# Help with a Huge Bee Hive PLEASE!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007 "2002-12-11T15:08:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/1 "2002-12-11T15:08:33Z")
Ok I live in New England and it is already starting off as a really cold winter. In my back yard there is a huge Bee Hive in a large Oak tree. It is roughly 15 inches in diameter and about 30 inches long … It’s VERY big. One of the biggest in a tree I have seen. Anyway, how do I get it out? I would love to put it in my classroom but I am not sure if there are bee’s in it. First Question: Where do the Bees who build large grey hives go in the winter? Could bees still be in this hive? It has been below zero for a while now and we have already had quite a bit of snow - I was hoping the snow would weight it down so I could cut it down but no luck. So what should I do? Just climb up there and take my chances? It would be a lot better if I knew for a fact there were no bees in it. or am I just completely insane and totally did not pay attention in bio class and there are certainly no bees in it as it is Winter!! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/2 "2002-12-11T15:21:22Z")
You call someone who does bees- a beeologist ?. try your local phone book. I wouldn’t do it myself. I once called the cops & asked them to do it & they said they don’t do bees 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/3 "2002-12-11T15:23:11Z")
Are you sure it’s not a wasp nest (yellowjackets)? - is it ovoid and papery? If it is a yellowjacket nest, it should be empty by the time the frosts are set in, although there may be to occasional new queen overwintering inside. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/4 "2002-12-11T15:43:29Z")
Find an expert, maybe at the local university. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/5 "2002-12-11T15:47:25Z")
The expert/ person in the 'phone book will be called an **apiarist**. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/6 "2002-12-11T15:56:18Z")
Here’s pictures: [Wasp nest](http://www.sover.net/~bcunning/wasp.jpg) [Bee hive](http://www.ci.las-vegas.nv.us/fire-rescue/593_689.htm) You can usually see the honeycomb if the nest is a beehive. If the nest is papery, you have wasps. Why do you want to get rid of the nest ? ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/7 "2002-12-11T16:30:14Z")
Yellowjackets live underground, not in high nests in trees. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/8 "2002-12-11T16:36:48Z")
Sounds like Paper Wasps. The wasps die in the winter, only a queen survives. She lives under a protected area (like a woodpile, a leaf pile, junk…etc) for the winter, and all the rest die. The hive is probably safe to take down yourself, even on the odd chance anything was alive they’d be slow with the cold and not able to sting. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/9 "2002-12-11T16:40:38Z")
,pooh\>MMmmmm…Hhhhoney!\ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/10 "2002-12-11T16:46:18Z")
You could take it down, and then put it in a large plastic grabage bag, and then set off a bug bomb/fogger thing in the bag with the nest. This way if there is anything alive in there it will not come out when it warms up or you bring the nest inside. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/11 "2002-12-11T16:46:34Z")
Definitely get a professional. They can take care of it in short order. My brother had a bee hive _in_ his house. He called a professional who came out with his protective gear. The guy dug in the nest till he found the queen and removed her (he actually kept her for his own use in starting a hive). Once the queen was gone the other bees skeedaddled. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/12 "2002-12-11T17:59:18Z")
**Mangetout** yeah it is ovoid and papery…so I guess I do have wasps…or had as it may be. **Squink** I don’t want to get rid of it, I want to bring it to my classroom and hang it on the wall. It would make a great decoration in my class, even though I primarily teach social sciences and not biology, I like and comfort in the classroom is what matters. I doubt there is anything in it, because I have not seen anything fly in or out of it for weeks. I just wanted to know if the bees were laying dorment and would suddenly wake up or thaw out. I know if you put a spider in the freezer for a couple hours then take it out, it will thaw and reanimate itself. I wasn’t sure if bees are the same. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/13 "2002-12-11T18:43:17Z")
[This](http://www.taxidermy.net/forums/HabitatArticles/02/0287BF2A9A.html) is probably what you want: > [@](#): > > If it is a paper wasp’s nest or a hornet’s nest, it is usually wise to await the first frost before collecting it. The nest may contain some live insects that may become active if the nest is brought indoors into a warm room…Not good! > Bag the nest, spray an ample amount of insecticide (The best I have found is the “Room and Pet Flea Spray” in the ugly purple can.) into the plastic bag, secure with ties and leave alone for 48 hours. That doesn’t guaranty killing any viable larvae in the nest, which may hatch in due time. Supposedly, freezing _will_ kill the larva. ---
**Author:** ![\_etalhea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/779978/32.png) [@\_etalhea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_etalhea)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-huge-bee-hive-please/142007/14 "2002-12-11T18:53:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BurnMeUp \* > \*\*Yellowjackets live underground, not in high nests in trees. \*\* I’m sorry, but that’s just totally incorrect. Yellow Jackets DO live underground, but they ALSO live in papery nests. My yard/house is infested with them in springtime. I have personally set and watched them “eat” wood off my deck and then fly over and make a nest out of it. They regularly build in my gas grill, which is a lot of fun. I turn the gas on, count to about 15 or 20, then toss in a match. Big explosion, lots of fire, grill lid flies back, lots of little dead yellow jackets! They’ve built all over my house, on kids toys, etc.