We live on the second story of an apartment building. Right next to our exposed stairway is a tree that many dozens of bees seem to find particularly enticing.
From what I can tell, their nest is not in the tree itself … the nest I’ve never seen, but it’s probably in some very-hard-to-reach eaves.
The presence of this many bees buzzing around in one place right where people have to walk is somewhat daunting – I am allergic to stings, as is my wife. We don’t want to find out about my two-year-old daughter’s sensitivity to stings.
Is there something specific we can do to eliminate these bees, or ask the apartment management to do? Anything we can hang up or spray in the area? Any tips or tricks? Getting them to move away on their own is as good as poisoning them with spray.
Are they really bees? Or are they yellowjackets, hornets, or some other type of wasps?
I ask because many people improperly label anything like that as a “bee.” In fact, the average person is probably more likely to identify a yellowjacket as a bee than they are a honeybee. However, the subject insects’ danger, and the means to control them, depend greatly on properly identifying them.
If you’re in a metropolitan area–and it sounds like you are–then check your yellow pages. I had a swarm of bees take up residence on my back porch where I used to live (San Francisco Bay area) and looked up “bee removal” in the yellow pages. A guy came out that afternoon and dealt with the problem.
However, if it’s not the tree their nest is in, it’s unlikely that you’ll get rid of the problem in the longrun unless the tree is cut down. Besides, it doesn’t sound like the bees are swarming, which are easily taken care of. The bees could be from a couple of different nests (Of course I know little about bees, so I don’t know if they’re territorial with food plants).
Bees will tend to flock towards plants that make copious nectar that they can easily get at. We have a tree mallow that the bees find particularly tasty and I can count twenty bees on it at once. They never seem to bother anyone though, but brushing up against it probably could cause one to sting.
If you can’t get someone to take care of it for you, can you use what bee-keepers use… smoke? Bees can’t handle smoke at all and will avoid it like crazy.
I second this. Bees are rapidly being wiped out by a mite, and if there is a hive, a professional beekeeper will relocate the hive to some place better for everyone. If they’re yellow jackets, wasps, etc. the insects are harvested so that anti-venom can be produced to help those folks who are allergic to stings.
Well, I don’t think killer bees have reached the fine state of Mississippi yet, so you’re fine there. Actually, if they are honeybees, you probably have nothing to worry about. Contrary to popular belief, honeybees aren’t that aggressive, and will leave you alone unless you do something really stupid. Stupid as in throwing rocks at the nest. But I understand if you’re worried about your daughter.
There are several questions I need answered before I can fully advise you. Most obviously, are they actually honeybees? See the picture linked below if you are unsure. Is it a swarm or do they have a nest? A swarm is a large mass of bees without a home. Swarms usually form when the bees outgrow their home and split into two groups. A swarm is easy to recognize because it will just be a mass of insects on a branch or something. Swarms are reasonably easy to deal with. Nests are a different animal, but generally still managable. It will depend on where the nest is though. What is your state’s policy towards wild bees? They may have laws requiring that wild hives be tested to see if they are africanized.
Call a professional. A professional can be someone from the phone book, or a local beekeeper. I’ll wager there are a lot of beekeepers in MS, and there may be one in your area. He’ll probably be happy to capture the bees, free of charge too. At least I never charge. After all, it’s free bees*! He will probably entice a swarm to take up residence in a nucleus hive. That’s basically a wooden box. It’s not as hard as it sounds, the bees are there because they don’t have a home after all. Sometimes a nest is just a mass of honey comb on a branch, and you can literally bag (or box) the entire hive for transport. Then again, maybe you won’t find anyone willing to do it, or the person you find will fail. If that happens, you should call the state. I am not familiar with the law by you, but If you call the state, they will probably just kill the bees. My guess is they would freeze them with CO2 or the like so they can test them later to see if they are africanized. They’re getting edgy about the spread of africanized bees down South.
Oh, if you look in the phone book, don’t just look for bee removal or extermination. If all you can find is an ad for something like a beekeeping supply store, I’m sure they’d be very happy to help you find a professional. The owner may even do it him or herself. Beekeepers are a funny breed like that.
That would be the verroa mite, varroa jacobsonii for you latin buffs. Actually this brings up a good point. They may want to kill the bees to prevent this mite from spreading to commercial stocks. That mite is hell to get rid of.
Although, I believe that the mite is more common in domestic bees than wild bees. If simply because the wild bees that get it are all dead.
Not true, the smoke smoke confuses the bees sense of smell. Bees communicate a lot through pheromones. For instance, they release a scent like banana oil to signal danger or attack. Never smell like bananas around bees! This confusion makes the bees more docile and beekeepers can handle them more easily. I’ve also heard that smoke makes the bees eat their own honey, and they gorge themselves into lethargy. I think that theory is a load of horse dump. Mainly because, and this is important, too much smoke can actually anger the bees and make them more likely to sting you. You can only confuse them and handle them so much before they get pissed off at you. It is then that you walk away.
Come on, think this through. If bees really avoided smoke, and you could use it to chase them away for good, why would beekeepers use it? To chase away their own bees?
I suspect there is a hive in that tree you can’t see (it could be in the trunk or a branch), or there is one nearby, perhaps under an eave, as you said.
I’d call the landlord and explain the situation. Let them call the beekeeper, which, incidentally, is the best way to deal with a bee problem.
If you are talking yellowjackets, we had one of these a couple of years ago that seemed to work really well. I don’t know if it would work on actual bees though.
