Found some wild bees, HELP!

While I was cutting some grass(to make hay) I came across an old empty doghouse. The owner of the property was very irritated to find out that he has bees on it(sure totally neglect your land for a few years then expect it to be in pristine conditions when you return) anyways he said he wants me to kill them off( Its a shame to even dream of giving them the axe) What should I do? I asked around to find someone who would take them and I got no replies. Its been about 4 days and I really think this guy is going to chemically flush them if I dont get them out of there(My concern isnt only for bee-life...They have a nicely sized comb with what looks like 1/4lb or more of honey) Im a beekeeping virgin and Im uncertain as to how to proceed....Any advice?

Learning seems to be the only solution I can think of. Here's some things I think you may find useful from the Internet:

CrownBees in their "Learning section" has great information about bees.

United Diversity Library has a section of pdfs on Beekeeping.

The only ideas I can really think of is to lure or catch them. I'm not sure how the owner would feel about you hacking the doghouse in half or purchasing the doghouse to take the bees home. If you search around on YouTube, there are good videos on catching swarms with bait and a few done quicker but at higher risk, like shaking bees from a branch into a cardboard-box for transport to the catcher's hive at their home.

I do not think you can lure them out, but you can use smoke to make them easier to handle.

Your best bet is to call a bunch of pest control companies and ask if anyone does swarm removal. At least here in Virginia, a good many pest control companies know a beekeeper who will come and pick up a swarm for free. This doesn't sound like a swarm however, so the beekeeper will probably charge you a fee but for something like this that doesn't require any carpentry I don't imagine they will charge much (if anything). This is a much better solution than simply killing them since we need bees. There really is no good way to relocate the bees without having the necessary experience. You also have to worry in Texas about the bees being africanized, in which case they are more difficult to handle.

can you post some pics of what you can see ?

David

No I left the property and its like 30+ miles away. I can take some pictures when I go pick up the hay bales though. He doesn't care about the dog house because they no longer have a dog. he told me to just take it.(Im not certain if I would be able to just put it on the hay trailer and drive it away) I had heard that smoke calms them down....So I tried to smoke them and got attacked by 1 or 2 of them they kept bumping me on the head(didnt get stung even once though) how would I tell the difference between regular honey bees and africanized? I thought that all honey bees originated from Africa?(wouldnt that make them Africanized already?) either way I touched the dog-house just to cut around it and they went crazy. I am too ill-equipped to handle this on my own(need knowledge and gear)

Thank you DAVE BURTON for posting the resources Maybe I can gain a little knowledge....As far as gear there is always amazon right? and also this is not a swarm, they already have a hive built and are very over-protective of it.(I have been googling terminology....that last sentence made me almost sound like I knew what I was talking about

Mat Ar wrote:No I left the property and its like 30+ miles away. I can take some pictures when I go pick up the hay bales though. He doesn't care about the dog house because they no longer have a dog. he told me to just take it.(Im not certain if I would be able to just put it on the hay trailer and drive it away) I had heard that smoke calms them down....So I tried to smoke them and got attacked by 1 or 2 of them they kept bumping me on the head(didnt get stung even once though) how would I tell the difference between regular honey bees and africanized? I thought that all honey bees originated from Africa?(wouldnt that make them Africanized already?) either way I touched the dog-house just to cut around it and they went crazy. I am too ill-equipped to handle this on my own(need knowledge and gear)

Thank you DAVE BURTON for posting the resources Maybe I can gain a little knowledge....As far as gear there is always amazon right? and also this is not a swarm, they already have a hive built and are very over-protective of it.(I have been googling terminology....that last sentence made me almost sound like I knew what I was talking about

By the sounds of it they are not Africanized so you don't need to worry. Africanized Honey Bees (which thankfully are not in my area) will chase you for a very long distance and attack you in mass. Regular Honey Bees will display behavior similar to what you saw.

The smoke will not incapacitate them, it will confuse them. I am not sure if it makes them think the hive is on fire and causes them to go and grab their supplies or if it confuses their sense of smell (what they use to communicate alarm pheremones), but they are much easier to work with if they have been smoked.

I am not sure where honey bees originated in ancient times, but they were managed by civilizations as early as the Greeks and probably before. The Honey Bees most of us are familiar with originally came here from Europe and are most often Italian or Carniolans. Africanized Honey Bees were bred in Brazil but they got loose and over the years have made their way up north from there. They are more sensationalized then they deserve (I read an article that in Mexico some beekeepers prefer the Africanized ones over the Italians).

As I said, even with a proper smoker what you would be attempting is not an easy task. If you would like to do it yourself you might want to see if there is a beekeeping supplier locally (within an hour or two) so that you don't have to either A) wait on Amazon to deliver it or B) pay more in shipping than you would in gas to get it sooner. You might be surprised at how close a beekeeping supplier is. Around here some Southern States carry beekeeping equipment, but I don't know if you have those there. If I were to do it with my equipment I would go in what I call my "Beekeeping Battle Rattle" (full hooded suit, gloves, boots, sweat band, and all my tools bulging out of my pocket), smoke them well (using a smoker is more of an art than a science IMO) and remove the combs one by one and put them in empty frames with long rubber bands that I could cut off later when the bees attached the comb to the frame. After the frame was set up that way I would put it in an empty medium. Once I had transferred all the combs I would seal up the medium (multiple ways but when I transport hives I like the mesh laundry bags). You will be stung, accept it now and when if it happens (might not but probably will) you wont be as surprised. Even in my full gear I would get stung and I wasn't doing anything as difficult as what you intend to do. It hurts, but it wont be the end of the world. Just make sure you remove the stinger as soon as you reasonably can.

If any of that sounds too daunting, please remember I did suggest having a professional do it

I asked around on Craigslist and Facebook....so far nothing. I would love for a pro to do this. I accept that I will get stung eventually when handling bees, being allergic to bees doesnt help either(Granted it is FAR from a severe allergy...I just start to sneeze and sneeze then I get sleepy ) anyways I'll google around for some local stores. If I cannot find anything I might just go Rip-Shit-Riot and tear up their hive...With no protection they will have to flee. Hopefully only a small portion of them will die. Its a better solution than having them gassed right?

Everyone is at least slightly allergic to bee venom, but if you are allergic enough to have such a reaction you may wish to carry an Epi-Pen with you when you do this. If you get stung 10-15 times you might have a severe reaction.

Check out beesource.com, I think they have a forum where you can ask if anyone in your area would remove the bees.

Okay thanks I found a local guy, but he does charge(IDK the price yet Im waiting on a reply Email) worse case scenario My buddy has to pay $50. Cheaper than the price of a hospital visit and it doesnt kill off the hard little workers.