# Honey Bees in my wall



## ejagno (Jan 2, 2008)

Following Rita we spent the better part of the year rebuilding our home. A bad turn of events followed with disease, illness, severe injury and of course now 2 more hurricanes. Since Rita my garage and apartment remained heavily damaged and, other than storing some items in the apartment, not touched. Things seemed to have finally subsided so I started tearing down the garage part. I noticed alot of bees and wasp. The closer I got to the actual apartment I noticed hundreds more bees than before. I found where they are coming from. A large 220 outlet was ripped from the outside wall leaving a large hole after Rita. There was also another pipe that was ripped from the wall during the hurricane leaving another hole. Bees have apparently been hard at work because this hive is approximately 2' wide and 3 1/2' tall with thousands of residents. The honey is dripping down the inside wall of the apartment according to my son. I called the exterminator and unknown to me it's now illegal to kill honeybees so there is nothing they can do. I'd just recently purchased a jar of pure honey at a nearby farm and feed store that had the producers name and phone number on the label so I called him. He was not willing to accept the liability of tearing up someones structure to get the hive and bees out. I guaranteed him that I would sign a letter of release. Basically he has all the bees he needs so wasn't interested. I do not have any desire to ---- these bees off and won't go near them. My husband is highly allergic to bees so he's not up for it. I don't know what else to do. These bees are holding the entire apartment hostage and severely hampering this project. Any advice is appreciated. No, I can't burn it because it's actually attached to my house so demolition is being handled very gently as it is.


----------



## mzzlisa (Feb 22, 2004)

I currently have the same problem in my side attic, but our winters get cold and they will die this winter. Call your county extension office. They can give you the name of someone who can tell you what to do. I called mine and they gave me the name of a beekeeper in the area. He would have retrieved them if it was spring, but since winter is coming and the attic isn't insulated, he said they will just die on their own. Its too bad they had to choose my attic.


----------



## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

There are ways to extract the bees without killing them, and there are bee keepers out there who will be willing to come and get them. Find your local bee keepers association and they should be able to help you.


----------



## Brandr (Mar 3, 2008)

I am an exterminator in SC....here it is not illegal to kill them, BUT it is heavily discouraged...you have to have a reason.

The main reason being safety or destruction of property.

I am fairly sure that it is the same where you are located.

Whether you exterminate or move them...it will be a fair amount of work.

If exterminated...afterwards the wall would have to be rippid out to remove the hives. (that might be why the exterminator would not do it....assuming that it IS legal.

If a beekeeper moves it....he would still have to rip out the wall to do the removal.

My experience has shown that the bees won't come to him into his new hive if they are in a structure without ripping out the wall...the process is just ineffective.

Go ahead and call the beekeeper and see what his solution is.
I would appreciate it if you would let us know what happens....for my own info if nothing else...lol.

Good luck!


----------



## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

One more time.

If you put your location in your profile, someone may be able to help you.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Check out this site for a list of bee keepers by state who do removals and gather swarms.

http://www.ebeehoney.com/swarmremovalmap.html

Also like some one suggusted call the county extention office, local USDA office Animal control office and county sherrifs office.
We are listed at all the above locations.

We also at this time are only making appointments to remove bees in mid May 2009. It takes us and adverage of 4 hours to remove bees from a building. In many cases it isn't easy work, it is hot and sticky. I won't do them now just for the reason they would not live thru winter and I am not in the bussness to kill bees.

 Al



 Al


----------



## Brandr (Mar 3, 2008)

I forgot that this forum has beekeepers...I am sure their experience will speak for them.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I have to agree on this one.
Iddee One more time.

If you put your location in your profile, someone may be able to help you. 

Bee keeping in the north is a lot different than in the south east, south west and west.

I can tell you what we do here in Michigan and some one else can tell you what to do in Alaska so who is right?
Really we both are for our area.

One other thing, Just because they are in your uninsulated attic does not mean they will die over the winter.
They have a wind break that is better than many of our hives have. They do have some heat that radiates thru the ceiling which our hives do not. They also in many cases have a dark shingled roof to asorb heat to warm the attic too which our hives do not have.
They also have great ventilation in the attic.
So only spring will tell if your colony of bees in the attic died or not.

One thing for sure!! There will be a lot of bees going in there come spring to rob the combs out if they did die. It will also be an invatation to a spring swarm to move in where there is already comb for them to build upon.

 Al


----------

