How do I safely remove a bees' nest from my house?

[OzMan]

Insecticide. Do it at night when they are not active. I used to keep bees in Australia.

[cracker1]

Perhaps at night you could envelop the nest with a large plastic rubbish bag and take it to the forest and release ?

[Proboscis]

You might want to ask around for a bee-keeper or check a few Facebook pages - such as BEEKK - Native Beekeeping in Thailand. Someone might take away your swarm for free if the bees are the right type.

[Jaxxper]

I would go for a non lethal option. Let them get on with their lives doing the good job that bees do. As others have suggested sure you can find someone to remove them for you either at minimal cost or free.

[Chrisdoc]

"...light a small fire in the room..."
Brilliant suggestion.

Yes. Get one of the ceramic charcoal burners and put some leaves in it . It is an outside storage room if you can read.

Sent from my Nokia 2 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Just Weird]

2 hours ago, Chrisdoc said:

Yes. Get one of the ceramic charcoal burners and put some leaves in it . It is an outside storage room if you can read.

Yes, I can read, can you?  There is no mention anywhere in the OP of it being located outside...

 

"I have a bees' nest in a storage room to which I need access. The nest is at the door and if I walk past there are a lot of bees showing interest, so (reluctantly) I have decided to remove the nest.

 

The nest is approximately the size of a soccer ball and there are hundreds of bees all over it. At night they seem to sleep in a massive huddle on the nest with none of them flying around.

Therefore, I think it's best to spray the nest at night with some sort of insecticide, run away quickly and come back the next night to check it and maybe spray again.

 

What's the best insecticide readily available from HomePro?

 

What's the best technique for killing the bees and removing the nest?

 

In an ideal world, I'd much prefer not to kill the bees but I know that a pest company will kill them all anyway, and I don't have the bee suit, nor the skills to move the nest".

 

The photo of the nest that was posted after I made my perfectly reasonable comment does not indicate it's location either.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Just Weird

[andygrr]

I would light a fire in a large plant pot and put it under the nest and smoke them out. Works for me. then remove the nest.

 

[Tapster]

Thank you all for the interest and advice.

 

@Pogust

Special thanks to Pogust for the detailed information about the species.

 

After reading about them, I'm going to try the 'smoking out' technique to encourage them to move on and so that I can try the honey!!

I'll post here with photos, but don't hold your breath, it's not a high priority and they're doing no harm at the moment.

 

Thanks all!    ????

[Tapster]

PS

 

These bees, as Pogust told us, are the Asiatic Honey Bee (Apis cerana).

 

I have read that they are under attack by various factors like loss of woodland and invasion by the more efficient European Honey Bee (bloody farangs!).

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314267445_The_Asian_Honey_Bee_Apis_cerana_is_Significantly_in_Decline

 

I'm definitely not going to kill these bees and we should go to great lengths not to treat them as pests, but rather to preserve colonies where possible, or get them to move on humanely.

 

????

[Greyhat]

Have a bit of fun while you're at it.

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Greyhat

[Tapster]

@Greyhat

 

The bees are gonna love it!

[watcharacters]

On 5/1/2019 at 2:42 PM, Tapster said:

Thank for the reply.

 

I live in Phuket and there are many firms here who will remove it for me.

 

I was hoping to save some money by doing it myself.    ????

 

It'd be ashame if you killed the bees as they're so beneficial and generally harmless unless threatened.

 

You indicate being located in Phuket so I recommend you ask a Thai speaking person to call 

Big Bee Farm,  in Phuket for you.

 

We visited this company on a recent trip.

 

+66 76 367 417

Big Bee Farm Phuket, 

 

 

 

The suggestion of the smoke bomb may leave you with a permanent smoky smelling shed.     A bee handler can and would gladly do the job simply  for the bees and honey.

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by watcharacters

[khunPer]

There was an excellent advice in my home country's Tv for how to remove wasps, a wasp nest, which can be very big and full nasty angry sticking wasps.

 

If your bee nest is accessable, you might be able to use same method.

 

• At night, the bees would be inactive – sleep – so place a big thick plastic bag around the nest up to the top, and make sure the bag is securely closed by a wire-strap, or a tight string.
• Cut the nest, eventually into a second plastic bag, you close tight with with wire strap or otherwise.
• Put the whole bag in the freezer for a day or two, which will "naturally" kill the bees; "naturally" like bees die in country's with freezing cold winter.

 

Otherwise, there might be some locals that are specialists in removing bee nests.

[khunPer]

22 hours ago, Tapster said:

This is the nest.

 

It looks like they're staying for a while!

 

Might not be easy to cover and cut.
However, if its the (very) small bees, some locals might gladly remove it for having the honey – I've seen locals just taking it, not caring about the (very) small bees; bee larvae might also be a gourmet dish...

Local Thais kindly gave me this as a gift, still with some bees left.

[KhaoYai]

On 5/1/2019 at 9:04 AM, NotYourBusiness said:

I've seen Thai guys smoke a cigarette and blow the smoke over the nest, and after a few minutes of that, move it fearlessly. Give it a try before killing them.

Yep, exactly what my maintenance man did. I was amazed, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it.

[RJRS1301]

On 5/1/2019 at 5:48 PM, tifino said:

a couple of aerosol cans... not insecticide, but some super tacky spray.

I have used 3M CraftSpray - works perfectly

 

simply envelop the nest in a deluge of the tacky mist

any bees trying to evacuate, to enter... will all immediately be stuck to the nest, to each other

nothing escapes

 

the nest over the following hours will get very large! and will continue so, until there aren;t any free bees left

 

through all this, feel free to keep sparying even more

 

 

and when you have finished... this 3M stuff burns quite well

What about the bees and the environment. Bees are in short supply across the world, they are essential for crops/plants/flowers.

 Not to mention using chemicals in the environment.

[from the home of CC]

12 gauge..

[GTgrizzly]

On 5/1/2019 at 6:12 PM, Tapster said:

Thank you everyone.

????
So the "local guy" option seems best.

 

I'll see what I can do regarding local help. It sounds like it's quite a common problem so maybe someone will do it for me.

 

Leaving the nest where it is isn't an option. We're clearing out the store room and there will be a lot of human activity. Even docile bees won't like that.

 

On 5/1/2019 at 6:12 PM, Tapster said:

Thank you everyone.

????
So the "local guy" option seems best.

 

I'll see what I can do regarding local help. It sounds like it's quite a common problem so maybe someone will do it for me.

 

Leaving the nest where it is isn't an option. We're clearing out the store room and there will be a lot of human activity. Even docile bees won't like that.

Tapster, you need to read this, its very scary 

our planet and us humans would be in a lot of trouble without these amazing little creatures

Without Bees, There Would Be No Life On Earth - My Animals

https://myanimals.com/.../without-bees-there-would-be-no-life-on-earth

Without bees, There Would Be No Life On Earth. Most people don’t realize how important some animals are for our survival. Although you may not believe it, life would be nearly impossible without bees.

• Author: Taylor Hite

 

 

 

[mikecha]

On 5/1/2019 at 9:42 AM, Tapster said:

Thank for the reply.

 

I live in Phuket and there are many firms here who will remove it for me.

 

I was hoping to save some money by doing it myself.    ????

Why kill the Bee around the world they are already  declining in mass numbers the bee is one of the most important animal here in this planet to get everything to flow and produce 

 

we had one on inside the cover of the well  a local guy came with a big net on a pole caught all  put it in our big garden in a tree they still live there now have n problems with them just keep distance

evening time cut around tree when they at home 

 

lovely to see a local collects the honey sometimes

many options before killing them mate 

[tifino]

3 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

What about the bees and the environment. Bees are in short supply across the world, they are essential for crops/plants/flowers.

 Not to mention using chemicals in the environment.

these were not your run of the mill normal honey type bees; rather a larger yellow black stiped type. They are (were) the ones that invade (normal) bee nests

 

I had researched with comparisons of images online, and were quite similar to (thankfully not) European wasp.

The only difference was they did not have the furry back or the EuroW.

 

by eliminating these invaders...saves the bees

[elgenon]

There is a spray for that.

[Tapster]

Here's an update: January 3rd 2020, eight months on.

 

The nest is bigger and now we need access to the store room, so unfortunately it has to be humanely removed.

 

No chemicals, no mass extinction!

 

????

 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

6 hours ago, Tapster said:

Here's an update: January 3rd 2020, eight months on.

 

The nest is bigger and now we need access to the store room, so unfortunately it has to be humanely removed.

 

No chemicals, no mass extinction!

 

????

 

 

Get a local to smoke them at night to subdue them then he can cut the honey comb off. These are painful but not usually deadly.

[Tapster]

Yes, I've been stung a few times. No more than "mildly annoying"!

 

Our plan is to get a local to come and sort it out, and they can have any honey as a freebie.

 

Now, once the nest is gone will the bees head off to set up elsewhere?

[bankruatsteve]

3 minutes ago, Tapster said:

Now, once the nest is gone will the bees head off to set up elsewhere?

Most likely.  But I would spray the area with something that will be very unattractive to them just to be sure.

Edited January 3, 2020 by bankruatsteve