And he's proud of himself

[victor meldrew]

Not very nice viewing but this is the human race

http://pbckt.com/s8.w7E

John Wilkinson

 

[Hivemaker.]

Almost as bad as this series of sick pictures.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2243176

 

[BKF Admin]

Its strange how people act when confronted with fear.
They's guy's are both frightened and ignorant.

 

[grizzly]

"OH DEAR LORD ITS SO BEAUTIFUL. I AM SO PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN RIGHT NOW".

I think the term is Tw@t

 

[darrenperrett]

These things usually come back to bite you.
Hopefully next time they`ll come across a nice feral AHB cluster to throw sticks at.

Darren.

 

[Simon111]

Nice chap! But would you let him near your kids?


Simon

 

[merylvingien]

Q

On this note, i am a pest controller 90% of the time and the phone is just starting to ring with bee problems, another couple of weeks and it will be a hotline for swarms.

Any weird and wonderful ideas on how to get colonies out of cavity walls?

I have put off a couple of colonies now by lying and saying that there is big trouble in store if these were treated

 

[Hivemaker.]

Any weird and wonderful ideas on how to get colonies out of cavity walls?

How about this for an idea,block off all holes,then slowly fill the cavity with water,have a thin plastic tube at the top as the only way the bee's can get out,and as they walk out through the tube in single file into your swarm box, you could also clear them of varroa mites at the same time with a pair of tweezers and a mirror to see under there bellys.
May depend on what strain of bee they are though,i've only heard of this type of thing being done with carniolans

 

[merylvingien]

Exellent idea hivemaker, i will look around for a cheap fire engine...


I was thinking more in terms of one way valves, and if anyone has had any success with these yet.

Its sort of soul destroying watching a real strong colony die just because of thier location, or more importantly, lack of access to the location...

The cost effective answer is out there, i know it!

 

[Mike a]

I've read last year about an European beek fitting an insulated box with two entrances over the hole in the wall. The idea was to extend the entrance away from the cavity brood nest and try to encourage the colony to build fresh comb in the box and draw out the queen at the same time.

The article didn't follow up with if it was successful or not or if the box contained some thing like a porter bee escape as a one way valve or frames or starter strips for natural comb. If I can find it again I will post a link.

 

[jezd]

Its strange how people act when confronted with fear.
They's guy's are both frightened and ignorant.

maybe I am missing something about those pics but it makes no sense why he did it. If you look over the album you see they actually keep bees in a WBC hive and there are pics of several honey/beekeeping related items

what he did seems bizarre

 

[ian]

Hi Jezd

That's John Album, he has downloaded the photo's from elsewhere unless of course he has started growing palm trees.....................

The pictures of the colony in the Barbi I have seen before, it's quite usual to kill AHB on the spot, trying to remove them would involve annoying lots of bees in residential areas. Also in some parts of the world bee removals can set the home owner back $100's

As to the swarm the blokes just an idiot.........


Regards Ian

 

[Somerford]

spray entrances cut down - cone bee escapes masticked to the wall also work

 

[SixFooter]

Knock the outer wall down. Collect the colony then rebuild the wall.

 

[merylvingien]

All very well to say that, and i am sure that it happens!
But how much does it cost to rebuild a wall?

There must be an easier way to extract colonys from such locations... at an affordable cost...

 

[mark s]

i think both these guys need taking out of the gene pool

 

[bruce]

Re Cavity walls - a solution to this one has vexed me also. As I see it there are two issues - firstly getting rid of the bees and secondly, getting rid of the comb/stores. The most straightforward and I suspect appropriate solution is removing the masonry and then carrying out a standard colony removal. Few householders will be happy about having their masonry removed though and they certainly won't like the expense. I suspect most householders will opt for killing the bees - which of course leaves the problem of the stores - which I suspect are the greater hazard. I wonder if it would be possible to flush some sort of solvent into the cavity to dissolve the comb and then suck it out of a drain hole near the base of the cavity?? It would have to be something that didn't discolour the internal walls though. What do Rentokil do I wonder? Maybe an 'innocent' 'phone call to them would reveal all - alternatively team up with a brickie and add a few '00s to your bill.

 

[merylvingien]

Rento will do what they always do, rip you off!

The quality of thier operatives isnt good.

The law states if a bee colony has been treated (killed) any entrances MUST be blocked up as soon as is reasonably possible (preferably on the same day as treatment)

This is why i am asking the questions, as it stands at the moment, if someone calls me to sort out a colony, if they are in a cavity or somewhere equally difficult to get at, then the only cost effective solution is to treat them as i would a wasp nest, then secure all entrances to prevent any other bees from gaining access and potentially killing another colony elsewhere.

I do know a lot of pesters dont block up after and it could be a real problem. There was a case recently where a pest controller was taken to court, accused of indirectly killing someone elses bees by cross contamination in this way. Whether this really was down to the pest controller is debatable, as from experience i know that the insecticide used to kill wasps wouldnt kill a whole hive if just a handfull of bees returned contiminated. In fact i have my doubts that they would even make it back to the hive unless the hive was really close.

 

[bruce]

Interesting what you say about pest controllers killing the bees and blocking up the holes. That implies that the stores are left? Doesn't that leave the pest controller with liability for any damage that comes from any decay of the stores? I've just been to a swarm call out today - in fact it turned out that the swarm probably arrived a week ago and has made its home in the chimney (probably a small void at the top as the chimney is lined with a flue to accommodate a gas boiler and the chimney/flue void back filled with pellets). I've advised that the two options are either kill the bees, open up the chimney at the top and remove the stores, or alternatively, the recommended route, open up the chimney and remove the colony live. Would a pest controller normally just kill the bees and seal the opening? Incidentally, the householder did call a pest controller and was told that as bees are a 'protected species' they could not deal with them . . .

 

[merylvingien]

The pest controller is either misinformed, or lying to get out the situation.
A good example of what i am talking about.
Its hot potatoes at the moment with regards to bees, and if i am honest, i too would try and put off a bee job if i can.

I suppose it depends on each situation, as to how individuals approach it.
Personaly i would tell the customer the ins and outs of the situation and let them make the choice whether or not they want to pay to have thier walls ripped down and the comb removed. Actually as i am writing this, i am trying to think of good excuses to have to hand when people phone me

Majority of people wont pay for this, as thier often too bloody tight to pay 40 quid to have a wasp nest killed. Yet the amount of hits i get on my website where people have typed into google "blow up a wasp nest"