Honeybees

I'm doing some repair work to my house and my back patio specifically. I removed some old wood siding that was rotten and I was letting that parts are out. I had started putting new plywood up where the siding have been removed but I only did one sheet. A couple of days after that I noticed that honey bees were forming a nest so then I had to call a beekeeper to come and we removed that sheet of plywood and found that a nest was there. We removed all of the honeycomb or at least we thought we did but two days later I'm still seeing hundreds of these right back where the nest was. What can I do? He's already been out here twice and each time he's taking a lot of bees with him but we were not able to cut out any more of the wall to see if anything was up above. When we look we see nothing but I believe something is still there. Without killing everything what can I do? I don't want to get stung whenever I bring my saw out.

This was 2 days later

This was the hive that was removed

 

If you still have a swarm there he didn't get the queen, there must be more comb with a queen bee present. Call the beekeeper back and remove the siding above in your photo.

 

It will be about another 20 days before he can come out again. I'd like to cut the wall so I can evaluate the situation and see what I'm going to have to do in the meantime because I can't wait that long.

 

In my opinion, unless you're familiar with handling bees, I wouldn't tear into that wall. I'd wait on the bee keeper.

Let me be clear in what I am saying.
I dont mean "Handling" bees. I mean, if you dont have the knowledge & equipment like a hood & suit... and a smoker. Those bees will be all over you if you go in there with a saw or even pull off a sheet of siding & disturb that hive. You're going to be in a serious fix if you aren't knowledgeable in dealing with those bees & hives.

Wait on the bee keeper or call another bee keeper to come get them if you're in a big hurry.

 

If you need to work on it, do it at night, use a red flashlight. Seal up the seams with tape... pull all your nails with a cats paw and cut after you get it all sealed up.

 

The nest/colony may extend into the upper wall as you've noted. These could be the remaining workers that were "foraging" during the original hive removal and are simply returning. so there may not be another queen in there.

It could be another colony relocating and drawn to the pheromones.

I tend to think that it is returning colony members. In any case, the hive/combs/honey/scent, etc need to be fully exposed, removed, and cleaned. If there is honeycomb hidden in the wall yet, it will rot and stink terribly in time and the wall will have to be opened again. You are right to not close it up yet.

To prevent near-future problems with odors, animals and insects, the wall needs to be opened up beyond the visible hive. After thorough removal, a serious cleaning needs to be performed though I don't know what all that would entail. It's going to be situation specific, to some extent. An experienced bee keeper would be helpful here. There are beekeepers/removal experts that do this kind of work but they get paid.

1) Call a bee-keeper trade association for advice, referrals, etc. Call the local County Agricultural Extension office for same. Bee keepers are like trades people; some are more experienced and knowledgeable and that's who you need.

2) Since the original colony, or most of it has been removed, calling a pest control operator to take care of the remaining bees is a viable option. Opening the wall would be safer after that. It's not unusual to treat honey bee colonies if the bee keepers cant safely get to the colony, but it has to be removed. Bee keepers refer jobs to pest control operators in this way.

3) If you're comfortable working around agitated bees, protect yourself with good coveralls tucked into/over boots, gloves and a bee net/veil over your head, you may be able to open the wall for further inspection so you/owners can make a more informed decision. Pest control operators rarely work at night on bees, wasps, hornets except in special circumstances. I never owned a "bee suit", except for a military surplus bee/mosquito headnet.

I think that guidance from an experienced honey bee handler would be a good way to proceed if time allows.

Keep us posted as you learn more. This is a difficult situation.

 

I ended up calling someone to come next week. It Raines pretty severely today and I found hundreds of bees on the ground. I looked up into the wall opening and saw more hive. I suspect the come goes pretty far up. There's no way I can remove it without getting stung so now I wait for help.