# Vicious cut-out!



## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

Got called to do a Spring cut-out today in the eaves of a local home. I suited up and walked over near the entrance and was promptly attacked by at least 50 -100 guard bees. I backed off, and they followed me across two lanes of traffic nearly a block away. These mean little girls were trying to get into peoples cars through the window cracks and sting them and seemed to be flying in groups trying to find targets to sting. I have done cut-outs before, but this was a bit too hot for my taste. They did not act like the bees I am used to working with, that is for sure. I had to get in my truck suited up and drive a block and a half away to get away from them. This hive was smack in a suburban yard too, very near a school yard. Not a good situation.

We are in an Africanised area, and I am assuming they must have been hybrids of some sort. All I did was set up my step ladder about 10 feet from the hive entrance and zap!. A dozen or so guards, yes, I expect that, but these guys were thick and trying to get into my suit with a vengeance. The lady said they they been there in her wall for several years and have never been a problem, only lately they have begun attacking people and local pets.

This may be against the Beekeepers code of ethics, but I let the pest control guy have them. I can do nothing with bees that hot. Did I do the right thing?


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

Yes, doing a cutout would have endangered all the neighborhood.


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## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

The right thing? That was the *only* thing you could do.


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## mrqb (Jul 17, 2011)

you wimp,,, just kidding...sounds bad will that make you approach the next hive slower? i say thanks, the more of those you get rid of down there the less there will be to someday make their way up my way


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## HONEYDEW (Mar 9, 2007)

I think the gambler said it best, You gotta know when to hive em and know when to kill em....:scratch:


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## db_land (Aug 29, 2003)

I think the choice to turn them over to the pest control guy is fine. I use a homemade beevac (which uses my shopvac) and have dealt with some really mean cut-outs: when the guard/field bees attack, I use the vacuum hose going directly into the shopvac at full force to remove bees from veil, etc. If they keep coming I set up the hose to eliminate every bee coming/leaving the hive entrance. After a little while, the bees give up and the cut-out proceeds pretty much as normal.


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## Beeman410 (Mar 21, 2011)

I dont blame ya man... I would have killed them my self..


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## Heartspark (Mar 18, 2011)

Reminds me of hornets that barrow in the ground and go over them with a brushhog. I think i ran faster than the cars going past the field that day. Those suckers are 1-2inch long and chase you till they die of exhaustion.


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## dixiebeeco (May 3, 2011)

Paul,
I have done several cutouts over the past 4 years and always find the "hottest" bees are the ones that someone has recently sprayed with a can of Raid, etc, and didn't bother to tell you that until afterwards. By chance, did you send any of the bees off for testing? I did a cutout last year, that was by far the hottest bees I had ever seen in SC. They were bouning off my windshield when I pulled up and was 30 yards away from the house. I called the state bee inspector and he couldn't believe the reaction and came and collected some bees for testing. Good news, was they were 100% Italian, bad news was the owner finally fessed up to spraying the bees, day after day for a couple weeks before calling me. That hive had to be destroyed much like yours. Even worse news, upon opening the wall, there were 9 queen cells and over 100 lbs of honey in the walls. 

Dixiebee


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## Paul McCarty (Mar 30, 2011)

I hated to make that call, as it cost me big $$$, but I literally could not deal with or take bees that hot. Where would I put them? They caused such a ruckus, that the fire department ended up being called the next day. They still had not calmed down. Not to mention the danger to the neighborhood. The pest control guy got them though, later that night.


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

One thing that might help if you get into a similar situation in the future:

When I'm doing a cut-out on a hive that the residents admit to me that they're already being attacked, I ALWAYS wait until sundown before starting on the hive. Once all the bees go in for the night, they're a LOT less apt to fly out and attack in coordinated groups, and it gives you the advantage of being able to approach the hive to within inches before they even know you're there...the better to smoke them & pacify the suckers a bit. Also, using a Red/Orange balloon stretched over your flashlight works well (if you have decent low-light vision) if there aren't many lights on in the area; then any bees that DO take off flying are quite literally "flying blind" and have ZERO visual landmarks to fly to (they don't register the diffuse red light from the balloon almost at ALL). Other than that, you just have to find a bee suit that fits you well, and that you can trust to be 100% sting-PROOF (ok, maybe 99.9% since nothing's ever perfect); I've done a cut-out on a HUGE hive (not mean when I first arrived, but pretty upset when I started tearing parts off the house to get to them!) in a guy's sub-floor that way w/out getting a single sting! (which is a good thing, as I'm highly sensitive to honeybee venom!!) :lookout:


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