North Dade barrier island
Sunny Isles Beach bee removal planned around condo towers and Golden Shores homes
A colony high in a tower and a colony under a Golden Shores eave are different jobs. Here is how live removal works on this narrow strip of towers between the ocean and the Intracoastal.
Around Sunny Isles Beach
- IncorporatedJune 16, 1997
- Water on two sidesAtlantic Ocean to the east, Intracoastal Waterway to the west
- SizeAbout 1.78 square miles, developed mainly for residential use
- Main roadCollins Avenue, State Road A1A
- PierNewport Fishing Pier, reopened in 2013 after Hurricane Wilma damage
Sunny Isles Beach is a thin barrier island, about 1.78 square miles, with the Atlantic on one side and the Intracoastal Waterway on the other. Most of the one- and two-story motels of the old Motel Row have given way to high-rise condominiums and some hotels, and the 2020 Census counted more than 22,000 residents packed onto that strip. For honey bees, a skyline like this is a cliff face full of ledges. Scout bees look for a dry, sheltered cavity roughly the size of a large picnic cooler, and a tower offers hundreds of them: hollow planters, conduit chases, rooftop equipment housings, gaps behind cladding.
The ground level matters just as much. Pool decks, landscaping along Collins Avenue and the city's parks give foragers plenty of bloom, and the single-family streets of Golden Shores have the eaves, attics and meter boxes that bees use in any older neighborhood. The work here is less about finding a colony and more about reaching it safely in a building full of people.
Hollow spots a tower offers a swarm
Podium planters and amenity decks
The landscaped levels that sit above a garage often have deep built-in planters with hollow bases. A colony can move into the void under the soil liner and stay out of sight until foragers start crowding the pool chairs nearby.
Rooftop and mechanical spaces
Housings around rooftop equipment, louvered vents and unused conduit chases stay dry and shaded. Wind on top of a tower is strong, so bees pick spots tucked behind something solid, which can make the comb hard to reach without opening a panel.
Parking garage ceilings and joints
Drop ceilings, light fixture recesses and gaps around pipe penetrations in a garage give a swarm a dark cavity right next to the cars. Residents walking to the elevator lobby may be the first to notice the traffic.
Pool equipment and utility boxes
Down beside the pool deck, the enclosure that houses a tower's pumps and filters is warm, dark and rarely opened by residents. The maintenance staff who check those filters each day are the people most likely to walk into a colony there, so a call at the first sign of traffic keeps them out of harm's way.
Golden Shores eaves and attics
The first single-family houses in Golden Shores went up in the 1950s. Gaps where a soffit meets the wall, loose attic vents and old roof edges give bees the same entry points they use in any older neighborhood in the county.
A colony in the garage or on the pool deck?
Stand back, zoom in on the gap or vent the colony is using, and send that picture by text. It is the first step toward a plan and a free quote.
From Golden Shores to the pier: what each stretch means
Oceanfront side of Collins Avenue
Towers on the ocean side have beach access, pool decks and open sand out front. Bees around a beach entrance or a pool bar affect a lot of people at once, so management may want the area roped off while the colony comes out.
Intracoastal side of Collins Avenue
Buildings facing the waterway share the strip with the city's Intracoastal Parks, a linear park made of four small parcels. Docks and seawalls along the waterway add a few more cavities for a scout to check.
Golden Shores
This is the island's single-family neighborhood, with houses that started going up in the 1950s and a shaded playground at Golden Shores Park. Here the job looks like a regular house call: a wall, soffit or tree, a driveway to park in and an owner to talk to.
North Bay Road
Pelican Community Park and Senator Gwen Margolis Park, with its fenced leash-free dog area, sit along North Bay Road. If you spot a swarm near a park or a dog run, keep pets back and tell us where it is hanging.
Sunny Isles Boulevard and Gateway Park
State Road 826 enters the island here, next to Gateway Park and its butterfly garden. A planted area full of flowers is a good thing for bees, and foragers visiting it are no cause for alarm. A cluster that stays put is the one to call about.
Around the Newport Fishing Pier
The pier sits on the ocean where Sunny Isles Beach Boulevard meets Collins Avenue. Swarms resting on railings or light poles near busy public spaces like this are usually calm, but they should be left alone until they move or are collected.
Why a tower changes the job
A colony inside a house is one family's problem. A colony inside a tall condominium touches the board, the manager, the front desk, valet, the residents on that floor and whoever is lying by the pool below. The bee work itself does not change with altitude: locate the comb, bring the bees out living, carve away all wax and stored honey, then close the cavity so leftover scent cannot invite the next swarm. What changes is the choreography. An elevator may have to be held, a stretch of deck closed for an afternoon, or a balcony reached through an owner's living room. Thermal imaging earns its keep in buildings like these, since the camera traces the warm edge of the comb behind a panel before anyone cuts, which keeps the hole small. For the access side of tall buildings, see condo and high-rise removal; for the records a manager keeps, see the property manager page.
What the board file should hold
Associations here already live with heavy paperwork. Miami-Dade's building safety program, under county code section 8-11(f), calls for a structural and electrical inspection report on many buildings once they turn 30 and again every decade, and a 2022 state law added milestone inspections for condo buildings. A bee colony is a small item next to that, yet it deserves a clean paper trail. Before the truck arrives, management can have our certificate of insurance on hand. Afterward, you can request pictures of the open cavity and the finished patch, plus an invoice that lists the bee work and any repair work on separate lines. Stucco, drywall and ceiling patches are handled by licensed tradespeople who work for us, roofers and painters included, so no second vendor has to be hired and scheduled. Our workmanship is warrantied, too: bees reappearing at a seal we made get a return trip.
Swarms along the beach and the boulevard
In spring and early summer, a crowded colony divides, and roughly half its workers fly off with the old queen. That cloud tends to land on a railing, a palm trunk, a parked car or a light pole, where it hangs in a lump, sometimes overnight, sometimes for two or three days. Meanwhile its scouts are out inspecting cavities. On an island this busy, a lump of bees on Collins Avenue draws a crowd fast. A hanging swarm has no brood or honey to guard, so it is usually mild, but spraying it or poking it with a broom turns a calm cluster into a stinging one. Clear the area around it and phone us. Plenty of swarms leave on their own. One that starts drawing wax inside a planter or wall is now a swarm job that became a colony job, and the earlier it comes out, the less comb has to be cleaned up.
How a visit runs in a Sunny Isles Beach building
Call or text a photo
A resident or the manager can reach us at any hour. Tell us the floor, whether the spot is inside a unit or in a common area, and whether anyone has been stung.
Paperwork to the front desk
Our insurance certificate goes to the office in advance, and we confirm the loading area, service elevator and where the truck can sit on Collins Avenue.
Find, remove, rehome
A thermal camera outlines the comb. Bees are drawn into a soft vacuum box, the wax and honey come out by hand, and the whole colony rides off to an apiary.
Patch, seal, document
Our own crew patches and seals the opening. On request, the board receives a line-by-line invoice and pictures of each stage.
Matching removal work
Questions people ask us
Management wants an insurance certificate before you come. Is that possible?
Yes. Our licensing and liability coverage are current, and a COI naming your association can reach the management office ahead of the appointment. If the building needs particular wording on the certificate, mention it on the first call so the paper is ready before anyone arrives.
The bees are on my balcony, not in a common area. Who arranges it?
Usually the owner calls, but the association often has rules about work on balconies and exterior walls. We can talk to both. If the comb is inside the building envelope, the manager will likely want to approve the opening and the repair before we start.
Will removing a colony from a high floor mean scaffolding?
Not necessarily. A colony on a tower can often be reached from a balcony, a roof deck or the inside of a wall or ceiling. If the comb sits somewhere that truly needs lift equipment, the free quote will say so before any work is scheduled.
Is there a spray option for a crowded pool deck?
Live relocation is the only service offered, so the answer stays the same even beside a busy pool or a garage full of cars. The bees leave your building alive, along with their brood comb, bound for a beekeeper's hive box.
We only stay here part of the year. What if bees move in while we are gone?
Seasonal owners can arrange the job through the front desk or a manager, and photos let you see the result from wherever you are. Our guide for seasonal homes explains what to set up before you leave.
If the bees show up on a Saturday night, does the price change?
It does. Saturday night sits inside the premium window, so the bill for that callout lands above what a Monday visit to your building would cost. If nobody has been stung and the colony is not going anywhere, letting it sit until a weekday is the cheaper choice. The pricing breakdown walks through the other factors.
Places next door
Building name, floor, and the spot
Put those three details on the quote form. Elevator holds, deck closures and parking on Collins Avenue are then sorted out with your management office, not left for you to arrange.
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
- Prefer texting? Send a picture
- Someone picks up day and night