Help, there are bees in the wall of our house!

[jazzcat]

I discovered bees coming in and out of the top of a door frame that goes from our garage to the deck today. We waited until dark to spray and get rid of them only to discover that they are in the wall of our garage. It sounds like there are hundreds of them because after we banged and the wall and got them upset you could stand five feet away from the wall and still hear the buzzing - very loudly.

This has me a little scared. What do we do? Call an exterminator? I can't tell what they are but they look a lot like honey bees but a little smaller maybe. The only thing is they fly around kind of sporatic like yellowjackets but they don't look yellow enough to be them. I'm going to have nightmares tonight.

[catnapper]

Yuck! Can you smoke them out? Maybe light a small charcoal grill in the garage with something that'll cause a lot of smoke? Maybe the smoke will get into the cracks and make the bees leave?

Otherwise, I'd be on the phone with an exterminator first thing tomorrow morning! Now I'm all itchy from thnking about gobs of bees crawling around! I'm highly afraid of bees! More so than spiders! :eek:

[CatDad]

I would call an exterminator. If you can get a recomendation that is the best way to find one.

He will be able to get rid of them and may be able to let you know if you need to be worried about anything else.

I don't think it is cheap though.:(

I had one come out a few years ago to take care of yellow jackets in the attic and it was about 110. However, I did not have to worry about them anymore.

[Tonya]

Yucky! I'd call the exterminator. You don't want the problem to get out of hand!

[shais_mom]

I would call an exterminator asap!! If they are in the walls of the house you might have some serious trubble!!
My boss told a story of people she knew sold a house and when the new people bought it they heard this strange buzzing/humming noise and when they went to remodel they found a hive the size of a bushel basket!!!

[jazzcat]

Sounds like we may be in for a big expense to take care of this.

I've been reading online and it says the constant buzz or humming sound is the bees fanning their wings to cool the honey. Yikes, honey!! It also says that you must remove the comb and honey or it will run all over your walls and structure and will stain interior walls and rot wood. Great!:rolleyes:

I'm going to call my county extention agent in the morning because everything I've read online says that most exterminators won't touch this kind of job and that I will have to find someone who works in beekeeping and also carpenters to do this.

I just don't know how they could have moved in this quickly. I use this door almost daily but because of rain and being busy I haven't gone out that way much in the past week. I guess they've had up to a week to build a nest. We've lived here for exactly 11 years this Saturday and never had any problem like this before.:(

Whatever we do I'll have my camera ready for some possibly interesting pictures.

[RobiLee]

OMG...we had the same kind of bees! I think the exterminator said they were hornets. It was awful. This was quite a long time ago. We lived in a different house then and had a wood stove. We never used it. We started noticing bees in the house every now and then. At first we just thought a bee flew in. Then there were more and more. It was freaky and scary! We finally figured out that they were coming from the wood stove. The bees had made a nest down in it. There were tons!!!!! You could put your ear up to the pipe and just hear all the buzzing going on in there. The exterminator took care of it and then removed the nest and he said it was the largest nest he had ever seen. It was huge and quite fascinating to see. You would think that they would have had to be in there for some time to have a nest that big. I wish I would have taken a picture of it. If I remember right the guy took it home with him to show people.

I would have it looked at real quick.

Robin :)

[Pam]

Years ago we woke up one morning to find a huge "ball" that hummed in our tree out front! It literally happened overnight! We quickly realized it was made up of bees and my mom called an exterminator. Like you said, they didn't want to get involved. They told us to call the township office because they often know of different types of people to handle different tasks. It turns out they put her in touch with a bee keeper who was just thrilled :rolleyes: to get them. He came dressed like an astronaut and was able to "unhook" the ball and cover it with something and then put the whole thing in the trunk of his car. You could hear crazy buzzing through the closed trunk door. :eek: He said they were honey bees and that the queen was deep down inside and everyone else was piled on top of her. :eek:

[Maresche]

Similar incident happened with my in-laws several years ago except the first exterminator who came out didn't get all the honey out of the walls, so the next year, the bees were back.

Hiring a professional is the only way to go.

[lizzielou742]

Wow, that's insane!! Hopefully someone can come take care of this for you quick. What a pain!!

[catlover4ever]

Lori....get in touch with a bee keeper...they are the best for this type of thing....like Pam said bee keepers are usually thrilled to get honey bees...it's good for their honey business....

also call your home owners insurance...this just may be covered under your policy....not positive if it will, but it is worth a shot...at least to help off set the cost if it is very expensive. --- Meg

[jazzcat]

Maybe some good news. Looks like we've disturbed the nest enough with what spray we used last night that I think they are gone. I can bang on the wall now and it is silent and I spent 15 minutes watching the opening where the were flying in and out yesterday and I never saw a bee.

I spoke to my Dad about it this morning and he said his father kept bee hives when he was young and that the bees are rather picky and would probably move on since we sprayed the opening.

Now my only concern is if they left much honey in the wall. Guess we'll have to figure out how we are going to handle that once we know for certain they are gone.

[mruffruff]

These sound like carpenter bees. I had them in my shed earlier this year. Go to www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/carpenter_bees.htm to read up on them.

Mary

[CatMama78]

OMG!!! Now I feel really sick. I would flip my lid if there were bees anywhere near my house on the inside. I hope you get this problem nipped in the bed just as soon as possible. It sounds like you made progress. Good luck! I hope those little stingers are completely gone.

[jazzcat]

I've been watching all day and they are completely gone. We will wait until dark to make sure and if so then we are going to seal the entry way which is a gap between the door frame and the siding.

I checked the link on the carpenter bees and that is not the same thing but that is what my dad has boring holes in his wooden windows. Good to know what they are, thanks.

What we had were most definitely honey bees. I feel so much better knowing they are gone. I called the county extention agent this morning and he agreed that they probably moved out from all our spraying last night. He did give me the name and number of a beekeeper who will remove them if we need it. Turns out none of the pest control companies around here will touch this kind of job, too dangerous.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

[ChrisH]

Scary! Glad to hear that they have gone now!

One year I had bees in the wall by my front door, but, luckily, they were bumblebees and harmless. On the advice of a beekeeper, once they had gone - of their own accord - I filled in the hole they were using and they didn't return.

Chris

[Karen]

My family has kept bees, it is amazing to see when they "swarm." That's how you can get a wall full or a great ball of bees in a short period of time. The new queen is born and needs to establish her own hive, so she leaves, trailed by hundreds or thousands of workers. Wherever she lands, they congregate. Bees in this state usually won't harm you, I've had them fly into me and bounce off.

Do examine where you saw them going in and out and seal it off completely.