[Market-farming] Honey Bees in house
Leigh Hauter
bullrunfarm at hughes.net
Tue Sep 4 23:32:20 EDT 2007
Of course I haven't seen your house and maybe there are extenuating
circumstances (such as decaying siding or eave boards which could
give a hive dozens of entrances to inside the walls of your houses)
but I've removed close to a dozen hives from various houses and never
have had to go to such effort and expense as you seem to have to
remove your hive and its honey.
I suggest the next time you have a hive move in and begin to use that
rotted out hole in your eave board as an entrance you pick up a
beginners beekeeping book and do a little reading to begin to
understand what exactly is involved in removing a beehive from your
house.
Understanding some of the sociology of a honeybee hive (your e-mail
states a couple of things about honey bees and what to expect form
them that are simply not true) is probably something that every
vegetable grower should know anyway since we all are so dependent on
pollinators for most of our vegetables and livelihood.
>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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