Author Topic: Big problem with bees  (Read 898 times)

Bananimal

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Big problem with bees
« on: May 16, 2023, 02:48:01 PM »
Went to use the Weber kettle BBQ and discovered a huge hive of bees taking up 80% of the space between grill and cover.

Any ideas on how to deal with it????

Dan
Dan

K-Rimes

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2023, 02:54:35 PM »
Find a local apiarist who will come and scoop them up for you. If this were in my area I'd be seeing you shortly! It should cost you nothing for removal, as a beekeeper it is really nice to get a free swarm!

spaugh

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2023, 03:33:17 PM »
I would take them if you lived nearby. 

If you open it up, they should leave and find a new home after consuming the honey.
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2023, 04:17:22 PM »
Are they actually honey bees? Or yellow jackets or wasps?

K-Rimes

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2023, 04:54:06 PM »
Are they actually honey bees? Or yellow jackets or wasps?

Yellow jackets / wasps usually have underground or paper nests and don't swarm like honeybees.

This sounds like a classic honeybee swarm which is how they reproduce. When a hive outgrows its space it creates queen cups which the queen lays eggs in and the workers tend to them as the current queen thins up and eventually flys off with 30-70% of the hive. They land somewhere (like this bbq) and start setting up a new hive. The old hive will hatch the new queens and they will battle to the death with the winner going off to mate with drones. She then returns to the old hive (as a new queen) and the process starts all over again.

A beekeeper will scoop up this swarm in the bbq and dump it into a hive and voila, new colony, more honey!

palmcity

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2023, 05:11:43 PM »
Previously mentioned bee keeper removal = low kill of workers. But queen will grow more worker bees rapidly to replace what is lost when relocated.

No kill & Getting them to leave without beekeeper: 1. Set sprinkler to stay on dropping water on bee colony and open grill. They will leave fast if no hive with babies and just landed and starting to build. May take a few days to 2 weeks if hive has significant comb with babies.

Almost Total Kill::: 1.... Use 4 oz. kitchen soap to a gallon of water and spray onto colony during the night. This is a slow kill taking over an hour and they will sting while slowly passing away. (They will also come at you if holding a flashlight & a few stings)
2. Almost Any pesticide spray applied during the night when all bees are in the hive.
Many people have told me the common flee house canisters when placed upwind will blow over the colony & kill most (similar to the mosquito fogger truck getting too close to a beehive) and a repeat in a week will usually almost wipe it out of living bees.


John B

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2023, 05:39:35 PM »
Previously mentioned bee keeper removal = low kill of workers. But queen will grow more worker bees rapidly to replace what is lost when relocated.

No kill & Getting them to leave without beekeeper: 1. Set sprinkler to stay on dropping water on bee colony and open grill. They will leave fast if no hive with babies and just landed and starting to build. May take a few days to 2 weeks if hive has significant comb with babies.

Almost Total Kill::: 1.... Use 4 oz. kitchen soap to a gallon of water and spray onto colony during the night. This is a slow kill taking over an hour and they will sting while slowly passing away. (They will also come at you if holding a flashlight & a few stings)
2. Almost Any pesticide spray applied during the night when all bees are in the hive.
Many people have told me the common flee house canisters when placed upwind will blow over the colony & kill most (similar to the mosquito fogger truck getting too close to a beehive) and a repeat in a week will usually almost wipe it out of living bees.

Why would you kill the bees?! Plus, now he's going to have a bunch of pesticide in his barbecue. 🤔

palmtreeluke

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2023, 08:38:39 PM »
Its a good time to take up bee keeping. Its a established hive if there is combs and if they have been there a while. Buy a bee suit and smoker and watch some youtube videos on how to relocate them into a hive.  Thats how I got into it when a swarm build a giant open air bee colony in one of my mango trees.

Call a local beekeeper otherwise to remove the hive and prepare to pay a couple hundred dollars for removal.  I did bee removals for a few years and its hard work and stopped doing it cause everyone expected you to work for free. Plus i got around 50 hives at one point which was more than I needed.
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StelaG

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2023, 10:33:09 AM »
We had a swarm land on our potted longan Tree yesterday.  We tried to capture it but the queen flew away and the rest of the bees soon followed her.  Swarms usually make pit stops in search of their new homes, they normally move on within a day or two.


Carbo

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2023, 11:14:48 AM »
Hive removals are definitely not free.  I had a small hive on the side of my house a few years ago.  Quotes to have it removed were between $300-$500.

Nick C

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2023, 11:16:57 AM »
My only hive swarmed a little over two weeks ago and ended up in a cypress tree 20 ft up. They eventually disappeared but found them at eye level two days later in a pear tree. Just cut off the branch and shook them into a new frame.






Bush2Beach

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2023, 01:36:54 PM »
You called the exterminator instead of the local bee keepers?
There is always a bee keeper very excited to come collect the swarm to a new hive. That is free honey/money in the bank, for some easy work.


Hive removals are definitely not free.  I had a small hive on the side of my house a few years ago.  Quotes to have it removed were between $300-$500.

Bush2Beach

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2023, 01:41:45 PM »
To bee clear. Killing a hive of honeybee's , at this point, as a fruit farmer, is asinine.

Is there any other move that can show you are completely out of touch with what is happening with the main food crop pollinators in 2023?
Fuuuuuuccccckkkkkk!

Nick C

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #13 on: May 24, 2023, 01:43:27 PM »
To bee clear. Killing a hive of honeybee's , at this point, as a fruit farmer, is asinine.

Is there any other move that can show you are completely out of touch with what is happening with the main food crop pollinators in 2023?
Fuuuuuuccccckkkkkk!

Facts. Fruit farmer or not.

bussone

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #14 on: May 24, 2023, 03:02:31 PM »
Went to use the Weber kettle BBQ and discovered a huge hive of bees taking up 80% of the space between grill and cover.

Any ideas on how to deal with it????

Dan

Weber has a solid warranty.  ;D

bussone

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #15 on: May 24, 2023, 03:03:17 PM »
Are they actually honey bees? Or yellow jackets or wasps?

He's not dead, so it wasn't yellowjackets.

bussone

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2023, 03:10:38 PM »
To bee clear. Killing a hive of honeybee's , at this point, as a fruit farmer, is asinine.

Is there any other move that can show you are completely out of touch with what is happening with the main food crop pollinators in 2023?
Fuuuuuuccccckkkkkk!

It kind of depends on what you grow. Honeybees are not native to North America; no native fruit species requires honeybees for pollination. A fair number use honeybees commercially, but if they need bees at all, bumbles and ground bees can handle it.

This includes rue, interestingly. Zanthoxylum is native to North America.

Pawpaws are beetle-and-fly pollinated, I think.

Greater Good

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2023, 03:25:14 PM »
Went to use the Weber kettle BBQ and discovered a huge hive of bees taking up 80% of the space between grill and cover.

Any ideas on how to deal with it????

Dan

Bring the grill to the mango men in Homestead, they are bee keepers. I bet you leave with some amazing mangoes

Bush2Beach

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #18 on: May 26, 2023, 01:00:32 PM »
I see where your going , and yah, but taking a devils advocate position on honeybees right now? C'mon.
No native fruit tree's require them?  really great argument. what percentage of your fruit plants are native?
Bumblebee's ......fuck it this is a ludicrous reasoning to engage. good luck killing all the bee's for no reason.

There is just a lot of great reasons to have them around , and zero reasons to kill them that are rational.
The world is full of senseless killing. Let's just make friends with the bee's and not search for a dumb reason to exterminate something else that doesn't fit a narrow scope of understanding.


To bee clear. Killing a hive of honeybee's , at this point, as a fruit farmer, is asinine.

Is there any other move that can show you are completely out of touch with what is happening with the main food crop pollinators in 2023?
Fuuuuuuccccckkkkkk!

It kind of depends on what you grow. Honeybees are not native to North America; no native fruit species requires honeybees for pollination. A fair number use honeybees commercially, but if they need bees at all, bumbles and ground bees can handle it.

This includes rue, interestingly. Zanthoxylum is native to North America.

Pawpaws are beetle-and-fly pollinated, I think.

pagnr

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Re: Big problem with bees
« Reply #19 on: May 26, 2023, 04:00:52 PM »
Went to use the Weber kettle BBQ and discovered a huge hive of bees taking up 80% of the space between grill and cover.

Any ideas on how to deal with it????

Dan

Weber has a solid warranty.  ;D


I think you could sell that " retired bbq / bee hive " to some Vegetarians.
As a vegetarian myself, I find it amusing.