Sometime over the past few months or years, our house in California had become a haven for honeybees. They found a tiny hole in the flashing of the roof, and set up shop inside a wall, just below the ceiling of the living room. They managed to find a small crack inside, so once a day or so one would find its way into the house, which was obviously a problem for the tenants.
I got one ridiculous quote of nineteen hundred bucks (this included opening the wall, removing the bees, and restuccoing) to remove them, but I got separate quotes for bee removal and stucco replacement, which got the cost down to six hundred or so total. Anyway, the bees were removed today, and through the magic of the Internet and my tenant’s videocamera, you can watch.
[Update a few minutes later]
Sorry, the video’s been taken down, at least temporarily. I think he wanted to reedit it. I’ll update if it gets uploaded again.
[Update about 8 PM Eastern]
OK, it’s back up and I’ve updated the links.
It sounded interesting but I got a “This video has been removed by owner” message when I tried to watch it. I’ve heard that you might be able to get a local beekeeper to locate the queen and get rid of the bees. I don’t know how that would work if they’re living in your walls.
Yes, there was a typo in it, so I’m guessing he wanted to redo it.
It was a beekeeper that did the job, but a wall repair guy will be along in a few days to patch it (hopefully after the straggler bees who were out at the time give up).
Hell, the Beekeeper WANTED those bee$$$$!!!!!
Yeah, I would have hoped that he’d take them for nothing, if not pay me for them, but that was the best bid I got.
So the big can of Raid didn’t work? Good to know, I also had bees getting into my eaves last year, but didn’t have time to follow up on them. It’s winter now and too cold to open up the roof line. Hopefully they won’t be there in the spring, but now I know what might be involved in clearing them out. Thanks!
Good to know, I also had bees getting into my eaves last year
Be sure and clean them out soon. If you just kill the bees, the honey and comb rots and attracts vermin of various unsavory natures.
Don’t kill feral bees — they’re too important! Many beekeepers will collect wild bees for free; bees are livestock, after all, and they have considerable economic value, both as pollinators and for their produce.
Shouldn’t the closing frame read “Bon Appetit”?
Yes, but don’t tell him. He’ll pull it and reedit again.
We had a similar problem with a variety of wasp called Cricket Hunters. Fortunately, they’re not terribly prone to stinging humans, but a pest nonetheless.
On discovering the crack in the wall they were coming in through, I watched dozens of them flying in with paralyzed crickets in their grasp. It was creepy to think of all those egg-laden, imobile crickets stored away to feed hatchlings; a positively Alienesque scene in miniature lay within the layers of that wall.
As a kid I had a wooden fort in our backyard that my Mom built. Of course, as I grew older it was used less and less and eventually it gave way to rot and abuse. One day, my Mom and I went out there and thought we’d just push over the remnants and pick up the timber because it was in a rather flimsy condition.
So, we pushed and pushed and it teetered and wobbled back and forth. Just as we started to hear the wood crack and the nails loosening their grip a swarm of huge black hornets came out from underneath and enveloped us. I was stung about 5 times. All up and down the arms as I was trying to swat them away. The worst turned into a whelp about the size of a softball on my abdomen.
Ever since then I’ve had a mild allergic reaction to wasp/hornet stings. A large area around the sting becomes hot and inflamed and I break out in hives. I’ve probably been stung about 4 different times that I can recall. I guess it is one of the dangers faced as a kid growing up in Texas. Figuring that the allergic reaction could grow deadly as I grow older I absolutely freak out if I spot a wasp.
We used to have a lot of honey bees around. It was before African bees were here, so I did not worry about them. The only person stung was my younger daughter who ignored our repeated admonitions not to try to pick them up.
It never occurred to me they might be living in the walls of our house, but they were. Then one day they swarmed—in our living room. Then we called a bee keeper to come get them. He needed a shop vac to suck them up. Ironically, that’s what led to the only insect sting of the day. I went to my neighbors to borrow their shop vac and was stung by yellow jackets living under their eaves. The bees didn’t sting anybody.
As a beekeeper, I am glad that you elected to have the honeybees removed by a beekeeper rather than using insecticide. Even though they sometimes set up shop where we don’t want them, they are a very important part of our ecology and food chain.
In many cases a beekeeper can re-move the bees by installing a one-way exit (a cone-shaped mesh screen) in the entryway to the hive. Then another hive with comb is placed nearby (1 to 2 ft on a temp platform). Returning bees can’t get in the usual way, but find another “home” nearby which is “good enough”. Soon virtually all the bees have relocated to the new hive and can be removed from the site.
Then the homeowner can do what is needed in terms of clean-up in a much more peaceful and reassured fashion, and the bees get a more suitable place to live with the beekeeper. Everybody wins! I’m glad this worked out for you.
I once had bees coming in and out of a crack in the wall of my little office building. I didn’t mind them until one day when I was walking by one stung me near the eye which swelled up so bad I had cancel my wedding anniversary night on the town. I thought someone would be glad to take them for free but the quote was about $1000 so one evening I emptied a can of flying insect spray into the crack and quickly sealed it. I’m sorry, I often pick up insects and carry them outside instead of squash them, but when they cause me physical and financial harm it’s me against them and they will have to go.
“Hell, the Beekeeper WANTED those bee$$$$!!!!!”
Well he certainly couldn’t give them away. Then he wouldn’t be a beeKEEPER.
I recommend you not use a ShopVac to try to remove the bees. Our neighbors tried this two years ago and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
We’ve had bees in our north wall twice. We’re not supposed to kill honeybees here, so the exterminator had to open the wall, find and kill the queen(s), and leave the wall open for a few days waiting for the rest of the hive to leave.
Then we patch everything up and hope they don’t find another hole. . .
Poor Josh, with a puppy the size of a softball stuck on his abdomen.
Preventive maintenance: Anyone that has a tempting place for a hive — say an open covered shed, for instance — can distribute moth balls around the location in late winter/early spring. The critters will likely set up shop elsewhere and everyone will happy.
I helped my mom demolish an old wooden shed last year. All was well until we hammered through some plywood and found two nests of giant cicada-killer wasps who were not at all happy with us. My mom is truly terrified of bees and such, so this did not go over well. Many flew away once the nests were destroyed, but we had to spray some angry stragglers. I felt bad about that, especially after reading later that they’re generally pretty docile toward humans. They’re very impressive insects.
I’m thrilled to see that you have enough honeybees to be a problem. In my part of the country they are virtually extinct.
A lot of hornet infestations get blamed on bees, since at a sane distance they look a lot alike. Some types of hornet are almost as “mellow” as bees, but since they do not make honey, I don’t have as much empathy. Typical human.
I have an old brick house that’s had bees living in the kitchen wall for decades. There’s no way to get rid of them; they just find another crack to slip through if I plug their main entry/exit. And they do no harm to me and my house. They do not attract vermin. I keep my kitchen well caulked and they’ve never swarmed inside. They’re are not at all aggressive.
Leaving them there really wasn’t an option. They were causing problems outside the house as well as inside. There were dead bees in the driveway and on the patio, and the tenant got stung on the foot while barbecuing within the last week.
Hey! That’s good stuff!
Toss the comb into a big pot of water and heat it until the wax melts. Ladle the wax into another container and let it solidify. Voila! Potential candles & such!
Ahe bee parts and honey will stay in the water. The little bit of wax you can’t ladle off will solidify when the water cools and you can just pick it off.
You might have to do the wash step twice to get it clean.
We removed a hive from a tree in 1988 and got 2 of the big Folgers 3lb coffee cans full of wax out of it. I’ve still got about half of the stuff.
Charlie
One warning. We had a similar problem several years ago and after the bees were removed other beasties arrived to get the honey from the empty hive. Rats and squirrels in the attic were just as tough to eliminate, and the rats particularly would chew through anything (drywall, wood) to gain access.
Good video, but I didn’t see a lot of insulation in that wall.
I bet the neighbors were thrilled when that swarm of bees came boiling out. Any comments from the neighbors about stings, etc?
I didn’t see a lot of insulation in that wall.
It’s southern California, near the beach. You don’t need much.
“tjingiru wampa Says:
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 am
Poor Josh, with a puppy the size of a softball stuck on his abdomen.”
LoL, that thing was a screamin’ mad puppy!!
Funny how words form and transform in the brain, welt, whelp..same thing…I blame phonetics.
Here in Texas it is usually the fire ant hives that get into the walls.
I had one hive along the kitchen that formed perfect little marching troop lines for raids into the pantry. Turns out they were really subsisting on the garbage that I store along the side of the house. I don’t have an alley so I have to haul the garbage out to the street curb every week. I keep it locked up behind the backyard fence to keep strays away from it. I had to put several bait traps around the garbage. They have the faux food poison that gets taken back to the hive and fed to the queen. That did the trick to kill those f’n bastards.
I got stung by a bee once when I was a child. Ever since that day I cannot leave the house without harboring intense and palpable anger . I have ended so many relationships in my life because of my hatred of bees. I met a wonderful woman who I planned to marry and breed with, but I had to end it when I found out that she did not hate bees as much as I do. The irony is that while I hate bees with all of my soul, I love honey.
We had “boring” bees set up shop in a rental duplex where I lived in Tennessee. I don’t think either of us who rented ever got stung, but what a drag to have to dodge the dive-bombers coming in the front door after a hard day’s work. It’s illegal to kill bees since they’re on the endangered species list, so our landlady called to get quotes for getting them removed. I believe it was upward of $2K also. She ended up just sealing all the entrances into their hive and leaving them in the walls once she found out there was no honey involved. (Still killed them, though, I guess). Glad that’s done I must say.