All posts in “honeybees”

Honeybees in your home do I have to open up the walls?

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Honeybees in a wall

Honeybees – There are many factors that play into a honeybee hive within your home. Determining whether you need to open up a wall to get to the hive. My very first question is “How long have they been there” “When did you first spot them” and of course where are they?  So let’s answer these questions and why I want to know?

#1 & #2 “How long have they been there” – this is really important. Let’s say you just noticed them, and you are pretty sure about this because they are at your front door. Would you would have noticed them? See this gives me an idea that they haven’t build much honeycomb, and no reason to open up the wall. Opening up walls is expensive and I don’t like spending money yours or mine unless we have to.

#3 So as we ask question #1 and #2, we need to know where they are, if they are at the front door area what is in there – is it a bathroom or bedroom. I once had them at the front door under a bush and there was a bathroom, they had made there way under the tub area – plenty of room and that had been there a long time. No way to get them out and they were Africanized honeybees plus after we killed them the hive disintegrated and wax moths invaded. Now we  have an issue, we had to open up the bathroom wall. But lets say there were under a shed in the very way back of your property, no access but they are again Africanized honeybees we only have to kill them and the hive will be destroyed by roaches and other pests.

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Yikes, where are they hiding?

Dog House, no dog so nobody noticed  and water meter box (see the bee)? And the last one is within the block wall and honey dripping outside but never inside. SO IF ANYBODY SAYS YOU HAVE TO OPEN UP A WALL, THINK ABOUT IT FIRST AND YOU DECIDE!

Yikes! Can you imagine seeing this in a tree?

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Yikes, is right!

OK this doesn’t happen very often, the swarm decided to stay put and start making honey comb. This can be very DANGEROUS, when they start to make honey comb they will start to really defend and protect their new hive. Also this is a BIG hive probably upward of 50,000 bees and remember if you agitate or accidently mess with them they will become nasty and quick. By the way you can’t put nasty on hold or back to what they were before you decided to mess with – always call a Pest Management Professional such as ProBest Pest Management 602-249-7378

 

Yikes beehive

Beehive

Swarm facts video by ProBest Pest Management

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One the of the most asked questions is about Bee Swarms, here are some fantastic facts. Bee swarms are generally not aggressive, bee careful they can become agitated. They take up honey before leaving the old colony and that tends to make them less aggressive. Most attacks occur as part of an established hive defending itself. If you leave the swarm alone, it may just move on. Don’t try to take care of it yourself, we have suits for this. My favorite quote is this ” If you mess with a swarm or honeybee colony and they become upset – you can’t put the Genie back in the bottle”. They can stay mad for up to 8+ hours and attack everyone who comes close.

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Photo by PPMA

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH_fOVbdd0w[/embedyt]

Bees are busy these days

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I often have to walk around bushes and trees and sometimes they are just a humming with activity. This is the case in the Spring, people often get freaked out with all the activity. Honeybees are very important to our lives, 1/3 of all the food we eat are pollinated by bees. The only real time to be worried about honeybees is when they have taken up a home within your home. In this case they have something to defend, and defend it they will especially Africanized honeybees. Africanized honeybees are more prone to attack just because of a smell or lawnmower noise. They are virtually the same size as European honeybees and swarm 2 to 3 times more often Just use caution, unless you are allergic and then use extreme caution especially if there is a hive close to your home. If you are hiking some colonies will bump you to tell you they are close, just back away. Generally speaking swarms won’t attack unless you mess with them, they are full of honey and not yet defending a hive or colony. So don’t mess with them and they probably won’t mess with you.

Bee careful out there.

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How can you keep the scorpions out of your home?

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Home sealing is the way to go, hands down and here is the way to handle the scorpions.

  1. Inspect the outside of your home, high and low. Look for honeybees or wasp nest. Are the weep hole screens in place?
  2. Check for entry spots where scorpions or bugs can get into your home.
    1. Use a mirror and check the jtrim (that’s the thing that holds the bottom of stucco up). Ideally it should be flush against the foundation, the holes are OK and are there to allow the wall to breath and allow moisture to escape.
    2. Make sure you check corners, use some type of foam (use rigid not expanding foam) and secure in place with caulking.
    3. Repair leaky pipes, check flood irrigation and drip irrigation.
  3. Check window and/or door screens.
  4. Install garage door sweeps, call ProBest or check out our webpage https://callprobest.com/home-seal
  5. Remember scorpions need water, food and shelter just like you and me. Get rid of their food source, crickets and other small bugs. Consider calling a pest professional like ProBest Pest Management? Setting a schedule is essential, we won’t forget and we will call you in advance.

Pollinator Health Updates

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Pollinator Health – Bee Aware Be Safe.

 

Did you know that there are more pollinators than just honeybees? Check out this website to find out what they are. There are a number of factors that are affecting honeybees these days and the USDA, EPA and the National Pest Management Association and others are working towards a plan to continue to save the bees.

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Why do honeybees make our homes, theirs?

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DSC07157 Honeybees will take every opportunity to make any place a home.  These bees decided on this chimney fireplace. Seldom if ever used, they found a crack and decided it was big enough to start a colony.

This was actually a bigger issue than usual, this entry point led into an open ceiling area. If this had not be noticed and months or even years had gone by, the buildup of honey and wax could lead to significant melting later.

Always important to conduct monthly checks of your home or business and don’t forget to look up.

Interesting facts about toilets and the bugs. Did you know this?

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“Ants build toilets, too.”

Bugs and certain animals may be smarter than we think. Actually I think its about keeping themselves clean and not walking through their own excrement. I’ve known for a long time that when honeybees or ant encounter death they discard the body away from their home. So it just makes good sense to keep the poo at an arms length away from the home. To bad we didn’t think of this sooner, many diseases could have been prevented.

 

One of my favorite shows – Shark Tank

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So the other day I was watching “Shark Tank” and was really intrigued with a young eco-entrepreneur Henry J. Miller (his words). Check out his Honey with spices Webpage and FaceBook page or his Twitter page.

I understand the role of honeybees and I understand the risk they pose to the general public especially in the South. We sell honey in our little store and I think this idea from Henry is great – so please visit his site and if you can why don’t you give his honey a try.

http://www.henryshumdingers.com/

http://www.henryshumdingers.com/

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