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BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: TL on February 18, 2014, 10:00:53 am

Title: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: TL on February 18, 2014, 10:00:53 am
help!! 
I have found bees in my house at night over the last week.  They seem to be growing in numbers.  They only show up after dark and it only started happening.  I can no longer open the windows at night.  Last night I counted 12 bees bumping up against my window trying to get in.  Once they do get in they are attracted to the lights.  (I have slats on my kitchen doors so they can get in that way)  In the morning they seem very docile, I can easily catch them and put them outside.  Sometimes I find them dead on the floor. 
Today I noticed that there is a nest outside my window in a tree.  I live on the 2nd floor of a building in Goa, India.  Hot season is coming and I want to open my windows at night.

Any suggestions please??
Title: Re: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: BeeDog on February 18, 2014, 10:06:23 am
Your bees might be hungry, check the hive's food stores (pollen and nectar) if there are enough, then just face the entrance of your hives facing against the house so that they will be attracted to your house lights.....
Title: Re: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: iddee on February 18, 2014, 10:13:32 am
First, are you a beekeeper? If not, are they honeybees or some other kind of bee?
From the sound of it, they are wild bees in a tree. If so, a beekeeper would remove them for you if they are honeybees. Otherwise, a pest control company or a brave friend or neighbor may do it for you.

Beedog, check your post. I think there may be a couple of typos.
Title: Re: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: BeeDog on February 18, 2014, 05:42:32 pm
First, are you a beekeeper? If not, are they honeybees or some other kind of bee?
From the sound of it, they are wild bees in a tree. If so, a beekeeper would remove them for you if they are honeybees. Otherwise, a pest control company or a brave friend or neighbor may do it for you.

Beedog, check your post. I think there may be a couple of typos.

Sorry for the typos, I was really in a hurry that I even forgot to ask if he/she is a beekeeper. Anyway, I had my experience with my bees during dearth periods that they frequently enter inside the house each night and fly around the light bulb. I observed that their unusual flight during the evening and late nights indicates that the hive is running out of food stores and that they need to be fed. That was my observation and experience. Still on TL's situation, it could be just wild bees who are attracted to the lights.
Title: Re: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: GSF on February 18, 2014, 07:50:09 pm
I saw a you tube video on bees in India. I got the impression that it's not uncommon for bees to have an open air nest. It showed one tree that had about 3 or 4 colonies that build their hive on the underside of big limbs.
Title: Re: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: TL on February 19, 2014, 03:34:07 am
Thanks for the replies!
I am not a beekeeper and yes, it is a wild nest under the limb of a big tree.  I don't know how to tell if they are honey bees...
The hive looks to be about 7 or 8 inches long.  I never see bees during the day so I didn't even know it was there and I only started seeing them last week at sun set time they seem to be really active.
I can take some photos of the bees or the nest if that helps.
TL
Title: Re: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: iddee on February 19, 2014, 08:14:17 am
That would help. Finding a local beekeeper to come look would tell it all.
Title: Re: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: jredburn on February 19, 2014, 09:22:23 pm
Bees are hard wired to fly towards a light if they are in darkness.  You cannot change them. 
So you must remove them from the neighbourhood or restrict their access to the interior of the house.
#8 wire mesh over the windows will eliminate the problem.
Title: Re: bees flying into my house at night
Post by: Bush_84 on February 19, 2014, 10:01:26 pm
So what does the nest/hive look like.

This

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paper-Wasp-Nest.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paper-Wasp-Nest.jpg)

Or this

http://fromthehive.org/open-air-exposed-honey-bee-hive/ (http://fromthehive.org/open-air-exposed-honey-bee-hive/)