Wasps

[J_J]

Electronic bug killers work extremely well for yellow jackets, wasp, and bees. They all seem to want to help their buddies, so when one dies, they all keep attacking the bug killer. It will smoke them all. I learned this out of revenge. I killed the one on me, and his buddies came running. Did you ever see an old man running with a backpack blower trying to swat at wasp. Well, after placing the bug killer right beside the nest, and jiggled it a bit, I just sat back and listened to the sizzle and watched the little puffs of smoke. I felt vindicated.

 

[Kfbeal]

I've called local beekeepers and most of them won't mess with it due to the chance of them breeding with africanized bees, it's strange.

I once was replacing an electric service meter and I pulled the lid off the meter can and a yellow jacket flew out and nailed me right between the eyes. My nose, brow bone and eyes were sore all day long. When I was a kid I'd swell up like a balloon.

I hate to kill them since they are beneficial but they are invading my territory and preventing me from doing things I need to do. They are in an object in an entrance to one of our barns and are very protective to say the least.

 

[SnowRidge]

I rear ended something, probably a bumblebee from the wallop I took, at 60 mph on a motorcycle. It got me high on the cheek, just below the eye. It was by far the most painful sting I have ever received.

 

[Airic]

Good subject. I've got honey bees in my house from this last summer that I need to get rid of. One of those projects I really don't want to do as I don't like to be stung. I need to find a bee keeper that will take them as I really would prefer not to kill them. I most likely will need to access from inside rather than out as I have a flag stone exterior. I think a piece of Plexiglas over the hive would be cool but, they must go. I know a cleanup and repair will be necessary but, at this point how much damage can they do? Honey soaked walls? Not seen damage from honey bees so I'm not sure what I should expect.

 

[srjones]

Good subject. I've got honey bees in my house from this last summer that I need to get rid of. One of those projects I really don't want to do as I don't like to be stung. I need to find a bee keeper that will take them as I really would prefer not to kill them. I most likely will need to access from inside rather than out as I have a flag stone exterior. I think a piece of Plexiglas over the hive would be cool but, they must go. I know a cleanup and repair will be necessary but, at this point how much damage can they do? Honey soaked walls? Not seen damage from honey bees so I'm not sure what I should expect.

I hope I can reset your expectations a bit. As beekeeper, I know the difference (and there's a big difference) between a SWARM of bees ON the wall and a COLONY of bees IN the wall. It's often unclear when I'm asked to drive over and take a look. If they really are in your walls, your best bet is to do one of the following (in order of effort)

1) Do nothing--As long as they're not getting in the house and causing issues.

2) Coax most of them out in the summer and remove them in the winter. If you have 1 hole where you know they're entering the wall you can put a bee escape where they can leave but can't go back in. Put a super with drawn frames and nearby or even better, directly connected to the wall. When the cold weather comes and it's gone according to plan, most of the bees and the queen will be in their new home. Move this hive and get ready to rip open the wall on a really cold morning.

3) Do everything in option 2 except kill them with Sevin powder in late summer.

4)Last resort. Kill them all in the heat of summer, rip open the walls and run the risk of every flying insect in the area coming in for the spoils.

WHATEVER YOU DO. Do not kill them, and try to seal up the hole. I'll explain later, but trust me, it's a bad idea for a bunch of reasons.

A cold winter day is the best time to do the wall repair because any bees that are alive will be too cold to move/fly/sting. Also, the combs and honey can mostly be chipped away, rather than becoming an oozing sticky mess. If your doing this from inside the house, you'll need to seal off that room and open all the windows so it gets as cold as possible. Once completely cleaned, top to bottom, apply a primer like Kilz. Then insulate and re-sheath and reside. (Or replace the interior dry

And that is reason why I keep my general contractors cards handy when I go on swarm calls.

 

[srjones]

SO did the Yellow Jackets get drunk?

Don't remember if they did or didn't. But I'm not sure what a drunk wasp would look like...

 

[Airic]

Thanks for the great inforation SRJones. One questoin. Can you describe what you are speaking of in regards to, "Put a super with drawn frames and nearby or even better, directly connected to the wall."? Is this a bee house?

They are definately in the wall. The stone near the entry hole is covered with pollin and I've been watching them all summer as there home is on the exterior wall of my office. You can also hear them if you put your ear to the wall. In mid summer some would get into the house from around the window trim.

I assume if you kill them and seal the opening, I'll get a huge mess as the hive will no longer stay cool enough. I learned this from the Discovery channel. I hope this does not make bee keeper out of me. Had fun watching them over the summer.

 

[Airic]

Oh yea, I watched them swarm last year too. For a period of time there was a mass amount of bee's on the outside wall so thick you could not even see the surface they were sitting on. It took up a 3'x3' area.

 

[srjones]

Thanks for the great inforation SRJones. One questoin. Can you describe what you are speaking of in regards to, "Put a super with drawn frames and nearby or even better, directly connected to the wall."? Is this a bee house?

They are definately in the wall. The stone near the entry hole is covered with pollin and I've been watching them all summer as there home is on the exterior wall of my office. You can also hear them if you put your ear to the wall. In mid summer some would get into the house from around the window trim.

I assume if you kill them and seal the opening, I'll get a huge mess as the hive will no longer stay cool enough. I learned this from the Discovery channel. I hope this does not make bee keeper out of me. Had fun watching them over the summer.

Sorry...beekeeper lingo crept in there. A drawn frame is a frame that has been drawn out with wax with provides a place for the bees to store honey and pollen and raise brood. A super is part of the hive and I should probably correct myself...you'd probably want a single story hive (bottom+deep super+top) rather than just a super (box) with frames.

I personally like the sound that honey bees make inside a hive or wall. But then again, I've never had them in my own house walls Sometime when it's quiet and you can hear them, try knocking on the wall and listen to the sound they make. You'll either think it's cool or it will give you the willies.

You're correct. Huge mess when it heats up. Dead bees (enough of them) will start to smell too. Honey draws moisture (hygroscopic) and yeast will start thriving when the honey exceeds 12% water. Yeast turns to alcohol, alcohol turns to vinegar, all sorts of other bugs go after the mess too. It may not happen right away but it eventually will.

 

[woodlandfarms]

We had a bee hive in a tree that I wanted to relocate. I am fortunate that I have a family friend who is one of the premier Apiologist in the US. He is not a bee keeper, but his doctorates are on Killer Bees and such. The dude is a great source of info.

I called a few bee keepers. None were interested in taking on a hive. So with the help of my buddy he pointed me to some real interesting websites that I cannot find at the moment. But if you want to keep the bees around, they showed how you can build a bee box of sorts with a one way door. Bees leave one box for the other, after a few days the queen comes along.

Well, over the winter the colony died or moved so we never had to build the bee moving box.

Moving Bee Hives | Expert Village Videos

How To Move A Colony of Bees

Like I said, I have pages but cannot find them. These came up from Google.