Homeowner Forum / Construction / June 2005

On Sat, 21 May 05, kzin wrote:

Unless you get the Queen out, they'll move right back in.
In fact, killing them won't work either. A month or two you'll find a
new hive with new bees, right where the old one was. I don't know how
they do that but believe me, they do. Over and over again.

I'd keep looking for a bee keeper. If paying an exorbitant sum is the
only way, pay it.  A bee keeper will find the Queen, put her in his
hive, all the other bees will follow her in, and then he drives away.
Sorta like a pied piper. Doing that is the only way I know to prevent
them from returning.

I had an exterminator kill a hive in a soffit (guaranteed they
wouldn't come back) but after three more trips to exterminate
rejuvenated hives over the next six months at his expense, he finally
gave up and flat told me he wasn't coming back (and no, he didn't give
me my money back).

I finally got rid of them permanently by letting a bee keeper come get
them.

Good luck
Rick

From the website referred to by Nehmo

WARNING: Honey bee removal from structures is not a job for a person who has
never worked around stinging insects or even a novice beekeeper. Sometimes,
this work is done while standing on a ladder with hundreds of angry bees
trying to protect their home. Bee removal can be unnerving to even the
experienced beekeeper and lead to accidents.

I would really suggest calling in a pro.

...

You ever seen the problems they make in a roof or wall cavity????

Agreed.  The implication is that the beehive is two stories in the air.
Just be careful when you hose down the honey dripping from the overhang if
you have the water pressure to do so.

Down here in South Texas we have so many killer bees, 6 people killed last
year, that now we just assume any bee is a killer bee. So, here is what most
of us do. If the hive is outside in a tree we get one of those spray bottles
that you attach to the end of a hose and fill it up with dish washing soap
and just before sundown, go out and give them a good soaking. The next
morning they will just about all be dead. If they are in a wall we go to
WalMart and get something like "Mosquito B Gone" (read the label and make
sure it says "toxic to bees, do not spray on flowers and crops that attract
bees". Put that on the end of the water hose and find a crack in the wall or
maybe where the bees go in. Again, just before sundown spray about half of
that bottle into the crack/s. Be very careful because this will make the
bees a bit unhappy with you, so you must have a quick exit route to a place
of safety.

Another thing we do if we know where they are going in at is to get a
tablespoon full of 80% Sevin dust and throw up into the entrance point. The
workers carry that to the queen and in about 3 days, the whole bunch are
dead or gone.

Everything, though, is done after the sun has gone down but still having
enough light to see what you are doing. The darker, the better.

There is no way an average citizen (I hate that term) can tell a killer bee
from a friendly bee. So, the first line of defense is, be extremely careful.