Bumblebees in my house! Help!
 

Hello, I am looking for a few answers that I was hopign you could help
me with.

I live in Ontario, Canada, and have discovered that I have a nest of
bumblebees living in the wall of my house. I am sure they are
bumblebees (not honeybees, carpentar bees, etc.). I am guessing they
are living in the insulation on the inside of of the brick wall where
the basement was finished ( I can hear them buzzing).

Unfortunately, many of them were making their way into the house. I
have a dog, cat, and pregant wife who have never been stung so I had
to call an exterminator.

The exterminator used a white powder called Ficom D and sprayed it
into the hole in the bricks (from the outside) where the bees were
going. After a few hours most of the bees that were outside of the
nest gave up and moved on.

The exterminator (who was not too helpful in the advice department)
used a misting bottle and sprayed something a little bit inside, close
to where we thought the nest is but not right on it. We have a bunch
of openings in the wall for access to the hot water pipes etc. The
exterminator told me to get some screen door mesh and put it over
these openings so the bees can't get out.

Well, I got half way putting up the mesh (about an hour after the
exterminator left) when about a dozen bees came dropping out of the
openings (about 1 every 5 minutes for about an hour). I killed them
and eventually got the mesh up.

Just when I thought the worst was over, I went out for a few hours
this afternoon and found 2 in the kitchen, 6 on the stairwell from the
basement to the kitchen (near the door with a window in it), and
another 5 in the basement.
I opened the door and let the ones by the door fly out, and killed the
other 10 or so. I reinspected the basement and put more mesh up and
plugged a few other possible holes, but I can't be sure where they are
coming from.

In summary I killed about 15 of them before the exterminator came, and
about 30 of them since. Obviously, their hole to the outside is
plugged with poison dust so they are trying to find another way out
and making their way into my house even faster than before, when the
odd straggler came in. It's nighttime now so they are not very
active. Fortunately none of us have been stung.

Here are my questions:

1) It's been about 36 hours since the exterminator left. Have I seen
the worst of the bees inside? How long should it take for them to
die?

2) Is this a normal exterminator experience? I've spent $150 getting
some dust sprayed in the wall, and have had to contend with a bunch of
angry bees in my house, a ruined long weekend. Did I get the shaft?
What does someone have to do or pay to get something done right?

Any thoughts or suggestions??

P.S. I know bees are very beneficial to the environment and are not
aggressive uless provoked, but like I said I had no choice given that
many were coming into my house, and with a pregant wife plus a curious
dog and cat I had to do something. I hate killing them.

Thanks!

On 6 Sep 2004 19:42:12 -0700, (Dirk Puslich)
wrote:


Any thoughts or suggestions??


I had a yellowjacket nest that I couldn't reach with instruments or
chemicals. What I did eventually was to use an old badminton racquet
to kill them as they flew into or out of their nest. Kill enough
workers and the nest won't be able to survive. It took only three
days of effort, with each session taking about 20 minutes because by
20 minutes there wouldn't be any insects to kill. A dead nest seems
to be a deterrent against future nest building.

Using a badminton racquet was very effective because of the large
striking surface. It had the right reach whereby hitting the insect
was pretty much instinctive and unlikely to miss. I was able to hit
two or three with one stroke and often strike another one on the
recovery stroke. The insect was cut cleanly and never had the chance
to send any alarm or chemical signals to the nestmates. There wasn't
an instance where a yellowjacket tried to sting me or was aware of the
killer racquet being used. Because they were cut so cleanly they were
easy to clean up.

Like you said, anywhere else but in the house I would have gladly left
them alone as some of God's creatures.

On 6 Sep 2004 19:42:12 -0700, (Dirk Puslich)
wrote:

:) 1) It's been about 36 hours since the exterminator left. Have I seen
:) the worst of the bees inside? How long should it take for them to
:) die?

It can be hit or miss dealing with bees inside a wall. Ficam is very
effective treatment with bees, but if it didn't get to the heart of
the nest it may be possible for them to just abandon the area they
were using as an exit and exit somwhere else...sometimes the interior
of the house. Even if the nest will die out on the first application,
a number of the bees or in a protected cell turning into an adult...as
they emerge they may continue to be seen until they die...might last a
couple of weeks.

:) 2) Is this a normal exterminator experience? I've spent $150 getting
:) some dust sprayed in the wall, and have had to contend with a bunch of
:) angry bees in my house, a ruined long weekend. Did I get the shaft?
:) What does someone have to do or pay to get something done right?

The surest way to know you got to the nest would be to have the wall
opened up and to remove/treat the nest. You may pay over $400 for
that...treating as you have done probably averages $100-$150, but if
he used Ficam D, he used what is most thought of being the best to use
in the PC industry and just treating by that method is probably the
more common way to treat.




Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!


It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

On 6 Sep 2004 19:42:12 -0700, (Dirk Puslich)
wrote:

Hello, I am looking for a few answers that I was hopign you could help
me with.


Here are my questions:

1) It's been about 36 hours since the exterminator left. Have I seen
the worst of the bees inside? How long should it take for them to
die?

Bumble bees nests have 30 -40 bees each so it sounds like you have
gotten most of them.

2) Is this a normal exterminator experience? I've spent $150 getting
some dust sprayed in the wall, and have had to contend with a bunch of
angry bees in my house, a ruined long weekend. Did I get the shaft?
What does someone have to do or pay to get something done right?


Any thoughts or suggestions??

P.S. I know bees are very beneficial to the environment and are not
aggressive uless provoked, but like I said I had no choice given that
many were coming into my house, and with a pregant wife plus a curious
dog and cat I had to do something. I hate killing them.

Thanks!

Any thoughts or suggestions??

P.S. I know bees are very beneficial to the environment and are not
aggressive uless provoked, but like I said I had no choice given that
many were coming into my house, and with a pregant wife plus a curious
dog and cat I had to do something. I hate killing them.

Thanks!

A vacuum cleaner would pick up the stray bees. Closing the points
where they acess the house would be the first step, putting pesticides
in the house with a pregnant wife would not be a first choice.
I think the pesticide resmethrin would have been a better choice than
ficam but I am not an exterminator.

I have heard of people putting a powered up mower over a wasp nest in the ground.
I am surprised they didnt use smoke to just encourage the bees to move.
you can use a vacuum cleaner ... put a few moth balls in the paper sack or dirt
holder OR dont put it in the sack and dump the bees outside.
a friend had a similar experience in her apt right before she moved out. I really do
wonder about the nest full of honey and the fungus that will start to grow on the
residue. Ingrid


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

We have had a few cases of people with honey bees building nests in walls
aand in a cieling. The nests were huge, especially the cieling one where it
was so heavy it made the sheetrock sag about 4 feet down into the room. The
people would find dead bees in the house and honey would drip from it. In
all the cases they called some people who raised bees and they came and took
the bees away. The people were left to clean up the hive. Personally I
can't see why they left it so long it made the cieling sag to the point they
couldn't walk under it. I imagine they had ants too with all that honey
dripping around. It was on the news one night and the pictures of it kind
of stuck in my mind, not to mention the sound of all those bees you could
hear when the news crew were filming the hive.

Shell
(who is allergic to bees)


wrote in message
...
I have heard of people putting a powered up mower over a wasp nest in the
ground.
I am surprised they didnt use smoke to just encourage the bees to move.
you can use a vacuum cleaner ... put a few moth balls in the paper sack or
dirt
holder OR dont put it in the sack and dump the bees outside.
a friend had a similar experience in her apt right before she moved out.
I really do
wonder about the nest full of honey and the fungus that will start to grow
on the
residue. Ingrid


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

"Dirk Puslich" wrote in message
om...
Hello, I am looking for a few answers that I was hopign you could help
me with.

I live in Ontario, Canada, and have discovered that I have a nest of
bumblebees living in the wall of my house. I am sure they are
bumblebees (not honeybees, carpentar bees, etc.). I am guessing they
are living in the insulation on the inside of of the brick wall where
the basement was finished ( I can hear them buzzing).

Unfortunately, many of them were making their way into the house. I
have a dog, cat, and pregant wife who have never been stung so I had
to call an exterminator.

The exterminator used a white powder called Ficom D and sprayed it
into the hole in the bricks (from the outside) where the bees were
going. After a few hours most of the bees that were outside of the
nest gave up and moved on.

The exterminator (who was not too helpful in the advice department)
used a misting bottle and sprayed something a little bit inside, close
to where we thought the nest is but not right on it. We have a bunch
of openings in the wall for access to the hot water pipes etc. The
exterminator told me to get some screen door mesh and put it over
these openings so the bees can't get out.

Well, I got half way putting up the mesh (about an hour after the
exterminator left) when about a dozen bees came dropping out of the
openings (about 1 every 5 minutes for about an hour). I killed them
and eventually got the mesh up.

Just when I thought the worst was over, I went out for a few hours
this afternoon and found 2 in the kitchen, 6 on the stairwell from the
basement to the kitchen (near the door with a window in it), and
another 5 in the basement.
I opened the door and let the ones by the door fly out, and killed the
other 10 or so. I reinspected the basement and put more mesh up and
plugged a few other possible holes, but I can't be sure where they are
coming from.

In summary I killed about 15 of them before the exterminator came, and
about 30 of them since. Obviously, their hole to the outside is
plugged with poison dust so they are trying to find another way out
and making their way into my house even faster than before, when the
odd straggler came in. It's nighttime now so they are not very
active. Fortunately none of us have been stung.

Here are my questions:

1) It's been about 36 hours since the exterminator left. Have I seen
the worst of the bees inside? How long should it take for them to
die?

2) Is this a normal exterminator experience? I've spent $150 getting
some dust sprayed in the wall, and have had to contend with a bunch of
angry bees in my house, a ruined long weekend. Did I get the shaft?
What does someone have to do or pay to get something done right?

Any thoughts or suggestions??

P.S. I know bees are very beneficial to the environment and are not
aggressive uless provoked, but like I said I had no choice given that
many were coming into my house, and with a pregant wife plus a curious
dog and cat I had to do something. I hate killing them.

Thanks!

My only episode of this type were honey bees who had taken up residence
between the ceiling and second floor. An exterminator passed on the job and
a bee keeper did no good either. I found the exit/entrance they were using
and every day at dusk I would dust the inside with a garden duster with
Sevin and sprinkle more at the entrance. It took a few days but it worked
and when they dwindled to just a few bees, they left. Lotsa bee bodies on
the ground.

I'm surprised you haven't been stung yet. Are you sure they are not
carpenter bees? The look somewhat alike but carpenter bees do not sting.
Thaey don't even have a stinger.

"James" wrote in message
...

"Dirk Puslich" wrote in message
om...
Hello, I am looking for a few answers that I was hopign you could help
me with.

I live in Ontario, Canada, and have discovered that I have a nest of
bumblebees living in the wall of my house. I am sure they are
bumblebees (not honeybees, carpentar bees, etc.). I am guessing they
are living in the insulation on the inside of of the brick wall where
the basement was finished ( I can hear them buzzing).

Unfortunately, many of them were making their way into the house. I
have a dog, cat, and pregant wife who have never been stung so I had
to call an exterminator.

The exterminator used a white powder called Ficom D and sprayed it
into the hole in the bricks (from the outside) where the bees were
going. After a few hours most of the bees that were outside of the
nest gave up and moved on.

The exterminator (who was not too helpful in the advice department)
used a misting bottle and sprayed something a little bit inside, close
to where we thought the nest is but not right on it. We have a bunch
of openings in the wall for access to the hot water pipes etc. The
exterminator told me to get some screen door mesh and put it over
these openings so the bees can't get out.

Well, I got half way putting up the mesh (about an hour after the
exterminator left) when about a dozen bees came dropping out of the
openings (about 1 every 5 minutes for about an hour). I killed them
and eventually got the mesh up.

Just when I thought the worst was over, I went out for a few hours
this afternoon and found 2 in the kitchen, 6 on the stairwell from the
basement to the kitchen (near the door with a window in it), and
another 5 in the basement.
I opened the door and let the ones by the door fly out, and killed the
other 10 or so. I reinspected the basement and put more mesh up and
plugged a few other possible holes, but I can't be sure where they are
coming from.

In summary I killed about 15 of them before the exterminator came, and
about 30 of them since. Obviously, their hole to the outside is
plugged with poison dust so they are trying to find another way out
and making their way into my house even faster than before, when the
odd straggler came in. It's nighttime now so they are not very
active. Fortunately none of us have been stung.

Here are my questions:

1) It's been about 36 hours since the exterminator left. Have I seen
the worst of the bees inside? How long should it take for them to
die?

2) Is this a normal exterminator experience? I've spent $150 getting
some dust sprayed in the wall, and have had to contend with a bunch of
angry bees in my house, a ruined long weekend. Did I get the shaft?
What does someone have to do or pay to get something done right?

Any thoughts or suggestions??

P.S. I know bees are very beneficial to the environment and are not
aggressive uless provoked, but like I said I had no choice given that
many were coming into my house, and with a pregant wife plus a curious
dog and cat I had to do something. I hate killing them.

Thanks!

My only episode of this type were honey bees who had taken up residence
between the ceiling and second floor. An exterminator passed on the job
and
a bee keeper did no good either. I found the exit/entrance they were using
and every day at dusk I would dust the inside with a garden duster with
Sevin and sprinkle more at the entrance. It took a few days but it worked
and when they dwindled to just a few bees, they left. Lotsa bee bodies on
the ground.

I'm surprised you haven't been stung yet. Are you sure they are not
carpenter bees? The look somewhat alike but carpenter bees do not sting.
Thaey don't even have a stinger.




Sevin does a good job of geting rid of bees and wasp. You can usually dust
it right on a wasp nest without upsetting them. I like the 10% kind when I
can find it.

Thanks everyone for your help so far. Here's an update of where
things are, if you are interested or have any further thoughts:

1) It's now been 3 days (72 hours) since the exterminator left. The
Ficam D was sprayed into the wall on Sunday. On Monday night I posted
my first message after killing several bees.

3) On Tuesday (after 48 hours) I came home from work and found/killed
another 12 or 13 bees. I called the exterminator and asked if this
was normal. He said it could take up 4 days or so for them to go
away. He also said that the hole shouldn't have been plugged (their
mistake) and I should stick a screwdriver into it to make sure they
can get out. I did this but I'm pretty sure it's still clogged with
the Ficam D because the hole is so deep in the wall and he pumped tons
of it in (and they are still coming into my basement)

4) Today (Wednesday) I went home mid afternoon and found 4 in my
dining room, quite healthy (before my newspaper attack), and another 4
in the basement (right below the dining room where the nest is) quite
sickly - floundering around on their backs - presumably from the Ficam
D. I called the exterminator again and asked if this is normal. They
were fairly dismissive and said "Oh, it can take at least a week,
don't worry". Gee thanks.

This really sucks.

I am guessing that the bees that are coming out into my house now are
new "hatchlings". They are almost all smaller workers. I killed two
huge ones before the exterminator came (Queens??? Unfertilized
Queens???)

Anyone have any words of wisdom, or think that the worst is over?

Cheers









(beekeep) wrote in message ...
On 6 Sep 2004 19:42:12 -0700, (Dirk Puslich)
wrote:

Hello, I am looking for a few answers that I was hopign you could help
me with.


Here are my questions:

1) It's been about 36 hours since the exterminator left. Have I seen
the worst of the bees inside? How long should it take for them to
die?

Bumble bees nests have 30 -40 bees each so it sounds like you have
gotten most of them.

2) Is this a normal exterminator experience? I've spent $150 getting
some dust sprayed in the wall, and have had to contend with a bunch of
angry bees in my house, a ruined long weekend. Did I get the shaft?
What does someone have to do or pay to get something done right?


Any thoughts or suggestions??

P.S. I know bees are very beneficial to the environment and are not
aggressive uless provoked, but like I said I had no choice given that
many were coming into my house, and with a pregant wife plus a curious
dog and cat I had to do something. I hate killing them.

Thanks!

Get in touch with the pest control licensing agency and talk to someone there.
If the operator did something wrong, someone on the licensing staff will take
action.

Here in North Carolina, the Structural Pest Control Board is located in the
State Department of Agriculture.

In sci.agriculture.beekeeping Dirk Puslich wrote:

4) Today (Wednesday) I went home mid afternoon and found 4 in my
dining room, quite healthy (before my newspaper attack), and another 4
in the basement (right below the dining room where the nest is) quite
sickly - floundering around on their backs - presumably from the Ficam
D. I called the exterminator again and asked if this is normal. They
were fairly dismissive and said "Oh, it can take at least a week,
don't worry". Gee thanks.

One thing I would suggest is not to use a newspaper to try and kill
bees or wasps. In my experience, they are pretty hard to crush,
and wacking at them just makes them mad.

A much safer method of dispatching bees or wasps is with a good
pair of scissors. Just creep up on them, and *snip*, all done.
A clean hit will cut them in half, making them harmless. And if
you miss, you probably will barely even disturb them, while a
partial hit is likely to cut off a wing so that they can't come
after you even if they want to. If you are good, you can even
cut them in half in midair!

This really does work. I've killed hundreds of wasps this way,
and never had one of them come after me. In contrast, the few
times I tried a rolled-up newspaper or flyswatter, they *always*
came after me.

--
Tim Eisele

On 8 Sep 2004 13:41:25 -0700, (Dirk Puslich)
wrote:

:) I am guessing that the bees that are coming out into my house now are
:) new "hatchlings". They are almost all smaller workers. I killed two
:) huge ones before the exterminator came (Queens??? Unfertilized
:) Queens???)
:)
:) Anyone have any wo

It might be two weeks before all the pupating bees have emeregd...it
will probably be the 3, 4, 5 each day...if you enter the home/basement
and there are a lot all over the place would mean they exterminators
only got close to the nest and now the bees have had to abandon there
nest area to look for another.



Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!


It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 11:13:32 -0400, "James" wrote:

:) I'm surprised you haven't been stung yet. Are you sure they are not
:) carpenter bees? The look somewhat alike but carpenter bees do not sting.
:) Thaey don't even have a stinger.


It's only the male carpenter bee (other bees too) that has no stinger
...the females can sting but normally won't.


Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!


It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

I was saddened by the aweful situation you and your wife are in. I
hope you're all okay. Bumble bees are generally very easy going
compared with honeybees and some wasps. They'd have to be really
harassed before stinging. I'm sure bumping against a window all day
would have ****ed them off. They probably wouldn't have gone into
your house at all if their nest entrance wasn't plugged.

At this time of the year, as you've noticed, new ones are emerging
from their hives to mate and hibernate. Bumble bee colonies, unlike
honey bee colonies are formed yearly. They leave their nests in
autumn to mate then hibernate. They usually hibernate under trees and
shrubs so in future, wait until October when all the new bees will
have emerged and left. Once gone, get some expanding foam and
caulking to seal their former nest entrance.

Here's a good site for info on bumble bees:

http://www.bumblebee.org/