Ahh! Bees!

I wonder how long it has been there but I just noticed today that one of my neighbor has a bees nest on his house. It's right under the eves on the front of the house over the garage and bedrooms about 20-30' off the ground.

They know about it but they haven't done anything with it yet.

I've looked at it with binouclars and it's a pretty large nest. There looks to be over 200 bees all over it. I almost got out the airsoft gun but after considering the number of bees on there, I think setting them off would be a bad idea.

What should I do if they don't get rid of the nest?

Bees or are they other insects (yellowjackets, wasps, etc.)? Bees aren't usually anywhere near as bad as the others, and are most often fairly docile. Ask the neighbors if they really do know about it. If they do, see if they would be willing to contact someone to remove the nest.

Many farmers will do this since a healthy hive is beneficial to farming. Since there is a mite that attacks a large percentage of bees in the US, destroying a viable hive is not always the best choice. It's pretty common to find people who will safely remove the hive and even do it for free.

Sounds like you're more concerned then the neighbors who have the hive on their house, though. Bees rarely bother people. It's usually wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets that can be a problem.

just enjoy all the extra food on your trees, the mighty polinators, well unless your neighbor also has DNA altered food growing over there he dont know about either /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
look quick and see if your pumpkins have grown arms out the side of them, or if your tubers have teeth.

ok would you believe, hire a bear, to collect the honey?

Get a contract with the local orchard, to drop them off during polinating season /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

When the black, logan, and boisenberries , pop out in extra quantities down the street, pick some and make a pie.

see if you can kill them all, then still live when the nuisance of life are all gone, and humans are the only thing left, you can go out there with a pitri dish and a q-tip and do the polinating yourself LOL. actually i have had to do this, thanks to the insect kills in this area.

wait a few days, and CLARK Door2Door poiseners will be by , just aim them, they seem to not have enough to do, they are always knocking on my door with a pitch to solve all my problems, even though the only problem is, right after they spray, the bugs all take refuge in MY yard /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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yuandrew said:
What should I do if they don't get rid of the nest?

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I gotta admit, I don't understand why you'd do anything... It's their house, doesn't sound like the nest poses any threat to you. If you're afraid of bees, why not walk over and ask them what they're planning to do?

Hmmm, bees and California.

Call your town/county agricultural extension or pest/wildlife office and mention that there is a LARGE visible external bee's nest on the outside of your neighbor's house. They SHOULD send someone over pronto to check and make sure that it's not killer bees (Africanized honeybees). The Africanized bees are already north of LA in California.

Don't mess with Africanized bees! They have no sense of humor and are very territorial. Once ticked-off and in attack mode, they will pursue and sting (to DEATH often) for somewhere near a quarter mile away from the hive! They also don't attack just the disturber of their nest, but other targets in the area could be in danger as well. Like someone waiting for a bus a block away from the nest who was attacked and stung repeatedly by Africanized bees, requiring intensive-care hospitalization after hundreds of stings!

Watched the researcher in full head-to-toe taped-seams bee-proof garb as he provoked a defense response from the Africanized (not even pure-African!) hive and then walked away to check their pursuit range. It was FAR-FAR-FAR!

Hornets and yellowjackets can be nasty too, but their pursuit range is nowhere near as far as the Africanized honeybees.

Well, I just saw my neighbor this morning and we had a little chat. She already knows about it and they are going to have an exterminator come later but they haven't contacted anyone yet.

We don't think they are Africanized bees (we were both standing under the nest while discussing and looking at them)But then, who could be sure with just a pair of binoculars?

Anyway, I'll have to find my digicam. A good examination of the nest while some of the bees are gone revealed a good looking honeycomb underneath.

Is there a fogger chemical that can be carried on your person like a pepper spray can that can be effective against Africanized bees?

Picture

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/yuandrew/Beenest.jpg

I'm a hobbyist beekeeper. If that is a 2 X 12 they built on, they have more then 5,000 bees. When I buy a queen and two pounds of bees, I receive about 15,000 workers. If the bees are 30' from the ground, I would charge you to remove them. I could place an order, online, for that many bees and have them delivered to my door for about $30. Your neighbors nest would be difficult to remove and I'd charge them at least $50.
nuff said.

Back where I used to live a beekeeper would set up empty hives right next to a house with bees in the walls. He'd use a bee pheremone(sp?) that would fool the bees into thinking that their hive was in danger. They would move their honey right into the empty hives he provided for them. One time he got 400 lbs of honey out of the deal -- and the bees and his fee, of course.

Ugh, I hate the dern things. Not really honey bees,but wasps and hornets. Two years ago hornets made a nest on my back porch while we were on vacation. When I went on the porch when we got home a few of them attacked me and stung me up pretty bad. I'm somewhat allergic to their stings and they made me crippled for about a week because they got me on the legs so bad. I've been terrified of the the bloody things since that.