I know nothing about bees.
I have the remnants of a swarm. What should I do about them?
What has happened:
Yesterday I noticed bees swarming in an old wardrobe standing against the outside wall of my house.
I lassoed it, toppled it, dragged it away, drenched it with water, knocked it apart, hosed it continually, finished up with masses of dead bees and no wardrobe, thought I was finished.
Then I found they had swarmed up onto the fascia board below the gutter on the outside of the house.
Getting late: 6p.m. Only help I could find was a beekeeper too far away to help personally but he advised me to not hose them until dark, to set off a vermin 'bomb' in the roof space to ensure they wouldn't go in there and then at dark to dress in dark clothes and give them a good hosing and they'd die in the night from exposure.
He said we couldn't be sure the queen wasn't still there and no beekeeper would want to come help me now because of that. Pest exterminators about $150 minimum to take a look.
I got the bomb, set it off, hosed them down repeatedly until dark.
This morning a small clump.
Hosed it down.
It came back.
Set off a bomb on a chair underneath it - took the kids to school.
Came back - all gone.
Later in the day - back again, another small clump.
Hosed down again today.
Tonight ( nearly 7p.m. dark in one hour) there's still a smaller clump there.
Should I stop worrying or what?
Any comments and advice will be welcome. I'm working in the dark and worried about the kids.
The friendly beekeeper told me I was lucky not to have gotten stung and it was probably because the bees were swollen with honey and find it hard to sting like that.
But these residual bees would be living off their honey and as they got slimmer they'd get more aggressive.
That's all I know.
A couple of pictures of the scene tonight on my Picasaweb thing:
Nope. Couldn't add the pics. I"m too new.
Ah well. If anyone wants to see a pic of the swarm in order to help please either PM me or post that fact here and I'll put the pics up on a website or something and direct them to it.
:)