The Swarm of Bees
One little honeybee by my window flew;
Soon came another - then there were two.
Two happy honeybees in the apple tree;
One more bee came buzzing up
- then there were three.
Three busy honeybees starting to explore
Another bee came to help - then there were four.
Four laden honeybees flying to the hive;
They were joined by one more bee - then there were five.
Five tired honeybees with the others mix;
Now there's a swarm of them - a hundred times six.
Elsa Gorham Baker
.....they're back.....
We have a bees and lots of them. The weather here is warm and the flowers are blooming, and the bees are back in business.
We have so many bees swarming in our backyard to sip water from our sprinklers, we can't even go outside during the middle of the day! If anyone knows how to "redirect" the bees to another "watering hole" please share it. We need advice on how to co exist with them. We had several last year and were just careful, but this year, it seems the word is out and "Mac's Pub House" is buzzing with activity.
"D'you know that bees and dogs can smell fear?" Ray Boyd – Jerry Maguire
5 comments:
Ahhhhh!! Thats terrible!
Here's some stuff I just found that might be helpful? Its really interesting and really long but read all of it because you might find the answer you really want right after you read the answer you thought you wanted!
* It's hard to get rid of bees because it's sometimes hard to find the source. Here is a great bee trap. Take a plastic pop bottle (16 or 20 oz. will do) cut the top off and insert it in upside down. put a couple oz.'s of mt.dew at the bottom. The bees will go straight to it and leave you alone on your porch. Make a couple of them and empty and change pop once a week.
* Instead of drawing them closer with a soda bottle filled with yummies, drive them away. Simlpy place a handfull of mothballs in a kneehigh or pantyhose of sorts. Hang it in your yard. You may need to put up more than one if it is a large area.
* Our local hardware store sells a chemical spray that normally is used for other bugs it's called spectracide and if you look on the back of the label you will find that it kills bees. It works and it only cost about $7.00. if you don't mind mixing it yourself you can get it for about $5.00.
* Try calling some of your local bee farmers. Sometimes, they will come and get the hive for free. If they can get to it.
I live in Canada and wasps (also mud wasps) or hornets are the ones we don't like here. They love food so are pesky when having BBQs, and certainly don't like some colors (dress in white when out in the garden) and if you wear bright colors then you're asking for trouble. I had a wasp nest in my attic that was huge. I got an exterminator up because I was fearful that the hive would become so big it would come through the ceiling. My husband thought I was out of my mind believe this theory, but indeed, the exterminator said he has seen this happen. Not only that they can get into your vents and into your house.
* First you need to find the nest. Then at night, spray it with any insect killing poison while they are sleeping. Be quiet and just in case, wear protective clothing.
* If you know where the nest is and there are hundreds of bees, you can try something that worked for us. We put a bug zapper right in front of the "main entrance" of their nest while they were sleeping at night. We then turned it on during the day. As they flew in and out they died by the hundreds. After a few days I think they either moved to a safer location or we had killed them all.
I once read that putting a bowl of vinegar on the table while you are eating, keeps them away. We tried it and it definitely seemed to work.
Be careful with the bees that nest in your walls. I had hundreds of bees, in my wall, that were coming in from a tiny hole under an outside wall mounted light. I am deathly afraid of bees. I didn't even use that entrance way which led to our deck and pool. I thought about sticking something in the hole so they couldn't get in or out but I called an exterminator instead. They came out and sprayed this white powder (don't remember what it was). The exterminator told me that it was a good thing that I didn't block the entrance way. He said they would have eventually burrowed through the drywall. I would have had hundreds of bees in my house!
* Here is the "rub" with getting rid of bees. The longer you wait to get rid of them the larger the comb becomes. Say that you are successful with getting the bees to leave with the bug zapper, or the Sevin, or any of the other ways mentioned. The comb is still there. Then the mice and rats come to get at the comb. If it is big enough the rodents can live there for a long time. They eat the wax and the honey. So getting rid of the bees is just the beginning. I don't think there is a single answer to all of the bee issues. However, preventive maintenance can greatly help. You need to go around your house and caulk all of the obvious holes: the bees have to have a way to get in. After they've gotten in it is too late. As was said above, if you block their egress hole they'll bore into your house somewhere and you'll have a jolly good time. And, where they bore in through the drywall is no assurance that is where their hive is. What I favor is using Sevin in liquid form applied with a spray applicator making sure that all of your body parts are well covered including your face and hands. Bees can sting through cloth when they are mad. So make sure your clothes are thick even to the point of wearing two layers. Then, after your done immediately wash everything. Follow manufacturer's specifications for application of Sevin strictly. Even if you thoroughly wet down the area behind the egress hole you may have to come back again later so not permanently block the hole until your sure all of the bees are dead. As to the comb left behind the wall, this could be problematical. Costwise it may be better to leave it and just wait and see if rodents or more bees come to get at the comb. Eventually if left alone the honey will dry into sugar crystals and the wax will desiccate and shrink.
* I am a beekeeper. If you indeed have honeybees in your wall, you have a few options. 1. Call a pest control person, who will kill the bees with poison. If he/she is thorough, he will then open up the wall, remove the dead bees and comb, and seal up the outside entrance so you are not re-infested. You will then need to patch up the wall (or hire a contractor to do so). Two drawbacks with this approach are A) You and your home have been exposed to poison B) The pest control person can be expensive. 2. Call a beekeeper. You should be able to locate one by contacting your State or County beekeeper's organization. Sometimes your local fire company or the police may be able to refer you to a beekeeper. Be sure the beekeeper is experienced with "removals." He should be able to provide references, and should have the proper equipment including a "bee vac" as well as ladders, power saw(s), hand saw(s), and other tools. Beekeepers are often motivated by the fact that at the end of the removal, they will own a new queen and swarm of bees. For this reason, a beekeeper is likely to be less expensive than a pest control person. If the beekeeper is planning to capture the swarm and queen alive, he will not use poisons on the bees, and you and your home will not be exposed to any poisons. You even may be able to convince the beekeeper (beforehand) to share any honey he collects from the hive over and above what is needed by the bees. I hope you'll consider calling a beekeeper rather than a pest control person should you find yourself with a honeybee infestation :-)
and lastly someone said..
Call a bee keeper in your area. Honey bees are quite rare in some areas.
Answer
The above poster is correct. Some Americans are not aware that there is a great shortage of bees in several States and scientists are very alarmed at beekeepers finding most of their bees dead in their hives. Without bees you don't get pollination and without pollination many of our food sources would dwindle away. Don't kill them, get a beekeeper to come and get them.
are you sure they're bees? Just checking cause you want to keep bees alive, as they usually won't sting if you don't make sudden movements around, them, whereas wasp's will. If it is bees, try placing a bird bath or something of that nature in a remote area of the yard, hopefully they will go there instead of to your sprinklers. Or spray them will meat smell and let Kodiak and Baylor eat them all! ;)
what does "spray them will meat smell" mean?? I've tried and tried but I don't understand! :)
I get it. Spray with meat smell, so they can't resist munching down all the bees! Lucky for us, we don't have to spray the bees with meat scent, Kodiak already loves to chase and chomp down the bees, and when he gets stung, he goes nuts wiping his face all over the grass, then goes back for another! Now Baylor thinks it's fun too.
I confess, I can't watch them eat and get stung over and over again, and after letting them do it for a couple stings each, I have to make them come in the house... it just seems cruel, for them and the bees.
Well, I sprinkled small pebbles around the sprinkler head, so the bees can't move the giant boulders out of the way to climb down and get a drink. It's working for now.
Also, while on a walk in the neighborhood, I met up with our neighbor behind our house, he is the one with the bees nest. It's in the eaves of his house and he has contacted someone to remove it. So, I am hopeful we won't have many more problems with the bees.
I am grateful for all of the great ideas. Our neighbor on the east side has a fountain in her yard and a hot tub... so she has been battling the bees as well. I told her about the vinegar idea and I had also read about putting Pine scented cleanser in the water. She tried Pine sol and has not had any more bees. But was worried when she realized she had put Pine sol in the same water the birds are coming to!!
Oops.
hhhmmm, i cant help out much. I dont know what to try. It looks like you have plenty of suggestions due to Rebecca's comment.
Post a Comment