Bee repellent

[beeno]

Hi all,
Most of us on the forum try to attract bees into our bait boxes by way of lemongrass oil. What could be used to put off scout bees from wanting to set up home in places where we don't want them say in a cavity wall. I would not want to use something harmful to bees or humans. Anything tried and tested? Thanks in advance.

 

[For want of a better word]

Cymbopogon winterianus the lemongrass that is an insect repellent sometimes called citronella

not to be confused with
Cymbopogon citratus the bee attractant I use in my secrete recipe for bait sausage!

Moth balls also repel insects... naptha?... but stinks awful!

 

[For want of a better word]

Older mothballs consisted primarily of naphthalene, but due to naphthalene's flammability, modern mothballs instead use 1,4-dichlorobenzene (also called para-dichlorobenzene, p-dichlorobenzene, pDCB, or PDB). Both of these ingredients have a strong, pungent, sickly-sweet odor often associated strongly with mothballs and old people. 1,4-Dichlorobenzene and naphthalene should not be mixed, as they react chemically to produce a liquid which may cause damage to items being preserved.[1] Camphor, an insect repellent, can also be used as a less-toxic ingredient in mothballs.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Anything tried and tested?

Block up any holes.

 

[beeno]

Block up any holes.

Hi Hivemaker,
That's what I did in effect, but not very convenient when you are out on a call. Spraying something would be better as the moment soon passes.

 

[Little John]

Hi all,
Most of us on the forum try to attract bees into our bait boxes by way of lemongrass oil. What could be used to put off scout bees from wanting to set up home in places where we don't want them say in a cavity wall. I would not want to use something harmful to bees or humans. Anything tried and tested? Thanks in advance.

Apparently the most powerful bee repellent on earth is the fart of a mongoose - I kid you not.

But the Maasai honey harvesters do face some stiff competition - from mongooses. They say that the mongooses raid the beehives at night and eat all the honey.

It is believed locally they do this by farting - although animal behaviourists say they are not known to be particularly flatulent animals.

"The mongooses are very clever animals. They normally climb up the trees where the beehives are," says Mr Matampash, who runs Neighbours Initiative Alliance, a non-governmental organisation backing the beekeepers.

"Once up there, they break wind - forcing the bees to flee from the foul smell and then they knock down the beehive and eat the honey. We cannot kill the mongooses since they have a right to survive but we're devising ways to contain them. For now, they remain our number one enemy.''

However, the problem with the mongooses has not hampered the enthusiasm of Mr Matampash and his team which have now involved more than 600 Maasai in 31 community groups in honey harvesting.

"The project started in a small way. Now have given over 400 modern beehives to neighbourhoods within the area," he says.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12715806

So - the challenge is now to isolate the repellent chemical - probably based on hydrogen sulphide, knowing the mongoose's predilection for eating eggs.

LJ

 

[Tom Bick]

Block up any holes.

Hi Hivemaker,
That's what I did in effect, but not very convenient when you are out on a call. Spraying something would be better as the moment soon passes.

In my experience scout bees can check out a new potential home for up to six days so you should have plenty of time to simply block any holes that are attractive to the bees. Personally I like watching scout bees but then at one of my bait hives.

 

[beeno]

Apparently the most powerful bee repellent on earth is the fart of a mongoose - I kid you not.


From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12715806

So - the challenge is now to isolate the repellent chemical - probably based on hydrogen sulphide, knowing the mongoose's predilection for eating eggs.

LJ

Hi LJ,
I think you may have something there. A so called stink bomb would have done for my purposes last summer. Where does one get one of those!

 

[beeno]

In my experience scout bees can check out a new potential home for up to six days so you should have plenty of time to simply block any holes that are attractive to the bees. Personally I like watching scout bees but then at one of my bait hives.

Thanks Tom and Hivemaker,
That's ok if it is only one or two, but when you are dealing with a structure that should be rebuilt then it's not so good. Also, you don't want to go back and forth too many times when you don't charge.

 

[itma]

... you don't want to go back and forth too many times when you don't charge.

Something wrong there if your rope is being pulled whenever anyone sees a bee stooging round their tumbledown shack ...

Wouldn't it be better to be looking at the hive end of things? - if the colonies aren't going to swarm, then a curious bee isn't cause for anyone to panic.

 

[Chris Luck]

Strong perfumed body spray.

Chris

 

[For want of a better word]

Hi LJ,
I think you may have something there. A so called stink bomb would have done for my purposes last summer. Where does one get one of those!

iron filings + sulphur.. heat... gets very hot
cool

Add sulphuric acid..... = hydrogen sulphide gas

used in food industry as a disinfectant/anti oxidant... stinks

I would not advise anyone to attempt to make it without a fume cupboard and full safety kit... please

 

[peteinwilts]

Something wrong there if your rope is being pulled whenever anyone sees a bee stooging round their tumbledown shack ...

Wouldn't it be better to be looking at the hive end of things? - if the colonies aren't going to swarm, then a curious bee isn't cause for anyone to panic.

out of the fifteen or so swarms I have caught, only one was from my own bees. I am not exactly in a beekeeping metropolis and swarms will go a distance for the right spot.

 

[itma]

out of the fifteen or so swarms I have caught, only one was from my own bees. I am not exactly in a beekeeping metropolis and swarms will go a distance for the right spot.

I don't doubt you.

I'm just trying to rationalise why Beeno would be called out every time a "scout bee" was seen buzzing round this wide-open structure, with the consequence that she is now looking to deter bees from going near it.

I think that a really good bait hive (well off the ground, south-facing, right size, smallish entrance, old comb, bit of the right lemongrass, etc) is probably a better 'insurance' than a daily spray of Lynx all round whatever cottage or barn is involved.

But if its her hive(s) near someone else's property, then I think that careful swarm control is a better tactic than any bee-repellant. Backed up by an attractive bait hive, it seems like a better way of minimising the risk of nuisance.

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
It was only one incidence and there was obviously a beek in the neighbourhood, but we did not know where, as next doors had a swarm in their bird box the previous year. Body spray it is then, so I won't need to go back for my gear in the same situation. A bait hive was not really an option as there was animals and young children involved. Thanks for your help once again.

 

[itma]

Beeno - sounds like a really good location for a bait hive!

Any bait hive should be located quite high up (garage roof?) -- certainly high enough to be well out of the range of most "animals and young children".
And of course it would be collected and hived very soon after any swarm moved in.

Think of it as a 'lightning conductor' - not increasing the chance of a thunderstorm, but dealing with the danger in a safe way.

 

[Black Comb]

Next door must have a big bird box beeno.

 

[Luminos]

I thought Lynx was supposed to attract the ladies, not repel them

 

[beeno]

Hi itma,
It was not my garden and no garage roof. I will set up a bait box in my own garden just in case, but I don't want any more hives now. I have got four colonies in three hives at the moment, so the plan is to unite assuming they all survive!

 

[Chris Luck]

Hi itma,
It was not my garden and no garage roof. I will set up a bait box in my own garden just in case, but I don't want any more hives now. I have got four colonies in three hives at the moment, so the plan is to unite assuming they all survive!

How do you manage that?

Chris

BTW, as they say, other brands exist.