I have bees, hundreds of bees

July 6, 2008 at 7:37 pm in Uncategorized

I haz lotsa beez We arrived home this afternoon and discovered we had some hornets or wasps swarming on the patio. What? When did they arrive? Do they have a hive? Crap can you imagine what it would cost to have an exterminator come on a holiday weekend? Oh damn I can’t let them get into my walls or attic. Crap my oldest is allergic to the damn things was the among the things that ran through my road weary mind.

Luckily I remember some of the stuff my uncle did when he raised bees when I was a kid. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing I have been told.

A quick run to Home Crepot for bug spray and 2 cans of wasp hive killer (I thought it was wasps when I first saw them).

I get home and the kids run and tell Mom I am in Carl mode again. When I get rid of pests I really get rid of them. They usually have a laugh or two at my expense.

Safety first. I start with a pair of sweats and sweat shirt tucked in. Then a pair of tube socks, drawing them up tight over the bottom of the pant leg. I repeat for a second layer. I put on the double layer of “beanie” caps the boys had for skiing. I get the welder gloves with the elastic wrists and cover up the sweat shirt sleeves. Kath refused to let me dig out her veil so I had some exposed skin. They are in hysterics…the fraz looks like the Michelin man at this point. Having been stung by several wasps as a kid I was not taking chances. Did I tell you it was over 100?

Damn I get out to the patio and the swarm is thicker. I get the garden hose bug sprayer out and start misting the flying bug stuff. Little impact. So far no swarms chasing me so all is well I guess.

I get the first of the hive bombs and saturate the bar and underside of the ledge as that is where they seem to be concentrated. Hundreds start flying out and crashing. Progress. We have gone from hundreds of bees to a few dozen so I get brave. I open the door to the storage area of the bar. MISTAKE. Hundreds of buzzing critters all over the freaking place and they weren’t happy to see the door opening.

As luck would have it I had can number two ready and stepped back and opened fire inside the bar. The can ran out about the same time the last bee flying was moving. Suddenly these giant balls of bugs just started rolling out onto the ground. I got my first close look at what they were.

Oh damn, they were bees. There were honey combs under construction. I really don’t know what I would have done differently as two of my kids are allergic to stings so there was an urgency to eliminate and ask questions later. My preference would not to have taken out a hive of bees though.

The cost? 9 bucks for the flying insect and pest spray. 3 bucks a can for the hive bomb. Total 15 to be rid them. Priceless entertainment for the fam, again. At least the pests are gone.

10 Comments »

http://www.darleeneisms.la darleene

I might just pay money to see a picture of you in that Michelin Man get up.
http://www.proctorformayor.com aaronproctor

Fraz – I think you are a super hero.

I’m deathly afraid of bees. Cause I’m allergic.

I had to deal with a mini-spider invasion when I moved into my new digs this past Spring. There are trees all around my place – which is awesome because it doesn’t get super hot in the summer but sucks because spiders love to come in.

Got some spray at OSH for like $6. Huge bottle. Since I can’t spray around the entire complex, I spray around my unit about once a month..have only had to spray inside once. Still see an itty-bitty (or a not-so itty-bitty) now and then..but it’s not as bad as when I got here.

Only thing that sucks about killing off your spiders is you do see an occasional gnat or fly or waterbug..cause they would have normally been eaten by spiders.

But yeah, spiders aren’t really anything compared to bees/wasps/hornets! Scary!

- AP
http://www.proctorformayor.com
eclipse292

If people run into this with honey bees: Many pest control places or the city’s animal control service can contact a local beekeeper for you. They will remove the hive intact and take it somewhere where honey bees can safely roam free.
ollie

If you had known they were bees you could have posted it on here and I’m sure some semi-qualified apiarist would rid you of your bee problem. I buy honey every year at the insect fair from some people who produce honey in the hills near your part of town.
http://frazgomeanders.blogspot.com frazgo

Eclipse and Ollie thanks for the info. I’ll probably dig up a name or two for future refence. Ollie, do you know the name of the person selling and harvesting the honey you buy? That would probably be a good person to contact for future emergencies.
http://therealzajac.110mb.com The Real Zajac

Wow. Frazgo, for your curagous efforts, I grant you the Latin cognomen “Apoideaus” in honor and recognition of your triumph over the bees. Aaron, to you I grant the title “Araneaeus,” conqueror of the spiders. I have, through my long years of war with ants, come to be known as “Formicidaeus.”
http://frazgomeanders.blogspot.com frazgo

Dude, you are the king of latin, damn I haven’t seen that much since I was a wee lad and the mass was in latin.
http://www.myspace.com/suprdave89 daveshare

Its too bad you had to kill them. There’s been a mysterious something killing bees around the world. Experts (whom I don’t know) are worried they may not last too much longer, then pollinating of important crops may not happen anymore. Bummer.

I’m not chastising you however. You saved the day! Be sure to wear your shirt with the big “S” on it today!
eclipse292

Daveshare-

The story is obviously more complicated than that- and luckily not nearly as omnious. It’s actually a genetically modified strain of honey bees that have been dying off- serving as a reminder that the bigger the gene pool, the better the chances of survival. In America, a large majority of our honeybees are these genetically modified (and nearly identical)type. Hopefully, with some old-fashioned cross breeding, the bees will make a good comeback.

There are a lot of news stories following the developments. Google and ye shall find.
http://www.myspace.com/suprdave89 daveshare

thanks eclipse! I have a new wrinkle in my brain now!

I have bees, hundreds of bees

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