address with the direction and a nearby cross street, or send a map pin with your photo, so the crew reaches the right block.
My Hialeah house is hollow block. How much of the wall gets opened?
Usually just a small section. A thermal scan shows where the comb sits inside the hollow cores, the crew cuts the least block and stucco needed to reach it, and our own contractors rebuild and paint the patch. Larger repairs can push the cost into the thousands.
Are the bees around Hialeah Africanized?
University of Florida entomologists report African honey bees in Florida, and they cannot be told apart from other honey bees easily by sight. That is why every colony is approached carefully and why you should keep people and pets away from the nest until it is gone.
Can you remove a colony at a warehouse without shutting us down?
Often, yes. Tell us when the yard is quietest, and the crew works around deliveries and staff. Your property manager can have our insurance certificate on file before day one. After-hours and weekend calls cost more, so plan a weekday if the bees are not near people.
Places next door
Tell us what is flying around your block
Send the quote form or call, and include the East or West address so we can route the crew.
Tell us where the bees are
Three fields are enough to start: your name, a number we can reach, and the city or neighborhood. Anything else you add saves a question on the callback.
- (786) 442-2496
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- Someone picks up day and night