All posts in “bees”

Where will bees take up residence?

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We all need to bee aware in Arizona and pretty much all of the South U.S. This is an example of why, this picture is a water meter box and if you look close you will see honeybees going in and out of the entrance . What would happen if children were playing and ran across the lid, or fell on the meter box?

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What would happen if you decided to check your water meter box and lifted the lid without seeing the bees, catastrophe well maybe? So please see the checklist below and use caution in and around your home!

  1. Check your home monthly especially in the Spring and Fall, check eaves and roof-line.
  2. Check your property, sheds and storage.
  3. Keep an eye out for meter boxes or electrical boxes.
  4. If a swarm enters your property and alights on a tree branch, wait – they may move. If they go to and from your home, then it is time to call.
  5. Remember bees don’t know a dog house from a tree.
  6. Remember if you decide to treat, you can’t call the bees back once they are excited and upset.

The blame game continues…

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For some time now, the crisis concerning honeybees as been on the forefront of most news agencies and the internet. The concern has been blamed on cell phones, parasites  to pesticides and now the EU has decided to ban 3 new pesticides. “EU bans pesticides that ahrm bees“.

“The insecticides — imidacloprid and clothianidin produced by Bayer, and thiamethoxam by Syngenta — are used to treat seeds and are applied to the soil or sprayed on bee-attractive plants and cereals.”

“”Pesticides have been identified as one of several factors which may be responsible for the decline in number of bees.”

Frankly I don’t know the cause, I’m concerned on several different levels – #1. in Arizona we have Africanized bees and you really don’t know until you investigate and sometimes not even then until they become aggressive and #2. Bees pollinate up to 80% of our food products and without them there would be serious problems. So before we ban pesticides lets please do some quick research to really get to the bottom of this potential life threatening issue – to all of us.

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How do those honeybees get into your home?

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How do those honeybees get into your home?

 

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As you can see any crack or crevice that they can squeeze into, as long as there is room inside to build a honeycomb to raise future bees. The bees have also decided that they only work on Sunday’s, cause that is the only day I get the calls.

The one thing I have noticed is that the new colonies are smaller probably indicating Africanized Honeybee’s. The weird factor in this is that the last 3 swarms or colonies have not been very aggressive probably due to just moving into their new digs.

Whose coming to your picnic?

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Whose coming to your picnic?

 

So you spend all day planning this picnic, you spend all day making sandwiches and all that goes with it – you don’t want pests showing up uninvited. So what can you except in the way of pests?

Ants – well we all know what happens when you spill some food, the ants come ing in to steal your picnic food.

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Bees, wasps and hornets – one lone bee or wasp finds the source of the food and they go back home to tell everyone else.

Flies – nothing more disgusting than flies, trust me on this one.  fly

How can you remove honeycomb from a structure?

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How can you remove honeycomb from a structure?

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Honeybees can take up residence in any home if there is space available and sometimes they don’t make it easy to get to them.We don’t always remove the honeycomb, it is not always necessary. Maybe the bees haven’t been there very long or it is just impossible to get to as the case above is. depending on the location you may have to cut stucco, or come in from the inside out and this all involves dismantling and construction. All of this is time consuming and somewhat dangerous unless you know what you are doing.

Sometimes it is necessary to call in someone with more construction ability than I have. If it involves cutting stucco or getting into a brick structure then I think you need a professional that understands construction and building plans.

The bees are coming! How do I know?

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The bees are coming! How do I know?

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The weather has warmed up and we had a great deal of rain, that is going to equal a lot of bug. With the temperatures today in the high 80’s you can bet the Africanized Honeybee’s who swarm more often anyway are all ready making brood to divide the colony.

The hive mind decides on the event and all of a sudden the colony is at it’s maximun and they swarm. One-half or so of the colony depart in a frenzy, they may alight on a branch and then send scouts out to find a new home. Once located the Queen will check it out and if she is happy they will move into their new home.

Here are a few facts about the swarm:

  • The bees will have taken on additional honey, typically they are more docile when full. But they might still sting, just less likely to become agitated unless they are defending their home. Swarm tend to be more docile!
  • The old Queen moves with the new swarm, she is fertile and more likely to succeed in a new build. The honeycomb is difficult work, so the stress on the entire colony is BIG.
  • The new Queen probably not yet fertile, she will take a mating flight after the swarm leaves. It is possible for her to become a free lunch for a bird or other insect, if she fails to return the old hive still has the ability to create a Queen from previous eggs.
  • Africanized honeybees swarm up to 10x more then European Honeybees.

How to get ready for the Spring bug season?

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How to get ready for the Spring bug season?

  1. The more feeder bugs could equal more scorpions or spiders on your property and eventually inside your home, pest control is important.
  2. Check your home for cracks and crevices where bugs and rodents try to get in.
  3. Don’t store stuff around the foundation of your home.
  4. If you do have firewood, store it on something and away from the house.
  5. Check your storage areas for pests.
  6. Don’t over water things, to much water may kill plants and encourage more bug activity.

As always if you become overwhelmed don’t let it go and hope for the best. Call a Pest Management Professional who can either give you advice or give you a hand. A great site for information on seeking a Professional is http://www.pestworld.org

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Photo from ProBest Pest Management

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Photo from ProBest Pest Management

 

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Guess the bug, any ideas? Is it a fly or is it a bee? How can we tell?

ProBest Pest Management

425 W Guadalupe Road #110

Gilbert, AZ 85233

602-249-7378 or 623-414-0176

 

Watch where you step while hiking…

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Watch where you step while hiking…

 

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My Beagle Lilly almost ran into this guy yesterday on our hike at Sears Kay Ruin in Cave Creek, Arizona. It is very important to be aware of everything while hiking. You never know when you may be attacked by bees or a spider may walk in front of you.

So be careful and enjoy your hike!

 

Bees, beeswax, honeycomb and prevention!

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Did you know that Africanized Honeybees swarm up to 10x’s as often as the European Honeybees. So is there anything that can be done to protect and possible discourage honeybees from taking up residence in your building. Once you kill the bees the honey, beeswax and honeycomb often times remain and can cost untold amounts of money. So sometimes you can be proactive and help yourself tremendously.

The Cone Style Trap is a large “flower pot” style container that is made from wood pulp. The general idea here is to place these units in an area known to get swarms, the bees will scout out the swarm box and take up residence thus preventing  the swarm going to a structure. ** Nothing can make the bees go to this box, they must find it. There is no guarantee that the bees will not choose your structure. Depending on the footprint of your building and property, it would be wise to add a number of these strategically located to ensure that the bees find one.

I always suggest that you contact a Pest Management Professionals for Africanized Honeybees, once aggravated its hard to go back and start over!

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