[47lincsled]

I am in desperate need of information about honey bees, this summer a hive moved into my second story attic through a small opening I didn't quite get sealed up, they were a pain in the but all summer, very aggressive, for some reason they didn't like my dad and I, my wife and girls were fine but every time I got out on the lawn they would start diving on me, I got stung twice and my dad once, luckily niether of us is allergic, I tried to shoot some wasp spray up into the opening, it would kill off a couple hundred of them but they never left, I'm a little worried that the hive may collapse and fall through the ceiling, we don't have a local bee keepers or even exterminators that will take care of this problem. My question is, now that the tempitures are getting below freezing will they go dormant enough for me to remove the board under the eaves and either shoot the hive with bug killer or remove the hive itself,I'm not sure how docile they get when it's really cold, or if someone has any good safe ideas for getting these things out of my attic? Thanks Bob.

 

[hotchkissmtrifle]

Be VERY CAREFUL here! In my state it would be a felony to destroy that hive! There are lots of people who specialize in removing just such hives, look in the book and call one. Its probably worht a great deal of money sinse hives are dying off at alarming rates but money probably isn't as important as it "going away". Good luck, Hotch

 

[dghattierdc]

3 s's

shoot
shovel
and shut up.

 

[CaptMax]

As a novice entomologist (owned 60+ tarantulas once) I can tell you their metabolism slows greatly as the weather cools. Flooding the area with smoke will also help make them docile. Provided it's less than 40 degrees in your attic I think you will be safe to climb up there and remove the nest into a large plastic bag if it is a hanging hive. Some species will build enormous hives along the structure and these are the hardest to remove. If this is the case, do call in a professional as these types cause the most damage as well often destroying wood and drywall. Good Luck!

 

[Rory]

http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/bee_removal.phtml

i found this while searching.


good luck!

rory

 

[KABAR2]

there was a "Way off topic Beekeeping" thread started by someone on the board who kept bees, I remember a thread earlier this year about that. maybee they can chime in on the subject, I couldn't open the cached version, to pull up a name, but hopefully he's still here.

 

[Bill S]

... I tried to shoot some wasp spray up into the opening, it would kill off a couple hundred of them but they never left...

This doesn't generally work because the spray can't penetrate very deep. And the hive may be some distance from the opening. If you run into this situation again, simply plug up the entrance. (Do it at night when the bees are inactive.) But doing that right now won't help because the bees are dug in for the winter and have the food reserves to last at least until Spring.

I'm a little worried that the hive may collapse and fall through the ceiling,

Yup. That can happen. It's happened to people around here (Tucson Arizona), and we've got the Africanized "killer bees". You really don't want a giant hive of angry bees landing in your livingroom, even if they aren't Africanized bees.

I'd suggest you contact either a professional beekeeper or an ag extension person in your region for advice, even if they are too far away to be able to come out and help you.

 

[johnnyjt]

BumbleBee

Yeh! That's my baby! BumbleBee Camaro from

movie Transformers! Modeled after the 1969 Camaro

first car I ever owned. Bran spanking new $3000

$65/month GMAC






JohnnyJT
South Philly

 

[47lincsled]

bee keeper help

I have a good friend that used to help me with bee problems but he's not around right now, but his wife called about some thing else and I asked her if she knew someone, his cousin also does bees and next time he gets over this way he is going to bring his suit and see if we came get to them, he said the wild hives are much more resistent to what ever it is that is killing off the domestic hives and he'd be willing to try to get them out. They have to go and I would rather someone use them then just kill them all. Thanks for the replies.

 

[KpdPipes]

Check with your Local PD, or Animal Control if you have one. i know that we have a couple of numbers for people who will come out and remove Hives from homes, IIRC it's usually at no or little cost to the homeowner. usually about once a summer we get a call from someone with a hive in their attic or garage.