Bees and Neighbors - a bit lengthy

15 years ago

Problem has surfaced - 2nd year in a row. Last year the neighbor's lawn guys went ballistic because there were 'killer bees' in her backyard shed. The nest/comb was down under the floor - it's one of those pre-fac aluminum little buildings for storage of ...stuff. It's about two feet from a chain link fence that separates our properties. My husband maintains the fence - replaces poles, etc as they've rusted out over the years...fence is her's but she's a retired and single lady...he just...does it. No money involved. we have a huge red passion vine on the fence...it goes and goes, if you know what I mean. Last year we chopped the vine to the ground (because the mowers told her the bees were there because of the vine.)

Meanwhile, she paid $500. to have the bees all killed. :( (and I plant african blue basil to attract bees!). Same time, I emailed UF and got a great response saying NO, don't kill the bees (too late!)...they're not killer bees. and we were advised that there was no need to cut the vine down. Well...it grew back..it's more vigorous than ever...and the bees are back. The neighbor called me yesterday. (My advice was, don't pay $500 to kill the bees; it obviously didn't work!).. soo... anyone have any suggestions? There is no war going on...I'd cut the vine in a heartbeat if I thought this was the problem..... What should we do????

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Comments (11)

kelpie473
15 years ago
Call the county extension agent, they have an entomologist that will come out and advise her. It's a free service to residents. Look in the phone book in the County pages, the number is there.

I'm sorry if I insult anyone but my experience with "lawn guys" is that they're pretty much totally ignorant about anything except running a mower but for some unknown reason people listen to them and take their word as gospel!?!?

Suzanne
tamrootbeer
15 years ago
My dad and uncle used to keep bees in Broward county when I was little. The fire department usually contacted them when there was a batch of bees in somebody's yard. So....maybe your local FD will know of a beekeeper in your area. Or perhaps google it....beekeepers and your zip code could have the results you want. Somebody would remove the bees and not kill them.

BTW...I can't believe an exterminator killed them; that is illegal!
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greetings and Salutations... Lots of questions and unknowns for me here, alas. For example...having bees in the yard is not the same as "keeping a bee colony". Unless there is a stack of wooden boxes someplace on the person's property with bees flying in and out of them, the bees probably live someplace else. Anywhere there are flowers, you are likely to find bees. They forage over a wide area, gathering nectar and pollen to take home. Actually, for what it is worth, you should probably be GLAD to see a bunch of bees in the area. Something like 75% of the crops in the USA are pollenated by bees, so without the girls, there would BE no crops. The good news is that when the flowers go away, so will the bees. Also, since you are on GardenWeb, I would think that you would be interested in having a good, healthy garden, with, perhaps, a bunch of flowers, or, misc vegetables. without bees around, your flowers and veggies will be far less numerous, if the plants produce at all. If anyone gets stung for "doing nothing", then, I would suspect that the flying insects were wasps and not honey bees. non-africanized honey bees are pretty calm and peaceful girls. I have found that I have to work pretty hard to get stung by them (and, yes, I AM a beekeeper - *smile*). It sounds as if you may not have a great deal of experience or knowledge about bees. It is easy to get the picture of honey bees as being these evil bugs with stingers a foot long that are just waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting human and engage in carnage. Too many movies and TV shows and scare stories in the papers about "killer bees", alas. The truth could not be further from this image we are given by the sensationalists attempting to suck as much money out of our pockets as is possible by playing up the gore. The fact of the matter is that honey bees will go about their business of finding food for the hive and pretty much ignore anything else. Even if interrupted, they will explore a bit, then, move on. It is not uncommon for me to let a bee crawl from a flower onto my hand and wander around a bit. Another fact is that when a bee stings anything, the stinger and poison sack are ripped out of its body. This kills the bee, and, for the good of the colony that cannot happen too often. So...bees tend to NOT attack, but, rather, will attempt to escape instead. It certainly IS possible to get a honeybee to sting, though. Like most of us, if it feels that it is being threatened with death (say by being crushed), it will sting as an instinctive thing. If it perceives the colony and the queen bee is under threat, it will fly out and sting. The problem with africanized bees is that they are REALLY easy to annoy, and, they STAY annoyed for longer times. It is kind of the difference between suddenly changing lanes in front of a soccer dad or middle-income guy in a pickup truck, and, a bunch of Hell's Angels bikers. In the former case you are likely to get a shouted remark, a beep of the horn, and/or, a hand gesture. In the latter case, you might end up being chased down and your windows broken out! In terms of danger, the bee sting is kind of overrated. About 85-90% of the time, the biggest problem is the sudden, sharp sting, and, a minor redness or swelling that goes away fairly quickly. For MOST of the remaining 10-15% of folks, the swelling can be pretty impressive, and, the irritation can last longer. For about 0.5% of children and about 3% of adults, the reaction can be bad enough to cause a person to go into anaphylactic shock...which can be very bad indeed. Attached is a good resource discussing venomous insects, and, how to deal with their existence. As a matter of fact, bee venom and honey are finding widespread usage in the treatment of a number of ills. Granted, some of it is snake oil, but, I know that the stiffness in MY fingers is far less bothersome when I get the girls to nail my hands every once in a while. So...having rambled on a bit, here are some suggestions as to what to do. AFTER you have made it through the stress of closing on the house and moving in, make some contacts with local beekeepers, and, get some experience with bees. They are truly fascinating creatures and worth the time. Don't TRAIN your kids to swat at bees. Teach them that if a bee/wasp is flying around you, it is not going to HURT you. Swatting at it will only anger it, and may provoke an attack. Kind of hard to do for us adults, as we tend to get that instinct in place TOO young. However, fear of insects is a LEARNED response that is taught, usually by the parents. check with your family doctor about having some allergy tests run to see if any of your family is allergic to venom. If so, your health care professional will likely point you to an Epi-pen or some other emergency treatement. Make sure that you have several stashes around the house, and, everyone that can deal with it knows where they are located and how to administer the treatment. learn the difference between a HONEY BEE and a WASP. The latter should be treated with more caution, as they tend to be more short-tempered and aggressive....My usual rule of thumb is that if it is fuzzy, it is likely a honey bee. If it is shiny, it is likely to be aggressive. If you walk up to the car and see a honeybee standing or walking on the window/door...just ignore it, go on, get in the car and go about your business. If you aren't a flower, a bee doen't really care about you at all. remember...a bee sting is a momentary inconvenience and discomfort for you. It is a death sentence for the bee. Thanks for your attention... Dave Mundt Here is a link that might be useful: About venom allergies
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kelpie473
15 years ago
Illegal doesn't stop people from doing something if they think there's money in it for them, it happens all the time. If the bees can be relocated there should be a bee keeper to do it. The county extension agent will have a list of bee keepers in the area too. People either don't know the extension agent is available to them or forget, as I sometimes do. I'll agree that some are better than others but on the whole they do good work.

This person advertises that he does state wide removal, his web site has some interesting information anyway. Look in the phone book under Bees or Bee Removal too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Willie the Bee Man
natives_and_veggies
15 years ago
Show her an article you "just found" about how scientists fear that bee colony collapse may threaten our food supply. She seems motivated by fear, and that's scarier than getting stung.

There are also articles on "killer bees" about how they don't actually kill, they're just a big pain in the neck. Maybe you could find her one of those too. It would be sad if she decided to leave them, but then was scared of her back yard, so it sounds like she really just needs some more educated advice. You might even suggest to her that you fear her lawn guy is ripping her off. He is.

Here's an article I found with a quick google search on colony collapse and food supply fears

Here is a link that might be useful: colony collapse article
beth7happy
Original Author
15 years ago
Talked to the neighbor on Saturday; she's agreed to give the extention service a try. Hopefully they'll at least send someone out to take a look for her, and to ease her anxieties. Thanks for all of the input. Y'all are always so helpful!
julieyankfan
15 years ago
I planted a dwarf powder puff bush on the north side of the house about 5 yrs. ago and it became loaded with bees. I immediately thought I should get rid of them, then someone on this forum recommended going on the beekeeping forum, where I asked them what to do. They explained to me that we should be encouraging the good bees and just make sure there is no hive anywhere it could cause a problem.

When the winter came and the bees were just about gone, I pruned the bush and checked all over the inside and there was no hive and I noticed that if I sprayed the bees with water from the hose, they took off and kept on going, but were back later on. I also noticed that the bush looks it's best when the happy bees are buzzing all around it! They never bother me when I'm watering or pruning.

They've been coming back for 5 yrs. now and that bush always looks great! Glad I asked the experts for advice before I would have made a great mistake.

Julie
imatallun
15 years ago
Beth, that's great that your neighbor agreed to talk to the County Extension Agent!

The last big hive I saw around here was well over a year ago. A neighbor sold his house, never having bothering to remove plywood boards off his back windows since Hurricane Wilma.

While walking my dog, I saw beekeepers removing the huge nest and asked if they were the "Killer Bees" we'd been reading about. Nope.

I suspect your neighbor's shed has a plywood floor.

Like Julie, my Powder Puff attracts bees like crazy while in bloom, mainly winter and spring. Bees are abundant in flowering palms and cactus now. I haven't seen any bees on my red passion vine.

What a pity that your neighbor paid $500 for the removal of what were undoubtedly "the good guys".

Marilyn

Good luck!
beth7happy
Original Author
15 years ago
well, i don't know for sure. There was an exterminator truck leaving the area very early this morning. :( Wasn't long after that I noted a cloud of bees in the 'shed' area. My guess is that some ding-bat guy in a white suit sprayed something nasty and charged the lady a small fortune. Obviously the bees are quite disturbed but they sure didn't look 'dead' to me!!!! ....sometimes you would like to move fences......
imatallun
15 years ago
Hi Beth,

Wow, too bad.

Did she try calling the fire department like Tamrootbeer suggested? I'm curious because that seemed like such a great suggestion. I'll ask those neighbors how they ended up getting bee keepers (vs. exterminators in white jump suits) if that will help.
beth7happy
Original Author
15 years ago
Don't think she called anyone (other than this exterminator - a former neighbor, he is.) I even gave her a print out from UF, so...what else can ya do, you know?? *sigh* Anyway, it gets worse: the same guy was back here this evening....I happened to see him fogging back there...the jug strapped to his back. He made real sure he didn't look my way. I'm just glad the wind wasn't blowing into my yard!! Guess this is the end of the sad story. (until next year, when she calls me again to inform me that there are bees in her shed)...which, no doubt, does have plywood flooring!
imatallun
15 years ago
Dear Beth,

Sigh. My condolences. You did everything you could, short of tackeling the former neighbour in the white jumpsuit fumigating those bees.

Then we would've seen you on a Florida segment of "Top Cops" being toted off to Chatahoochee, and we would've sorely miss your posts.

I don't know for sure that plywood is the culprit, but most sheds have plywood floors (including the ugly blue one in my backyard) and if your neighbor's shed is old and gaping a bit here and there...we've all heard about what happens when you leave hurricane shutters or plywood on the windows too long. That concept always confounded me - I wanted them ALL off ASAP.

Marilyn

Bees and Neighbors - a bit lengthy

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