We have large oak trees in our yard, and the tops are covered with bees!
They have started to build nest on the porch and through out the yard. My
six year old is seriously allergic to the bees. I went to Home Depot a
bought some spray but it didn't phase them at all. If bees could laugh thats
what they were doing. What can I use that works and is safe around the
house. Thanks in advance
Crystal.

Crystal

I had a hive in my water meter enclosure. I tried getting a beekeper to come
out but they are hard to get ahold of it seems. On a hunch, I called the
fire department.

FD comes out. Cop comes out. Guys put on bee suits (worth the call lol) and
proceed to wet the bees down with soapy water solution from a pump sprayer.
Bees gone.



"Eric Gray" wrote in message
...
We have large oak trees in our yard, and the tops are covered with bees!
They have started to build nest on the porch and through out the yard. My
six year old is seriously allergic to the bees. I went to Home Depot a
bought some spray but it didn't phase them at all. If bees could laugh
thats what they were doing. What can I use that works and is safe around
the house. Thanks in advance
Crystal.

Crystal

My parents had a large hive in a tree that became a problem and they called
a bee keeper that removed them. After removing most of the bees, the keeper
blocked the holes in the tree that contained the hive to prevent
re-infestation. This solved the problem and I don't believe it was terribly
expensive. Since my parents live in NW Austin, I will get the bee keepers
name if you wish.

- John Eric

"Eric Gray" wrote in message
...
We have large oak trees in our yard, and the tops are covered with bees!
They have started to build nest on the porch and through out the yard. My
six year old is seriously allergic to the bees. I went to Home Depot a
bought some spray but it didn't phase them at all. If bees could laugh
thats
what they were doing. What can I use that works and is safe around the
house. Thanks in advance
Crystal.

Crystal

Eric Gray wrote:
We have large oak trees in our yard, and the tops are covered with bees!
They have started to build nest on the porch and through out the yard. My
six year old is seriously allergic to the bees. I went to Home Depot a
bought some spray but it didn't phase them at all. If bees could laugh thats
what they were doing. What can I use that works and is safe around the
house. Thanks in advance

I'm having a similar problem - we hung the hummingbird feeders about a
week ago - have seen a couple of scouts (I guess) in that time - but
suddenly today the feeders are swarming with bees drinking the nectar.

I'm going to bring in the feeders, hopefully the swarm won't nest in my
yard - with kids and dogs I worry about the Africanized (although it may
be too early for them to be in the area).

Has anyone else ever had a problem with bees and hummingbird feeders?
We've had the feeders out for years, and this is the first time I've
ever seen this occur.

I have the same problem and have had some success with garlic spray. Took a
couple of cloves of garlic and put them in the blender with some water and
then let the mixture set for awhile, strained it and put it in a spray
bottle. Just spray the feeder with the result seems to discourage the bees
but not the hummers.


"Eric Gray" wrote in message
...
We have large oak trees in our yard, and the tops are covered with bees!
They have started to build nest on the porch and through out the yard. My
six year old is seriously allergic to the bees. I went to Home Depot a
bought some spray but it didn't phase them at all. If bees could laugh
thats what they were doing. What can I use that works and is safe around
the house. Thanks in advance
Crystal.

Crystal

escape wrote:
On Thu, 07 Apr 2005 02:13:08 GMT, God Bless Texas
opined:


I'm having a similar problem - we hung the hummingbird feeders about a
week ago - have seen a couple of scouts (I guess) in that time - but
suddenly today the feeders are swarming with bees drinking the nectar.

I'm going to bring in the feeders, hopefully the swarm won't nest in my
yard - with kids and dogs I worry about the Africanized (although it may
be too early for them to be in the area).

Has anyone else ever had a problem with bees and hummingbird feeders?
We've had the feeders out for years, and this is the first time I've
ever seen this occur.


I'm not trying to be snide, but what exactly are you calling bees?

'Lil golden furry things, six legs, wings, make a humming noise. You'd
recognize one if you saw it:

http://www.greensmiths.com/images/bees2.gif

If you had a
swarm you'd know it. There are literally thousands of bees in a swarm. I don't
know of any instance of an Africanized swarm harming anyone in Austin.

Sorry, I said the bees were "swarming," not that it was "a swarm."
There were about 100 bees at each feeder, with a cloud of about that
many swirling around waiting their turn or departing.

I have three hummingbird feeders and occasionally the finches hang off them
sipping the nectar, and occasionally I see a paper wasp or a honey bee, but
swarms I have never seen. It is not uncommon to see bees at the feeders, but I
distract the bees by having an enormous selection of plants which they prefer
over sugar water.

So do we, unfortunately most were recently hammered by hail, and the
remainder are not yet in bloom.

Red wrote:
I have the same problem and have had some success with garlic spray. Took a
couple of cloves of garlic and put them in the blender with some water and
then let the mixture set for awhile, strained it and put it in a spray
bottle. Just spray the feeder with the result seems to discourage the bees
but not the hummers.



Thanks Red

- GBT

J Rob wrote:

Sounds like it could be yellowjackets. They just love sweet
stuff, such as the liquid in discarded soft drink cans. You'll
frequently see a lot of them around a roadside trash container.

They look sort of like bees but are more closely related to
wasps. Live in a big paper nest in a hollow tree or a hole in
the ground.

Um, while I appreciate the expertise this group brings to bear on the
subject, I'm reasonably proficient at field entomology. In our yard,
we've had nests of, and been stung by, just about all local species of
Hymenoptera. Thanks for the help, though.

I had a fascinating experience with the little guys, though:

We keep three hummingbird feeders (was 4 til the hailstorm), each hung
around our small deck about 10 feet from each other.

I removed the feeders Wednesday night, but Thursday morning replaced one
of them so the hummers could get some breakfast. I put the one back
that I had observed the least number of bees on the previous day.

I went out about 10AM and saw clouds of bees buzzing around where the
other two feeders had been - on one there was a large clump of the
insects at the base of the hanger attached to the rail of the deck.

But there were no bees on the other feeder.

I think this is an example of the communication/memory of the hive,
coupled with the bee's orientation/location sensing capabilities. It
was pretty cool to see them right at the spots they had found food the
previous day, but ignoring the food just a few feet away.

Had I left the other feeder out, I'd bet they would have found it
eventually.

Today there are no bees - I've put the feeder out so our birds can sip,
but am going to bring it in for a few hours to make sure no one else
finds it.

The squirrels have been seen sipping from them, too - and yes, I'm
pretty sure they're not marmosets or muskrats. ;-)

The squirrels have been seen sipping from them, too - and yes, I'm pretty
sure they're not marmosets or muskrats. ;-)

Hehe

Another scenario--summer 2000. Cedar Park.

Tree down the street on lot about to be built on. Builder thinks
re-locating bees in tree should be attempted so as not to just nuke a hive
cause it chose to live where they are building a house. Calls beekeeper.
Beekeeper arrives and messes around with tree in attempt to capture them.
He tells the builder he can't do anything and he leaves. Must have angered
the bees in the process.....

Bees now swarm and attack dogs in yard across the street and kill one. FD
comes with foam. Foam is almost ineffective--FD goes door to door warning
neighborhood to stay in and if in car keep windows rolled up.

Speculation was the bees may have been partially Africanized but not sure if
a true determination was made.

--
ie
"ride fast, take chances"


"Red" wrote in message
m...
I have the same problem and have had some success with garlic spray. Took
a
couple of cloves of garlic and put them in the blender with some water and
then let the mixture set for awhile, strained it and put it in a spray
bottle. Just spray the feeder with the result seems to discourage the
bees
but not the hummers.


"Eric Gray" wrote in message
...
We have large oak trees in our yard, and the tops are covered with
bees!
They have started to build nest on the porch and through out the yard.
My
six year old is seriously allergic to the bees. I went to Home Depot a
bought some spray but it didn't phase them at all. If bees could laugh
thats what they were doing. What can I use that works and is safe around
the house. Thanks in advance
Crystal.

Crystal