Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Bees in the house  (Read 3858 times)

Offline tillie

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1740
  • Gender: Female
  • Bee in N Georgia on a Blackberry flower
    • Linda T's Bees
Bees in the house
« on: May 14, 2006, 01:33:20 am »
I've just had my almost daily experience of finding a bee in the house.  

My hives are on my deck about 10 feet from the door into my sunporch.  I try to make sure that there are no bees on my clothes before I come inside, but I am obviously not always successful.

So far I've ignored them and several days later found a body somewhere in my kitchen.  Tonight I was watching TV and the only light in the room was my Ott light (which mimics sunlight).  Suddenly there was a bee interested in the light.

I realize the ongoing solution is to make sure that I come into the house with no bees on my clothing - I do take my beesuit on and off outside beside the hives.  Most of these bees have come in when I've gone out to watch them in my regular clothes (and I'm NOT taking those clothes off on the deck in view of anyone in the neighborhood before coming inside!)

Any helpful hints for how to help the bee leave the house?

I don't want to make her mad by shooing her out of the house and I feel guilty every time I find a dead body.

Linda T in Atlanta  :cry:

manowar422

  • Guest
Bees in the house
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2006, 01:51:43 am »
Being charged with indecent exposure is not worth the life of a
couple of bees for sure :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Would you be wearing any smell good stuff like shampoo/conditioner
or perfume? My bees don't land on me long enough to be carried in
the house (30 feet from back door). Could be clothes dryer sheets
or fabric softener (they often cause clothing to have a perfumed smell)

Offline tillie

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1740
  • Gender: Female
  • Bee in N Georgia on a Blackberry flower
    • Linda T's Bees
Bees in the house
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2006, 01:57:36 am »
I'm not a perfume wearer and don't use fabric softener - I do put "stuff" in my hair to make it do what I'd like it to but it doesn't have much of a smell - maybe that's what attracts them.....

Given that they do come in, any ideas for how to get them out or when they enter with me, should I just look at that bee as a suicidal bee?

Gosh, bees in the house vs. hair that isn't flat and straight.....the problems of the female beekeeper are certainly complex.... :?



Linda T in Atlanta

Offline Brian D. Bray

  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Heavenly Beekeeper
  • Galactic Bee
  • ********
  • Posts: 7369
  • Gender: Male
  • I really look like this, just ask Cindi.
    • http://spaces.msn.com/thecoonsden
Bees in the house
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2006, 04:45:48 am »
Bees on the deck, they're almost house guests to bad the sleep-overs are proving fatal.  The solution, unless you live in multiunit housing, is to move the beehives further from the door.
Life is a school.  What have you learned?   :brian:      The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election!

Offline tillie

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1740
  • Gender: Female
  • Bee in N Georgia on a Blackberry flower
    • Linda T's Bees
Bees in the house
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2006, 09:50:22 am »
So far, the suggestions have to do with the location of the hive.

I just checked and the hives are 16 feet from the door.  Really I need to leave them on the deck - I have a backyard, but if I put them in the yard, my yard guys won't mow the grass for me - they've declared that definitively - and selfishly, I love watching the bees from my table on the sunporch while I eat my meals.

I've had squirrels in the house, a wren in the house, and I was able to use controlled pathways for the squirrel to get him out and a broom waving while all possible doors were open to get the wren out.  Moths, ants, etc are all visitors that I ignore.

Given that the hives aren't going to move, I'd love to know if anyone has an idea for how to get the bee out without killing her or letting her starve or die of loneliness which is the current situation.

Linda T in Atlanta

Offline randydrivesabus

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1072
Bees in the house
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2006, 10:31:43 am »
i havent had any bees in my house...well maybe a couple on my clothing and then i can just go outside and brush them off.
but we seem to get a fair amount of wasps in the house. i trap them inside a drinking glass by covering them with the glass when they land on a window. i then slip a piece of paper between the open end of the glass and the window. i then move it all outside and release the little beast.
while i dont at all mind killing flies and ants i try to remove wasps and spiders without the final solution.

Offline tillie

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1740
  • Gender: Female
  • Bee in N Georgia on a Blackberry flower
    • Linda T's Bees
Bees in the house
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2006, 10:35:56 am »
Thanks, Randy - I'll see if I can try that.  Last night when the most recent bee announced her presence, I was drinking a glass of sherry.  I thought that maybe she would like to imbibe and then I could take the glass and her out on the deck, but she was more interested in the light!

I did see a bee on the kitchen counter on Friday night - possibly the same bee and I could have used your method - I'll try it the next time.

Linda T

Offline randydrivesabus

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1072
Bees in the house
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2006, 11:13:45 am »
btw....i use an empty glass.   :lol:

Online Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19832
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Bees in the house
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2006, 02:47:16 pm »
I use a glass glass and an envelope or a piece of paper to catch them and take them outisde if they are on the window and it's easy.  Otherwise I ignore them.  :)
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Offline tillie

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1740
  • Gender: Female
  • Bee in N Georgia on a Blackberry flower
    • Linda T's Bees
Bees in the house
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2006, 02:54:09 pm »
Thanks, Michael and Randy.

Funny guy, Randy  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  

Michael, I think your website is wonderful - so helpful and with such good pictures.  I take heart every time I visit it that maybe I will figure all of this out, with your good help.

Linda T in Atlanta

Offline rsilver000

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 61
Bees in the house
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2006, 03:59:02 pm »
There is a vacuum power bug sucker-up device that I recently saw in a skymall magazine on a recent flight.  Cool looking device, but I have never seen one up close and personal.  I seem to recall that it allows you to release them unharmed.
Seems a bit high tech to me but it may be an easy way to deal with the problem if you don't want to run around the house with a glass and a piece of paper.
Rob
The irony of life is that, by the time you're old enough to know your way around, you're not going anywhere.

Offline tillie

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1740
  • Gender: Female
  • Bee in N Georgia on a Blackberry flower
    • Linda T's Bees
Bees in the house
« Reply #11 on: May 22, 2006, 10:50:58 am »
Wow, randydrivesabus - I just had the pleasure of trapping one of my bee house guests in a glass and sliding an envelope under it and then releasing her frustrated self outside!  

Made me feel so much better - especially after I squashed at least 10 bees yesterday when I put the extremely heave medium super back on the hive - I couldn't slide it back on because there was burr comb sticking up about 2 inches.

Thanks for the great suggestion about trapping the bee.

Linda T in Atlanta  :)

Offline randydrivesabus

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1072
Bees in the house
« Reply #12 on: May 22, 2006, 01:01:32 pm »
i hate squashing the bees too.

 

anything