Honey bees

[sb47]

I have a honey bee hive in the wall of my house and would like to know how to get rid of them.
I was thinking about setting up my shop vac at the entrance at night then during the day when they are active I can turn it on and suck them up. If I beat on the inside wall they will come out of the hive in huge number giving me a good chance of getting a lot of them. Once I get there numbers down I can knock a hole in the wall and toss in some bug bombs and maybe get the rest. Any other ideas?
I just got hammered when I got to close mowing the yard.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Please contact a bee removal specialist to relocate the hive and rescue the queen.... I know they are a nuisance but they are becoming endangered

 

[farmer steve]

Here's a link. Contact them and they may point you to someone that can help. Like the jolly logger said they are becoming quite scarce.
https://texasbeekeepers.org/swarms/

 

[sb47]

I added an extension to my shop vac hose and put it right at there entrance and I can feel them being sucked up. There is a **** load of them. The queen is not going to be flying so no chance to get her this way but I can at least knock there numbers down.

 

[sb47]

I just remembered I have a friend that has bee's and he is going to come look. He has a bee suit and hive boxes so I called him.

 

[JD Guy]

That’s great! Anyone that can relocate the hive is doing everyone a service!

 

[old CB]

In the spring, hives relocate. We had one fly in one afternoon and take up residence in the soffit of our house. Called a beekeeper, and he and I went up on a ladder (in protective gear) with his shop-vac-looking thing that sucked the whole works into a see-through container. He got the queen and all. Best not to muck about on your own--let a beekeeper do it properly.

One time I was out in a pasture checking cows, and a beeswarm came flying in my direction. The swarm was about my waist height to 8' in the air. I stood unmoving, and the whole works just parted around me and kept on going. It was quite the thing.

 

[sb47]

In the spring, hives relocate. We had one fly in one afternoon and take up residence in the soffit of our house. Called a beekeeper, and he and I went up on a ladder (in protective gear) with his shop-vac-looking thing that sucked the whole works into a see-through container. He got the queen and all. Best not to muck about on your own--let a beekeeper do it properly.

One time I was out in a pasture checking cows, and a beeswarm came flying in my direction. The swarm was about my waist height to 8' in the air. I stood unmoving, and the whole works just parted around me and kept on going. It was quite the thing.

My dad use to make me hold the box while he would cut the limbs around a swarm that was resting in a tree so he could add them to his hive collection. No protective gear ether. Never got stung once when they are swarming. I think this hive is about ready to split. Been a hive in that wall for years, so it must be huge.

 

[sb47]

I called a few bee keepers but the cheapest I found wanted $600 to remove it. I'm gonna let my friend have a go at it if he wants them before I remove them myself.

 

[Stonesforbrains]

Oldie across the road from me asked to help him with an old dog house that had yellow jackets in it. It was pretty close to his front door. Things would attack him if he got too close going out the front. He had been leaving out the back for about a year or more before he mentioned the problem to me. I said let’s have a look get some wasp spray and see if we can move it the doghouse away from the front door. I went over at 11 at night with a flash light and holy moley that doghouse had at least four our five years of nest build up in it. I asked him about it and he said well yeah the dogs been gone five years and we never got another one. I told him to ask around and see if there was a guy he could get to come look at it at least and give him a quote. I left for a job for six months and when I got back I asked him about it. He said he got a number but didn’t call the guy cause it was winter. I told him I’d pay for the guy to come out cause I didn’t want him or his wife to get tore up by the yellow jackets while I was out of town working again. They don’t have any kin close. He called the guy and he came out and he told them to shut the doors to the house and he’d take care of it. The guy drug the doghouse out and my neighbor said it looked like black smoke all around the guy. Guy just stood in the yard for like 30 minutes or so. Then the guy walked to his truck and came back with a little pot and put some poison on the doghouse and then left. Neighbors thought he had to go to the hospital but that wasn’t the case he just pulled his truck down the hill and waited an hour. He came back up and knocked on the door and said yeah you’re gonna have some stragglers but I got ‘em. My neighbor said what do I owe you? Man said let me write out a receipt so I can turn it in as a business expense for my business and the regulator so I can keep getting the poison. My neighbor said you didn’t tell me what I owe you, man said nothing but a glass of water. He has a exterminator license and he takes care of mostly old people who don’t have money to take care of their wasp, bee, yellow jacket problem. My neighbor said the guy had a regular 9 to 5 and did the exterminator thing just for helping people and fun. Neighbor said he wouldn’t take any money but while he was checking the old doghouse to see how the jackets were doing my neighbor put a $100 bill in his truck console. I tried to give the $100 to my neighbor to make good on my offer and he said a bunch of bad words at me and said my money wasn’t any good. I worry about them now cause they aren’t doing so good. Memory issues, used to be just his wife but now I think he’s worse off than her.

 

[mudrat2]

I used to keep bees, and did many removals.

First thing, are they really honeybees? So many times I got calls for "bees" and they turned out to be hornets, wasps, you name it.

If they are honeybees and they have been in the wall for more than 24 hours then there is comb in there. Removing the bees and not the comb and you will just have more swarms move in in the future. Guaranteed.

I would open the wall, remove the bees, then scrape all comb off the wall and paint with spray shellac. The shellac seals in the smell of the wax that attracts other bees. Then make sure to seal ALL holes. They only need an opening about 1/4" diameter to get into the wall and they will enlarge it to what they want.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

There's a reason removals are expensive, and that is because of the extent of the work involved in making sure all of the comb is removed.

Like mudrat2 stated, you'll only get future swarms move in if you hit them with an insecticide of some sort, and the remaining honey and comb leave ample food for other insects to move in.

 

[pdqdl]

I have a honey bee hive in the wall of my house and would like to know how to get rid of them.
I was thinking about setting up my shop vac at the entrance at night then during the day when they are active I can turn it on and suck them up. If I beat on the inside wall they will come out of the hive in huge number giving me a good chance of getting a lot of them. Once I get there numbers down I can knock a hole in the wall and toss in some bug bombs and maybe get the rest. Any other ideas?
I just got hammered when I got to close mowing the yard.

Previous remarks about calling a bee hive removal specialist are well advised, but you should make sure that they are a bee keeper, not just a hive remover. The best reason to call a specialist is because you are far enough south (Texas) that you might have africanized bees. Those guys are rather unfriendly, but are actually excellent bees. An expert will save the hive, kill the queen, reintroduce a new queen with better manners, and the hive will remain viable and friendly.

2nd reason: A beekeeper wants to keep as many bees as possible, and will probably be less destructive to your structure.

3rd reason: They have the right equipment to avoid getting stung.

4th, and maybe the best reason: there are usually plenty of beekeepers willing to come harvest your hive for FREE. You see, those hives have value, and depending on the difficulty in recovering the hive, many will do it just for the value of the hive.

At least in my area they will. If I was closer, I'd come down and do it just to replace the hive I lost. Craig's list has plenty of beekeepers advertising for those swarms, so you might try that.

Now as to cleaning up the mess, removing all the wax, etc... You had best do that yourself after they are gone.

 

[pdqdl]

In the spring, hives relocate.

Make that late spring. They don't swarm until they have a local ecology that is robust enough to support a new hive with lots of food. I believe it's a bit early for swarming, even in Texas.

 

[Bill G]

Make that late spring. They don't swarm until they have a local ecology that is robust enough to support a new hive with lots of food. I believe it's a bit early for that, even in Texas.

They come out when the temp is correct. If there is no food they go looking. If there is no food and they go looking that problems start. Ask any cattlemen feeding corn near hives in a warm spring before plants develop.

 

[pdqdl]

I'm not talking about "coming out" Bill. The topic of the thread is hive removal, with references to harvesting swarms.

 

[sb47]

Previous remarks about calling a bee hive removal specialist are well advised, but you should make sure that they are a bee keeper, not just a hive remover. The best reason to call a specialist is because you are far enough south (Texas) that you might have africanized bees. Those guys are rather unfriendly, but are actually excellent bees. An expert will save the hive, kill the queen, reintroduce a new queen with better manners, and the hive will remain viable and friendly.

2nd reason: A beekeeper wants to keep as many bees as possible, and will probably be less destructive to your structure.

3rd reason: They have the right equipment to avoid getting stung.

4th, and maybe the best reason: there are usually plenty of beekeepers willing to come harvest your hive for FREE. You see, those hives have value, and depending on the difficulty in recovering the hive, many will do it just for the value of the hive.

At least in my area they will. If I was closer, I'd come down and do it just to replace the hive I lost. Craig's list has plenty of beekeepers advertising for those swarms, so you might try that.

Now as to cleaning up the mess, removing all the wax, etc... You had best do that yourself after they are gone.

One of my racing buddy's and his wife have hives and all the equipment so I'm gonna give them the first shot at taking them. If they decide they don't wanna mess with it, then I will try to find someone that wants to save them. I will leave my destructive remedy as a last resort.
They do seem a bit more aggressive then bee's I have dealt with in the past. I wasn't that close when they attacked me on the mower and they followed me quite a ways before I got out of range.
The siding on his old house needs replacing anyways, and I tried for years to get him to let me fix it but he was a stubborn old fart and never let me help him.

 

[sb47]

Oldie across the road from me asked to help him with an old dog house that had yellow jackets in it. It was pretty close to his front door. Things would attack him if he got too close going out the front. He had been leaving out the back for about a year or more before he mentioned the problem to me. I said let’s have a look get some wasp spray and see if we can move it the doghouse away from the front door. I went over at 11 at night with a flash light and holy moley that doghouse had at least four our five years of nest build up in it. I asked him about it and he said well yeah the dogs been gone five years and we never got another one. I told him to ask around and see if there was a guy he could get to come look at it at least and give him a quote. I left for a job for six months and when I got back I asked him about it. He said he got a number but didn’t call the guy cause it was winter. I told him I’d pay for the guy to come out cause I didn’t want him or his wife to get tore up by the yellow jackets while I was out of town working again. They don’t have any kin close. He called the guy and he came out and he told them to shut the doors to the house and he’d take care of it. The guy drug the doghouse out and my neighbor said it looked like black smoke all around the guy. Guy just stood in the yard for like 30 minutes or so. Then the guy walked to his truck and came back with a little pot and put some poison on the doghouse and then left. Neighbors thought he had to go to the hospital but that wasn’t the case he just pulled his truck down the hill and waited an hour. He came back up and knocked on the door and said yeah you’re gonna have some stragglers but I got ‘em. My neighbor said what do I owe you? Man said let me write out a receipt so I can turn it in as a business expense for my business and the regulator so I can keep getting the poison. My neighbor said you didn’t tell me what I owe you, man said nothing but a glass of water. He has a exterminator license and he takes care of mostly old people who don’t have money to take care of their wasp, bee, yellow jacket problem. My neighbor said the guy had a regular 9 to 5 and did the exterminator thing just for helping people and fun. Neighbor said he wouldn’t take any money but while he was checking the old doghouse to see how the jackets were doing my neighbor put a $100 bill in his truck console. I tried to give the $100 to my neighbor to make good on my offer and he said a bunch of bad words at me and said my money wasn’t any good. I worry about them now cause they aren’t doing so good. Memory issues, used to be just his wife but now I think he’s worse off than her.

Great story. I would have done it myself. First I would have waited till it was a cold day and drug the dog house to an open area and doused it with diesel and touched it while I sat in my truck with the windows up and enjoyed the show. DIE you phuckers.

 

[sb47]

A couple hours before dark I went inside the house and beat on the wall where the hive is and carefully walked around the outside where the entrance is and there were thousands of them flying around. The hive must be huge. I know it has been there for at least 5 or more years. I have never had any issues with them getting aggressive until this year. I was getting buzzed from 50+ feet away after I stured them up. I have seen reports on the local news of African bee's being in this area for quite some time. I will be sure to take pics when I get it removed. I just hope they haven't gotten into the insulation under the floor. I didn't mention that it is a mobile home. If they are under the floor, that's gonna make removing them much harder. To late in the spring for a cold spell to keep them non active. Was 81F today so plenty worm for them to be highly active and mobile. Definitely gonna need a bee suit.

 

[sb47]

Make that late spring. They don't swarm until they have a local ecology that is robust enough to support a new hive with lots of food. I believe it's a bit early for swarming, even in Texas.

I'm in south east Texas and there is plenty of stuff blooming to feed an army of bee's.