Having said that, I'm glad they called a good beekeper who was able to rescue the hive.
Also, I've heard that if you have a bee infestation in your attic for example, not to call an exterminator, but to call a beekeeper. Often these new hives are valuable to hobbyists and they are happy to come take care of it for free. There are apparently directories of local beekeepers all over the world that are fairly easy to find on a search engine.
No such luck with wasp and hornet nests though. Had to pay to have one of those removed from the siding in our house. And wow were they mad when the beekeeper started vacuuming them up.
Got talking to the guy for a while, fascinating industry. He's very nervous about the next 20 years when it comes to honeybees.
My memory is fuzzy on the details but that's the gist of it
I luckily haven’t needed to deal with this, but I do know of people who’ve “thought” they had a “honey bee” problem, but the exterminator came out and confirmed it was a “wasp” problem.
This is an area where the intent of the law is good, but sometimes the real world issues of safety of acquiring the hive is complex enough that it’s not safe to attempt, and it’s not clear the law allows for that.
(And it’s not just CA that makes it illegal to kill bees, many states have similar laws)
There may be a difference in certain regions, but usually swarms are a spring thing, with another small reoccurrence in autumn. Mid summer is quiet and winter has none.
This relates to the times at which a queen can mate - there are no male drones in winter (the females kicked them out!) and so any queen that hatched would be a virgin, and couldn’t lay.
Sometimes swarms will occur due to bees absconding to get away from High levels of disease. I have never seen this but high levels of varroa can cause it.
Here is usually varroa - I’m just contemplating getting my autumn treatments in, as the little horrors are actually visible on frames now. I hate them so much.
Thank you for sharing. I’m filing this away in case I ever have to deal with an infestation.
Some beekeepers in competitive localities will pay to come remove your hive.
The brood pattern on that comb is horrible - I suspect a lot of varroa, but there are other potential causes. Varroa can be tidied up if the colony isn’t too far gone. Once it’s removed it needs to be kept under observation for a bit, and kept away from clean hives.
If it’s carrying something like American Foul Brood, it shouldn’t be spread. Here in NZ the ‘treatment’ for AFB is to burn the colony and the hive.
A colony is unlikely to die if the queen is killed (assuming it isn’t winter). They will make a new one from an existing egg.
This is a neat write up - and good on the person who removed them. Cutting a colony out of a building is a horrible, messy chore. Catching a swarm is very wary in comparison.
Edit: one more thought, comb is white, then it goes yellow, then brown and finally black. This is from use, bee feet and the cocoons that are inside each cell.
That process takes time, usually a season of two at least. I retire my comb at about 3 years old.
That comb looks quite black - I think it a been there for more than a season (dead bees noticed in April).
Edit: Some info. You are required to register any apiary (group of hives) and it’s location after a short duration. You are required to inspect it at least once per year and report the results to the agency.
If anyone gets AFB you are required to notify the agency and destroy the hive. A notification is the. sent to beekeepers in the area to warm them to be on alert.
We aim to eradicate AFB, and given that it’s mainly caused by beekeepers putting infected comb and equipment into hives and letting dead hives be robbed, this seems achievable.
Unfortunately we are doing much worse with this plan than we have do to date with covid eradication. It’s lucky all New Zealanders aren’t beekeepers.
I know, you're going to downvote me. I have no regrets.
Came home unsure what I'd find, but I figured it was a small mammal of some sort. At first we figured it was something that had nestled into the laundry and was very upset at being tumble dried. Opened the drier door just a crack figuring we'd hear the thing trying to escape or at least snarling at us.
Nothing.
Determined it was in the dryer vent.
I had converted from the normal flexible dryer hose to a solid metal tube the year before because I heard it was more efficient and we were having some issues with our clothes drying.
(Ended up being lint build-up. Clean your dryers out folks. I had cleaned all the obvious spots, but there was heat shield that was completely caked with lint and effectively acting as a hot pad keeping the warm air from getting to our clothes)
Anyway, proceeded to take the dryer duct apart, figuring it was a mouse or something. Every so often we'd hear the thing start moving around, so I'd kick the dryer on for a second to keep it from going into the blower and trying to get out that way.
We were trying to rig up something to catch the mouse in when we finally did get it to come out the open end of the dryer tube. It's a tight space so that was easier said than done.
Ended up accidentally disconnecting the end of the tube that connects to the dryer while we were fiddling and figured the mouse had escaped into our house.
Heard whatever it was moving around in there still, so I kicked the dryer on to dissuade it from leaving the tube from the wrong end.
Heard a big noise, and all the sudden a bird comes shooting out the pipe. About shit my pants and took off running up the stairs. My little 3 year old son had been down there at the time and I didn't realize. He started screaming, which I felt real badly about.
Was trying to figure out how we would get a bird to peacefully leave our house. I assumed it wouldn't leave willingly.
Crept back down the stairs, and there was a little house finch, sitting on the inside ledge of the window in our entry way. It looked at me as if to say, "I want to be out there, please."
So I opened the door and he flew right on out.
A 2 degree tolerance allows the bee's to survive than a wasp which enters the hive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNroEwFxh6I&t=1s
At my current office, we’ve had crows peck through the roof twice.
Despite being just a few feet above a sidewalk, they didn't harm anyone.
A beautiful sight, first time I've ever seen a peaceful swarm up close, hope it's not the last.
Aight imma head out.
