It’s March, that time of the year when jacarandas and tabebuias and other myriad flora envelop Bengaluru in bursts of colours as the city warms up towards summer. March-April is also when honey bees swarm the city’s vibrant gardens of all sizes, busy foraging and hive building, which also bring these tiny pollinators into close encounters with humans. Often, the knee-jerk reaction to the hives that appear overnight is extermination, but a conscientious bunch of Bengalureans is trying to reverse this alarming trend by calmly looking for sustainable options.
‘A live exhibition outside my window’
When a swarm of bees began building a hive outside her window in Feb, Yasmeen Iqbal, a communications professional working with a multinational consulting firm, decided to just let them be. “There was a very large hive that got formed outside one of my bedroom windows. And because I had observed other people mentioning in the apartment group that bees are not harmful, let them be etc, I reached out to a few others who had tried to do their best in the past to save bees,” says Yasmeen, who lives in the southern part of the city.
“For several weeks, I only had to be okay with not opening the window, but otherwise it was like you have this live exhibition outside your window that you can observe. It’s beautiful,” she says. Yasmeen, now a part of a group of five bee volunteers in her community, had to get the hive safely relocated since the apartment is undergoing some maintenance activity. She hired a person to remove the hive safely, but to her utter shock he disturbed and cut the hive to harvest the honey. “We then decided not to let him touch other few hives that needed relocation.”
Why relocation is the right alternative
Traditionally, when a bee colony takes up residence in an apartment balcony or office building, pest control services are called in to smoke or fog them out. But what many don’t realize is that these methods are not only cruel but also hazardous — fogging and using pesticides indiscriminately kill bees, and when synthetic materials like plastics are burned in the process, toxic fumes are released into the environment.
Apoorva B, who works with a bee conservation NGO, argues that relocation is a far superior alternative.
“Relocating bees preserves their lives while preventing harm to humans. But without an organised approach, untrained individuals may exploit the process,” he says. Ethical relocation ensures that bees can continue their vital role in pollination while mitigating risks for humans. However, despite its clear benefits, relocation remains an underutilised option, mainly due to lack of structured efforts from the authorities.
‘Bees are not pests’
Roopa Vaidya, who moved to Bengaluru from the US in 2022, says she was initially mortified to notice how nonchalant people were in the city about bees. “In the West, people are fighting hard to conserve bees, while here, we treat them like pests. Without pollinators, we’re in serious trouble,” she says. A resident of RR Nagar, Roopa persistently campaigned against use of pesticides against bees in her apartment complex, and has successfully helped her apartment management to transition towards safe removal of beehives.
Roopa says she sees a disturbing pattern here: “Even snakes were considered a threat in our apartment, and the immediate solution was elimination. We have become barbaric out of fear and ignorance! We once coexisted with wildlife, but now we wipe it out at the first inconvenience.” She also managed to push for snake catchers to be included in her apartment’s emergency contacts.
Need bee-specific laws
While India has laws protecting many wildlife species, bees remain largely overlooked, says Apoorva, highlighting a legal loophole. “The absence of specific laws to protect bees creates a major gap in bee conservation. This allows unethical operators to mislead people with dubious hive removal services while profiting from adulterated honey sales.”
An urgent need for sustainable solutions
Bee relocation is a delicate art that requires expertise. When done correctly, problematic hives are identified, carefully extracted, and transported to safer areas far from human settlements. However, improper techniques—such as using plastics or incense to smoke out bees—can be just as harmful as extermination. Scaling up relocation efforts across Bengaluru is challenging without proper organisation and govt support, but the stakes couldn’t be higher.
The consequences of bee decline are severe. As primary pollinators, bees are crucial for biodiversity and food security. Their disappearance could trigger a domino effect—lower crop yields, higher food prices, and disruptions in ecosystems that rely on pollinated plants. Farmers and agricultural industries, in particular, stand to lose significantly. According to an informal survey cited by Apoorva, hundreds of bee colonies are eliminated daily in Bengaluru. This alarming statistic underscores the urgent need for conservation strategies that focus on coexistence rather than destruction.
Organisations like The Hive, where Apoorva is actively involved, advocate for a coexistence model instead of mass removals. Their efforts include community education, promoting relocation over extermination, and designing urban spaces that can accommodate bee populations safely.
‘It’s critical to conserve species in urban areas’
KT Vijayakumar, scientist and assistant professor at department of apiculture in Bengaluru-based University of Agricultural sciences (UAS), has been training people in bee relocation and beekeeping. He explains that certain honey bee species found in urban areas are highly efficient pollinators due to their larger body size and pollen-collecting hairs. “There aren’t many domestic bee species in urban settings, making it critical to conserve wild populations. Instead of extermination, safer removal techniques should be prioritised,” he says.
Bees are migratory, searching for warmth and food
“Bees move to different regions to exploit available flora essential for their survival and pollination,” says Vijayakumar, spotlighting their vital role in urban gardening and agriculture. “Typically, honey bees stay in one location for three to four months, moving based on temperature and flora availability. Spring is a crucial season for them, as blooming flowers provide essential resources. Interestingly, during colder months like November and December, many bees migrate from forests to urban areas like Bengaluru in search of warmth and food.”
Bee rescuers fight against pesticides, scams
Faisal, a city-based bee removal expert, has been working to counter unethical hive removal practices. Instead of using pesticides, he employs a simple yet effective method—calming bees with a bit of smoke using coconut husk or dry leaves before gently removing the hive. Once the hive is relocated, he applies a natural paste that encourages the remaining bees to find a new home.
Wild bees choose elevated sites like trees to build hives as they offer protection against ground-based predators that might otherwise disturb or destroy their colonies. In urban areas, where trees disappear rapidly, they also opt for tall buildings. In Bengaluru, you can even spot beehives right under metro viaducts. “Tall buildings allow bees get a preview of the availability of flowers to collect nectar. To prevent bee attacks, avoid passing by their hive with strong perfumes, deodorants, or when smoking tobacco, as these scents can agitate them,” says Faisal.
On an average, Faisal handles daily three to four hive removal inquiries from Bengaluru and Mysuru regions. While noting that many residents still resort to extermination, he says awareness around sustainable handling of bee hives is growing. More apartment complexes are now rejecting pest control services that kill bees and opting for humane alternatives, he says. “Education is crucial in helping residents understand the benefits of safely relocating bees rather than exterminating them.” Faisal says he is worried about the lack of professionals with proper knowledge of the ecological impact of bee destruction.
He warns against “free” bee removal services because the hives are subsequently used to harvest raw honey for adulteration. “The responsibility does not end with calling in a safe service. We need to ensure that the process is done ethically,” he says. He notes that such scams peak especially during the offseason when honey is scarce, allowing fraudsters to pass off their impure products as genuine.
After her bitter experience, Yasmeen and fellow volunteers are taking Faisal’s help to safely remove and relocate all the hives that are coming up at their apartment complex.
The city begins to buzz around bees
With an increase in urban gardening initiatives and the need for pollinators in these settings, bees are becoming more important than ever. “If they’re not causing direct harm, the best course of action is to let them be,” says professor Vijayakumar, who adds that awareness is crucial to achieve this state of mind.
The professor also notes that there is an increasing trend of people becoming beekeepers. Training programmes, initiated by experts like Vijayakumar under the leadership of University of Agricultural Sciences, are set to take place in the coming months.