[Market-farming] Honey Bees in house

road's end farm organic101 at linkny.com
Tue Sep 4 23:02:01 EDT 2007


On Sep 4, 2007, at 9:43 PM, ktk2a wrote:

> My neighbor raises honey bees.  A month or so ago they swarmed and many
> (hundreds) came over to my place and gathered on a tree.  My neighbor
> rescued as many as he could.  The rest seem to have taken up nesting 
> under
> the shingles on my home. I have sprayed a couple of times to get rid of
> them, but they persist.  Does anyone know what kind of damage the 
> honey bees
> can do to my roof, and better yet, how to get rid of them for good?

I have had honey bees in the house. This is a serious problem, and, I 
hate to tell you this, but you'll have to take the shingles (and/or 
siding) off (or hire someone to do it) and get the hive cleared out and 
the space cleaned. You might be able to find a beekeeper to do this, or 
to work with a contractor to do it, and to rescue the bees; or you 
might only be able to find someone who will kill them in the process, 
which is a shame; but otherwise you're liable to wind up with large 
portions of your house turning into a beehive. The hive will smell and 
the moisture will damage the house; and the number of bees (which will 
steadily increase) will increase the chance of people getting stung; 
though this last will temporarily be worse while the hive is being 
removed as the bees will (understandably) not be in a good mood.

All traces of the hive have to be removed from inside the house; the 
area painted to remove the scent; and all holes that give access into 
the space have to be sealed up when the shingles are replaced. I would 
get the whole house gone over for holes big enough for a bee to get in 
and have them all caulked; any survivors might try to start up 
somewhere else in the house, if they can get in.

Make sure the people who do the job know what they're doing. If the 
hive only gets disturbed, and doesn't get entirely removed and all 
holes sealed up, it may swarm again, some of the bees can pick another 
spot in the same house to move into, and you can wind up with multiple 
hives in the house; that happened here. I tried to work with the wrong 
beekeeper and have a story much too long to type out tonight. The mess 
did eventually get cleaned up but it was a very stressful summer. 
Honeybees are fantastic and we need them badly -- but they are not 
compatible with house walls or roofs. At all.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale
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