Very OT: Bees

"Mavia Beaulieu" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Mr. Smeltzer in the valley produces the best honey IMO. I know it is sold at Hennigars outside Wolfville, bet they could tell you how to contact him. He might be interested in coming and taking your bees away, I believe at certain times they can be virtually 'gathered up'. Might be worth a trip, at least he is an expert who is not going to say 'kill them' straight off the bat.

Many years ago, we had a swarm of bees relocate their family into a tree in our back yard. Since we had two dogs, we had to get rid of them. DH looked in the phone book, and found a beekeeper, who came and found the queen, and then took most of the hive with him.

The few remaining bees soon left.

I don`t blame you, Mavia. Get an expert in to deal with them!

Last week I heard a yell from John, who, whilst sitting on the loo , felt something land on his head with quite a thump. He brushed it off and was, in fact, very lucky - as it was a humungous hornet. Naturally I had a frantic search for the flyspray, and switched off all the lights but the one in the loo - sprayed like crazy through the crack in the door and waited for ten minutes. Said hornet had obligingly thrown itself into the toilet.

Man, it was BIG! There`s no mistaking the sound of the buzzing of a hornet, is there?

Pat

Mavia, I've had both honey bees and bumble bees. Bumble bees normally are the ones that make ground holes. Usually there hives are very small in number, and next spring they don't return to the same spot, although the queen overwinters underground.

I had a bee keeper tend to both problems. For the bumble bees (which I stepped on and he got my toe), he merely sprayed with wasp spray directly into the nest at evening.

For the honeybees, he captured the queen and took the hive with him.

My suggestion: get a bee keeper. If not in your yellow pages, call your county extension agent.

Dianne

I agree - bee keepers are usually delighted to find more bees for their collection.

They might be a bit more wary now though, with that mite that seems to be invading hives anf killing off the bees. I don`t know if that problem has reached America, though?

Pat

Thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions. I took the advice and called our local museum and spoke to the entomologists on staff there. From my description she felt what we have are bumble bees and not honey bees. She didn't think a bee keeper would be interested in them.

She did give me some information about them. They would be dormant in a couple more weeks and not be a problem any more this year. We probably wouldn't have an increase in numbers next year but chances are they will be back again.

We have the choice of either getting rid of them now or waiting to see what happens in the spring. I have been reluctant to exterminate them because they are beneficial in nature. They are finished collecting pollen for this year and most of them will die off over winter, except the queen. So I guess it would be in our best interest to get rid of them now and seal up the crack in the foundation. Hopefully then the problem won't reoccur next year.

She also said I would probably have a hard time finding an exterminator to do the job as they considered them a beneficial insect not a pest. Normally we would do it ourselves anyway with a wasp bomb. She suggested doing it at night and using a red filter over any light as apparently they can't see red light.

I'll let you know what we decide to do and how it works out!

Mavia

Sealing the crack in the foundation is a good idea in any case.

Bumblebees are beneficial and are usually not as aggressive (or as speedy) as wasps and hornets. If you (or a near neighbor) have lots of flowers to keep them happy, it wouldn't hurt to leave them alone. Just mark the location of the nest and make certain no one stomps on it or runs a lawn mower directly over it.

"Mavia Beaulieu" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

If you're going to do that, do it after sunset. I always did that with wasp nests. That way, you get all of them.

As gardener, please spare the bumble bees. They are just wonderful in the garden and on a cool morning, you can gently pet them!

Cheryl

Try telling that to DH who had one go up his pant leg! LOL I know exactly what you mean Cheryl, they are quite docile in cool temperatures and only attack when they feel threatened.

Although I have no immediate plans to pet them, we've decided to let the bees stay where they are for now and just give them a wide berth. If they don't enlarge their territory and become a nuisance/hazard in future we will learn to live together! :)

Mavia

One more input: We had some honey bees form a hive under a "fake" rock in our backyard 2 years ago. We had a bee keeper out to remove the hive and bees. He stated that one had to be careful with bees and extermination. Apparently, if one simply exterminates the bees, ants will find the hive ( with the honey ), and move in. Once the honey is gone (in his example, the hive was in an attic), the ants will check out the pantry in the house! Also, if the hive is not removed, if a random bee finds it, "Whahoo, here's a condo already built for us!", and another set of bees will move in. I don't know how relevant this is to bumble bees, but I found it interesting to note.

Good luck with your bees.

Christina

OT from the OT ... coincidentally, in this morning's episode of Little House on the Prairie, the Ingalls kids sell a beehive to the Olesons, with the inevitable result to Harriet and Nellie.

I don't blame you, Mavia, for not wanting to pet them. I wouldn't, either.

Ah, but ants are easy to get rid of. My grandmother used to pour a bit of kerosene down the anthill. I'm partial to boiling water (more environmentally correct). And if you find them in the pantry, set out some boric acid powder (a couple bucks in the eye care aisle of the drugstore).

Ants are not at all always easy to get rid of. Our poor best friends have been infested for about 8 weeks now. They've had professionals out, sprayed in and out, cleaned out all the cupboards in the kitchen (it's bizarre - right now cereal boxes are in the dining room - in an ant-free zone), the professionals put ant traps out - seems they're everywhere. I think they're coming in a drain most recently. The family is going nuts trying to get rid of them. And yes, many home remedies have been tried - it's not a matter of lack of intelligence, or trash hanging around - but it's definitely a problem.

Growing up in South Florida - we alwayw, always, put anything like sugar, flour, open boxes of grain/sweet stuff inside tupperware, in the refrigerator. Because of the prevalence of bugs, ants, etc. It's only recently that I can keep baking staples in the pantry (of course, all are inside heavy plastic of some sort, or a glass container).

Ellice

I had a major problem with ants when I moved to this house in Florida. My exterminator finally got them under control by putting a "bomb" in my attic. They were most probably inside the walls and just putting traps around and everything else he could think of that would get rid of the ants but still allow me to live, was a lesson in futility. They would disappear from the pantry and show up in the bathroom. We would get them out of the master bath and they would show up in the guest bath.

They sure are smart little critters and they're a lot more than just a nuisance here in the warm, damp climate.

Lucille

I think our friends are going to have to do something like that. We had the house built with a "tubes" in the wall system. Our builder owns the company that patented that system. Anyhow - it's a really nice thing - we have the service, they come quarterly, and charge the tubes (there's a locked access box size of a light switch plate on the outside, on either side of the house). If we see anything in the meantime - they come on out at no charge and do whatever Neighbor had a huge wasp - and is nervous young mother with a 16 month old and 3 1/2 yr old - the company was out that day. Anyhow - we've told our friends to talk to our pest control folks - maybe they have a better solution.

Lucille, I can surely imagine the adjustment - I don't think my mother ever got used to it - being up north for so long, I've now had the reverse adjustment.

Ellice

Never tried the boric acid, but I know that Clorox scouring powder works like a charm!

Dianne

I'm trying very hard not to laugh!

I'm glad!

Cheryl

(who wishes she could take them)