To Bee or Not To Beez

[miguynmkoi]

   What's all the Buzz!?!  Have you dealt with a swarm of bees?  Well I experienced my first swarm and boys did I learn a lot real fast!

A few bees were flying around the porch overhang a couple of days before excitement broke out.  On Saturday when DH and I were arriving home from grocery shopping late morning we notice more bees flying near the garage door.  DH closed the door quickly.  We looked outside through the front windows. A growing swarm started to circle around the front yard, quickly growing into a black cloud!

Then almost like an arrow they flew straight to the under-eave of the porch and tried to pile on top of each other getting into a seam of the wood.  It happened so fast!  Bees were still flying around and hitting the window.

Now, I know that bees in general are disappearing everywhere so the quandary here is I don't want to kill these bees but I also don't want them living in my porch attic.  I found a local "bee-buster" to collect the bees.   Yay! I think.

The guy basically carefully vacuumed the bees with a very long wand (just like a regular vacuum wand except 5 lengths longer) into a collecting cylinder.  He took a stings on his leg - happens when you wear shorts!  .  A young but admired queen bee was sucked into the cylinder with most of its workers and drones.  See I learned a lot!.   

The guy says that these honey bees are hybridized with African bees.  He will quarantine these bees, remove the queen bee (ba-bye!) and replace her with an Italian queen weeding out the African strain.  This will make the bees less aggressive, killer bees! 

After a spray of chemicals, 15 minutes, and $150 we're almost bee free.  I feel like a wimp because I use to think raising a small honey beehive would be so cool for my garden.  Really?  Not for me.   

[Pondering]

OMG  glad you ok... that is amazing.  I know those honey bees can do alot of structural damage if they get in the walls of you house.

[Indiana Karen]

Bees are fascinating.  I bet that was an interesting day.  Really cool that they can replace the queen like that.

A couple years ago my mom had yellow jackets build a nest in her attic.  They were going in and out through the tiny morter crack between two bricks, where it meets up with the aluminum porch ceiling.  It took the bee man a long time to locate the nest in the insulation.  He came back at night to spray them (no honey with these guys) and put the nest in a trash bag, it was huge.....tens of thousands of bees.  They are aggressive and could have been a problem tragic if they had attacked Mom.

[Kittyzee]

Whoa, that's fascinating!  The killer bee thing scares me--I do admire and love to watch honey bees.  I've been stung a lot in my younger life by stepping on honey bees and watching the stinger pulse in my foot    I try to be more careful now however! 

I DO NOT like yellow jackets, trash can bees or hornets.  We actually have a couple of old hornet nests hanging in the cellar, they are HUGE! 

[tweetybaby2005]

You are not a wimp!    Lots of people are allergic to bee sting so you never know whether you will react to the sting or not.  It is better to be safe than sorry!  Plus you did a good job and had someone took the bees instead of killing them.    The picture just gave me the chills.  I don't like bees because I got stung when I was a little girl.  It was on my chin.  I was in the backyard and it came out of no where.  My dad was kinda concerned and he chewed some green leaves and put it on the swollen area.  That was all I could remember.  I see them flying in my backyard in the summer when I was out and about tending to the pond or the veggie garden but I stay clear from them.  When they were migrating and swamp around in my backyard, I just stay indoor until they were gone.  This happens yearly.

Glad everything turned out fine though and you did learn a lot!! 

Side note - Tomorrow we are approaching shorts wearing climate - forecast said high for tomorrow is in the mid 70s!   


Kuan

[Mikey]

I think Bee-Busters made out.  They get a new hive to make honey and your $150.   Seems to me they could have at least left you with a jar of honey.....    

Last year a bee swarm settled on a palm tree branch in the parkway in front of my neighbor's house.  Because it was on public property the City handled it.......but it took a couple of days before they got around to it....  I spoke with the city crew and they said they give bee swarms to a bee keeper who relocates them out in agricultural areas.

[Holldoll]

That picture freaks me out!  I think it was well worth the $150 they could have done a lot more damage in your walls.  That's pretty cool they can just remove the queen.  How big was she?