http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208172

Thank you so much!!! I wrote them and am waiting for their reply. Sure hope they'll come.

I'm doing a removal at the beginning of May.

My recommendation would be to do a web search with the intention of trying to locate a phone number for your state beekeeping association (or perhaps a county club/organization - keep after your ag county extension agent, if he digs, he can come up with a phone number for you).

Here may be the problem: if PA has a "Structural Pest Control Board" (or some such equivalent), they may have recently cracked down on freelancing beekeepers. This is the government or quasi-government organization that licenses (a state license) pest control operators. Every now-and-then, somebody will get a burr under their saddle and complain about how beekeepers are taking away "business" (read: 'paying' business) from officially licensed pest control operators... resulting in the state's Pest Control Board cracking down on such activity. This is especially true of human occupied structions (like homes). This is one possibility.

Another possibility is having to do with money. Either how much a homeowner is willing to pay a beekeeping to remove a well established colony OR the possible liability a beekeeper will incur if the situation 'goes south' on him. Either way, perhaps an unhappy outcome - for the homeowner AND the beekeeper.

You may be able to find a hobby beekeeper willing to expend the time and effort to "trap" the bees out of the wall (a much less destructive way, however, also much less assured results).

Thanks for the input. You are probably right about the pest control thing. I wrote - emailed a person who was on the list someone else sent in but they haven't gotten back to me. I just wish people could respond, even if they aren't interested. I'd know, instead of being left wondering if they will ever respond. I seem to have no good luck with beekeepers. You guys are the only ones who get back to me. I really don't want to kill the bees, but I just can't leave them there. Our farm is for sale and I KNOW this won't pass inspection. Do they ever leave on their own?

When they get crowded enough the queen will leave with half the hive but the rest will remain behind. You could try writing a lettter in the local paper and see if anyone is interested. You can't just kill the bees and leave the honey in the walls, and as TX mentioned, a trap out doesn't always work and takes a long time. A lot of beekeepers don't want to do a cut out because it is hard work, and is dangerous if you're up on a ladder. You're never sure quite what to expect until you get the wall open. I did one that was in a soffit. The customer said the bees had just gotten in there a few weeks before. The bees they saw were actually the ones that swarmed from the established hive. Once I got in there I realized the the nest went all the way through a space behind the chimney. They were as far in as I could reach with a long knife, and I was 25 ft up on a ladder. I did have a safety harness on, but it was still hairy.