# Bees in a wall down the street.



## HoneyintheRox (Apr 4, 2012)

I moved into my house in the late fall and didn't really notice anything, but on warm days this winter there were a TON of honeybees in my yard - and since I'm interested in them, I chased them down and finally found that they're nesting in the wall of a house about three doors down from me. The house had been under construction over the winter and I thought it might still be, but not only is it done, but it's now a city-owned halfway house and it's all full...which means that what I thought would be as "simple" as sweet talking the contractor into helping me take a wall down and doing a cut-out...has gotten significantly more complicated.

I worry about the city finding out that they're there and just calling an exterminator....but a cut-out especially on a second floor from the outside seems way out of my league...but I have an empty hive and would love them to come live in it.

The house had been vacant, according to my neighbors, for at least 6 years....which means that they could have a pretty significant hive in there that no one would have noticed....and that seems a little out of my league too. I'm not super sure how to proceed. Obviously, I'd like them to come live with me (and have my fingers crossed for a catchable swarm) - but I'd rather someone take them for themselves who is capable of it than the city just calling an exterminator if it's an A or B process like that. I also have no idea who to contact to even tell them what's going on...and I feel like I'd rather be the one to tell them than a panicked resident.

I don't know what the implications of a hive in a wall are - could someone nailing a picture into a wall hit honey? Could it start a fire from the wax? How big could it be?

This is a picture of the entrance:









On nice days there are TONS of bees flying in and out of the entrance, someone is bound to notice it soon if they haven't already....what's a girl to do?


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## Honeypeach (Mar 15, 2012)

If you make a point of telling whoever is responsible for the property that extermination WON'T do the trick - there may be hundreds of pounds of honey* in there that can cause later structural damage - you might establish yourself as the expert and they just might listen to you about getting a specialist to fix things.

*hundreds of pounds of _toxic_ honey if they use insecticide


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

HoneyintheRox said:


> it's now a city-owned halfway house and it's all full.


FYI, just in case you didn't already know... Halfway house = ex. convicts live there; might not exactly be the people you want to become "best friends" with.



> I worry about the city finding out that they're there and just calling an exterminator....but a cut-out especially on a second floor from the outside seems way out of my league...but I have an empty hive and would love them to come live in it.


The city will likely call an exterminator if they can't find someone on a "swarm removal list" who's willing to remove it; try checking with the police/fire dept. about getting put on the list (being on the list doesn't mean you have to take on hives you can't handle; just means they'll call you to ask you to do it).



> The house had been vacant, according to my neighbors, for at least 6 years....which means that they could have a pretty significant hive in there that no one would have noticed....and that seems a little out of my league too. <snip> I'd rather someone take them for themselves who is capable of it than the city just calling an exterminator if it's an A or B process like that. I also have no idea who to contact to even tell them what's going on...and I feel like I'd rather be the one to tell them than a panicked resident.
> 
> I don't know what the implications of a hive in a wall are - could someone nailing a picture into a wall hit honey? Could it start a fire from the wax? How big could it be?


1.) When you contact the PD/FD about being added to the "Swarm List," you could inform them of the hive's location, and that it's on city property, and likely HUGE at that time.
2.) Hive in a wall implications: Yes, they could hit honey when nailing up a picture...or worse, they could miss the nail, putting the head of the hammer through the wall and POOF our come 80,000 angry bees! Yes, if the house caught fire, the wax could melt+burn, causing the fire to be slightly harder to control. Also, if the bees are killed/die off without the comb AND the dead bees being removed; then the dead bees will attract TONS of ****roaches, and on a hot day in the summer the combs will start collapsing, leaking potentially hundreds of pounds of honey all over the place in the wall.
3.) As far as size goes, it could be plenty bigger than the 4'x5' hive I'm attaching a couple pics of; pretty sure this one was only 1.5-2yrs old, though I'm also pretty sure they were AHB so that could be a contributing factor to size. This one was in the wall of a small, 1-story, house in a flood-plain area, thus the pillars under the bottom of the wall. Oh yeah, and it's a "re-infestation," the property owner told me they'd had a 4'x8' hive removed from right next to there about 2 yrs ago.








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Good Luck, and be sure to enlist the help of someone experienced in cut-outs (especially ones requiring construction work) if you decide to attempt this one.


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## Keth Comollo (Nov 4, 2011)

Just do a Hogan trapout. You won't have to cut the side of the building off and you will eventually get all the bees. Win win.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

My bet is those bees are in the roof between the ceiling joists. if you pry those white boards off the face (They need to be replaced anyway) and you can get it off without damaging it fif done right. you will see the comb hanging from the bottom of the roof. You can get as much of the comb as you can reach from the outside. I also bet you won't be able to reach it all. If you have to cut away from the inside be very careful about cutting wiring or plumbing. in that house if the walls are plaster let the owner know they need to hire someone to repair it later.

I seriously doubt the government would have bees killed. I work for the state and no way they woudl have bees killed.


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## HoneyintheRox (Apr 4, 2012)

@Daniel Y - The roof is a another whole story up (its a three floor house) unless you think they're in the bay? But also it's pretty clear that the hole goes straight back into the wall. I'm feeling less and less qualified.

@robherc - the price of home ownership in Boston in your early 30s is generally unsavory neighbors, unfortunately. That's actually the third halfway house the city has put on our street - which there is a conspiracy theory about that I'm not long winded enough to bore you with. I live in the ghetto, and I know it - fortunately that means no one is going to complain about my bees, because the second they do I report their crack house, their non-permitted tent revival, the bars on the inside and outside of their windows, or the fact the they're running their utilities off of a generator on a fire escape because some meth head stole all their pipes and wires. 

Also, still no AHB in New England as far as I know (knock on wood) - I think they are feral escapees from a woman down the street who used to keep but moved away (and rumor has it left her hives, though I'm not brave enough to wander around strangers' back yards to find out - wouldn't be the first time someone was shot in broad daylight near my house).


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Wow!  The neighbor issues in post #6 make my issues about my neighbor's kid and his friends driving too fast on our common gravel driveway seem very trivial.

It seems as though the best course here would be to be prepared to catch any swarms that might get thrown off by neighborhood hives. Set up as many swarm traps as you can find locations for, and bait them with lemongrass oil (LGO). You can find lots of threads on Beesource about traps and LGO with the search function.


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## mlknigh2 (May 9, 2010)

In the picture I can't tell if that is a bay window or not. If it is and the bees are underneath the roof on the bay window that is the hardest and most time consuming cutout I have ever done. It's also one that i didn't get the queen on. Oh and I should add, the homeowner was putting on a new roof so I was allowed to tear off the old roofing to do the cutout. This can turn into a nightmare. Not saying don't do it but if this is your first cutout you may want to get someone to help you that has done these kinds of cutouts.


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## Nantom670 (Jul 29, 2011)

I'm like R Sidetrack, seeing as how they have visited your yard, place a super with just frames or topbars in it or a Nuc box with a little LGO or even just a little sugarwater sitting on top of it and maybe you will have a steady supplies of swarms until they remove the original hive, and who knows when that might be? Enjoy it while it lasts.


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## HoneyintheRox (Apr 4, 2012)

I have a KTBH in my garden that I got on a whim and haven't put anything into yet - for a while I'd had a chick feeder with syrup and Honey B Healthy in it and they were in there all the time, but then we got a big (early) bloom and they stopped visiting as much and ants were getting into it and I was not excited about that, so I took it out. I also don't want the package that I just put in the warre on my roof on Monday to get any ideas, so I'm leaving it alone for a bit. I have some LGO on order that I'll start dripping in there as soon as it arrives. My mentor thinks I'm crazy, but I'm super convinced that a swarm will move in this spring.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

HoneyintheRox said:


> I have some LGO on order that I'll start dripping in there as soon as it arrives.


LGO is very concentrated, don't use too much LGO. Here'es one thread on the issue:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...oil-application&highlight=bush+lemongrass+oil
Putting no more than 4 drops directly on the wood inside the box has been effective for me, even with "new" wood and no used comb.


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