Does anyone know what to do with bees when they have moved into something in your backyard? We have steps to get on the trampoline and the bees have three honeycombs set up in them. What to do?
I'd call a beekeeper to see if they want to come and get the honeycombs. It'd be too bad to just destroy them.
Are they bees, or are they yellow jackets? Yellow jackets have the yellow and black striping of bees but the body of a wasp. Just this past weekend we discovered an extensive nest in our basement. They had entered in a small crack in the outside siding then built a nest in the insulation. What a mess! We used Raid wasp spray, long clothing, and a vacuum to take care of them, with only two stings (both on me, unfortunately...). We're in the area that has had a drought this summer, and according to what I've read, the yellow jackets have been very prevalent and vicious this year.
I looked up pictures on the internet and the are honey bees. I called a pest control place but, they wanted $70. to come out. My husband will take them out into the pasture when he gets home. It is starting to get cold and they will freeze soon. Just want them away from where the kids play. Well we are doing a new unplanned study on bees. How fun it is to homeschool.
No, don't call a pest control place. See if you can find a BEE KEEPER. They will be glad to get new honeycombs. They will probably take if for free, just to have the combs.
Wait until it's pretty chilly out, then take the nest out with a broom. I know that wasps are really sluggish when it's cold out, and I imagine that bees are the same. If you hit them when it's cold, they wont be able to sting you, I'm not even sure they can fly when it's cold. We get lots of wasps nests around here (we live in the woods) and usually wait until a cool evening to knock them out, then we spray them with wasp killer and destroy the hive by stepping on it. good luck! elissa
We have many ground bee nests in our neighborhood. We found one in our yard and had to cover the hole with a brick. We always have many bees nests around our area and the state in general. We put out homemade bee traps in our yard so at least if we can't get rid of the nests that aren't in our yard, we can control the population around us. You cut the top of a water bottle off (like Avian or Dasani) or a soda bottle (right where to big part starts to slope up), turn it upside down into the bottom portion. Fill it about 1-1 1/2 inches full of Moutain Dew or juice (I have found that grape flavored Juicy Juice works the best). Put them out where bees like to fly (flowers, bushes, water). The bees fly in and they trap them inside. If you are a little confussed by my verbal illustrations I can try to re-explain them.
No fear Jackie I'm not going to call the pest control place. We already took off the combs to show the kids. The bees weren't even going back to the combs after we lifted the lid. So that is why I went out to get the combs to show the kids. The bees are just covered in the step area and I don't know if they are rebuilding a new comb or just what they are doing. I look at them through my binoculars and can't tell what is going on. But like I said dh will take it out to the pasture and let them do their thing.
The bee keeper came and got the bees. Thanks Jackie for telling me about that. All is well and they have a new home.
Good! I'm all for destroying hornets and wasps, but honey bees I'd rather see relocated. Glad it worked out for you!
I feel the same about honey bees. I don't even squash them when I see them because they don't seem too harmful to humans and don't get aggrivated easily. As far as others go though, kill'em all! The rest are all mean!
We used to keep bees....and nary a summer went by that my bare feet didn't meet a stinger :lol:. Honeybees are just as aggressive as any other bee and they swarm just the same, too. I was soooooo glad when dad decided to start BUYING honey instead of harvesting it! We had a swarm in our front yard about 20 feet from our door this summer. I called the city forester (new town and I didn't know anyone else to call). They told me that all they do is go buy wasp and hornet killer so that is what we had to do (I have a daughter that reacts to a multitude of things by swelling in her throat and we didn't want to risk it). Anyway, over the course of two days we killed them all.....then the day after that someone had an ad in the paper that they would come and collect honey bees from people's yards....grrrrrr.
