One for the bee extraction team

[Poly Hive]

Scenario.

Swarm was in a chimney last year and accessible via a bedroom vent into an ex fireplace (bricked up)

Swarm treated with Nippon and killed.

Vent opened and pest person said colony removed. (Uh huh like all the wax was got at via a 6" x 4" hole.

Woman calls me tonight to say bees are back and she is terrified and there is a little one in the house.... Reassured her that if she ain't seen bees in the house so far it's a bit unlikely but...

So all, this bedroom vent is roughly 30Ft from chimney pot. Pot is (of course) uncapped. No info given on roof but I assume it is a normal apex.

How would you proceed and why?

PH

 

[VEG]

I wouldnt proceed too much hassle

 

[Poly Hive]

Helpful...

PH

 

[Hachi]

Vent on ground floor then. Place a smoke generator insecticide behind vent light and seal vent. Let the smoke do the work.

Seal vent until this can be done then everyone safe. Had the same thing in my farm a few years back. This is how Pesty dealt with it.

 

[Poly Hive]

Vent on first floor.

I believe house is ground floor, upper floor including bedroom then attic with roof.

PH

 

[Hachi]

Vent on first floor.

I believe house is ground floor, upper floor including bedroom then attic with roof.

PH

Still 30ft thats far enough init PH

 

[Poly Hive]

It's not a good situation hence the post.

She tried a few pestos and got the drivel about protected... blah blah...

PH

 

[merylvingien]

If the vent is below the bees which it most probably is from what i can understand, as long as there is good air flow pop a smoke generator in the vent. Dont just push it through though, it will need to be held in place or it could be a fire risk. Would probably need to fashion a shroud to stop smoke pouring back into the room when it is lit.

Done in the evening this should mop most of the bees up, then advise owner to have chimney screened with insect mesh to prevent further re-colonisation.

 

[Chris Luck]

What's the issue, disused chimney = happy bees = happy family after education, great for kids, shouldn't be a problem for you.

Chris

 

[VEG]

Helpful...

PH

Its what I would do though not meant to be unhelpful, I have had a call this evening about bees in a chimney and advised to leave them alone, if they are causing no problems.

 

[merylvingien]

Believe it or not, some people dont actually want other peoples bees living in their chimney, used or not.

 

[VEG]

They had spoken to pest controller who wouldnt touch them and called other bee keepers all who wouldnt attend. I asked if they were causing a problem they said no, so I suggested to leave them alone.

 

[merylvingien]

Sorry VEG my post was aimed at chris.

 

[VEG]

No probs just explaining this particular situation.

 

[Chris Luck]

Believe it or not, some people dont actually want other peoples bees living in their chimney, used or not.

They are not other peoples bees, they aren't any ones bees, they are just bees in a chimney. So, they have a choice after the "facts" have been explained to them, such as bees going in and out the top of a chimney is no different to having a hive down the road somewhere.

Edit. BTW I don't kill bees, that's not my job.

Chris

 

[merylvingien]

They are not other peoples bees, they aren't any ones bees, they are just bees in a chimney. So, they have a choice after the "facts" have been explained to them, such as bees going in and out the top of a chimney is no different to having a hive down the road somewhere.

Edit. BTW I don't kill bees, that's not my job.

Chris

The chances are that most bees populating chimneys have come from hives.

Its well documented these days that there are very few wild bee colonies left, or is that tosh too?

So population by bees of peoples homes is down to bad beekeeping is it not?

I for one would not want any part of my house taken over by bees, even though i do keep them myself. If i wanted to sell my house i am sure having an active bee colony living in it would put off a huge amount of potential buyers. Some people are scared of the thought.

It really does annoy me how some beekeepers have a absolutley no kill policy regardless of the situation and yet most of the problems stem from bad beekeeping, most of which are just hobby beekeepers anyway. Time to up the game me thinks.

 

[Poly Hive]

Right all.

Point one.

I have spent a considerable amount of my time trying to convince this owner that all is well and she is having none of it. She has a phobia and like most young mums is terrified that the vent will suddenly burst open and the buzzies from the horror movies will emerge. She is not budging.

This is real life not some fantasy of perfect worlds.

So having taken that on board whether it is to your personal taste or not, and it is not to mine, but it is her house and her call.

So..........moving on any other ideas please?

PH

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

This is not meant to be a serious answer to this problem, but a story to demonstrate the lengths that some people will go, to get rid of a pest problem.
I met a guy that was single handing a wooden 30ft boat and we were in the tropics at the time. He had a really bad cock roach problem on his boat and had done for years. He had tried everything going on the market to get rid of them and at one point even released a couple of geckos’ in the boat hoping they would catch and eat them, but it was another failure.
He asked me one day if I would give him a hand, as he had the answer to finally get rid of the little blighters.
We sailed the boat into the shallows and anchored up. Then we off loaded anything that could be removed and shipped it over to the beach. Once that was done, he removed a hose from an underwater skin fitting and opened the valve. Within half an hour the boat was sitting on the bottom completely submerged in water. He left it like that for a week and then we set to refloating it again.
It was a drastic measure, but it did get rid of all the cock roaches...

 

[Chris Luck]

I have no idea where these bees came from and neither do you, certainly no shortage of feral colonies here in France..

It really does annoy me how some beekeepers have a absolutley no kill policy regardless of the situation and yet most of the problems stem from bad beekeeping, most of which are just hobby beekeepers anyway. Time to up the game me thinks.

Annoy you? Tant pis! You have an opinion, that's all, mercifully you don't have the right to dictate what is and what isn't good bee keeping, what arrogance!

Oh, and for all the "just hobby bee keepers" on here I say again, what arrogance!

Chris

 

[Fahey]

my suggestion is a bit cruel and drastic....block the vent and seal the chimney during the night, they may die of starvation, or find another exit, probably into the attic. Do you know how old the house is poly hive?