We're being stalked by bees. Big, bad, ugly bumblebees.
We got this 2 bedroom apartment with a small backyard back in September. We figured it would be a stretch for us, but we felt the kid should at least have a backyard to play in safely. She'd never had one before. It got cold before we could enjoy it too much. Now that the weather is getting nice, the backyard is infested with bees.
The bees must be making a hive somewhere nearby but we can't figure out where. We think it may be under the porch. These are no small bees mind you, but super fat suckers. At first, we'd be in the backyard and they'd just fly by. Thoughts of "damn, there's alot of bees lately" passed through my mind but that was all. But the suckers are smart and have decided that this is THEIR territory and they're going to fight us for it.
As of today, the bees are winning.
They're stalking the door to the backyard. Really. When we open the door to the back, there is always a bee hovering right there. Its not flying around, oh no. It's hovering. Right. In. The. Doorway. Its waiting for me to make the wrong move....mocking me... just try and come closer Chrissy. I hate being called Chrissy and since the bee obviously hates me, I know this is what he's thinking.
Hubby read online that if you spray bees with soapy water, this will weigh down their wings and they'll eventually die. Whoever wrote that article needs to be tarred and feathered because it didn't work.
Hubby filled a spray bottle with soapy water and started spraying Stalker Bee. Stalker Bee freaked out and must have called the calvary because the Backup Bee Army promplty arrived. Hubby resorted to spraying them through the window screen with no luck. Not a single dead bee. They're probably back in their hive right at this moment, planning their revenge. The queen bee is probably mapping out their strategy, in between laying 30,60-000 eggs of course (talk about fertility).
I don't know what to do next. Is this something the landlord should handle? Do I pay for a pest remover by myself? I'd really rather not have to pay for it. Do I call a beekepper who will want them since there is a shortage of bees supposedly? I would gladly learn to raise them (and their honey!) if we didn't have a 7 year old that wants to run wild in the backyard.
Or do we start The War of the Bees and duke it out til only one of us is standing or in Stalker Bee's case, hovering? I read that one of the best methods is to torch the beehive...with a torch like in the movies. Anyone that knows me undertands that Chris + fire + clumsiness = BAD NEWS! If it comes down to that, I have a feeling the bees will win.
P.S. - Just want to thank you guys for good thoughts and prayers again. They seem to be working. We got word that FIL is actually doing a bit better! We don't know what that means for the long run, but some improvement is better than none!
Also, I want to thank Rachel who has chosen my name for her new online crochet magazine. Check it out HERE.
13 comments:
Don't show fear, Bees can smell it! :) Sounds like they might be carpeter bees, and in that case I'd call the landlord. I'm sure its not an environmentally friendly solution, but we got RAID and sprayed two cans on a Head sized hive in our attic and they did eventually die.
I hope you are enjoying your back yard soon!
Call the landlord first--what's the worst he/she tells you? "Sorry, figure it out yourself?"
I honestly think it's because we haven't had much rain lately either. Bees seem to really like to show their stuff when they're thirsty. But lucky you and I--it's supposed to rain this weekend!
Argentinian recipe to make them go somewhere else: smoke. Light a small fire near the porch, and they will go away in a few days. They don´t like smoky places.
Yikes! Both of my kids are really afraid of bees, so I'm glad I've never had a bee infestation like that! I think the landlord should be responsible, since it's on his property. My husband got stung in the arm by a bee years ago, when he worked as a maintenance guy at our old apartment complex (he was cleaning up by one of the dumpsters), and it actually got infected - he ended needing antibiotics. My sister found out that her son is allergic to bees when he got stung by one at recess, couldn't breathe, and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He has an epi-pen at school now. Those bee stings can be pretty dangerous.
As far as fires go, don't be like this guy I read about in this "News of the Weird" column (some papers carry it, and it's online too) that had a bee hive in the sewer by his house, so he poured gasoline down the sewer, threw in a lit match, and the whole thing exploded and burned him pretty badly. Okay....I'm still wondering how he didn't realize gas can explode, LOL!
Good luck with the bee problem.
P.S. LOL about "Chrissy" sound like me about being called "Laurie", LOL!
P.S. My son's best friend at daycare is named Christina - he's the only boy there who will play Barbies and ponies with her, so I guess that's why they get along so well, LOL!
Glad to hear your FIL is doing better!
Re: the bees (which are horrible, I agree) I would call the landlord. Like Bezzie said, the worst they can say is "too bad" but it's a good place to start!
I would contact the landlord. springtime is the time for bees to swarm and if you get a swarm inside the house walls it can be very hard to kill them as they smell the honey in there. If the swarm is outside a beekeeper would collect them an take them away.
If I lived closed would send my partner (he is a beekeeper) but Australia is just a little too far away.
I freak out when I see bees because of my allergy but have spent 12 months having injections just to rid myself of it.
As a landlord I am sure its the landlords responsibility to remove them but laws are probably different over there.
Every few summers the bees get really bad here. They are everywhere and realy aggressive like you were saying. When that happens the entire island is covered with bee traps. They're clear yellow cylinders you hang with a piece of raw meat. The bees crawl in and can't get back out. It gets kinda disgusting because everywhere you go (outside restaraunts, parks, daycare centers) there's dead bees hanging on trees and fences. It does work for me, but who knows if it would help you much if they're housing under your porch or if you can buy the traps where you live. Here they're sold for about $14.95
Thanks for the offer to send the Doris Chan book! Can I take you up on that in another month? I've got the purse swap, then I've got to make something for mother's day. Also, I want to finish my grandma's shawl and I won a thing of fingering weight yarn on the condition that I use it up and not let it sit in my stash. That's my only reason - that I probably won't be able to get the yarn/start the project for another month or so.
Oh, and I think you asked a while ago about riding on a dark ferry. It's not that bad as it is a huge ferry with lots of people riding with you. It's more fun to see everything out the window instead of a dark black night. But I like the atmosphere on the night ferry. Everyone reads the paper/book/magazine with their coffee and the kids are too tired to yell and scream and run around too much. It's just a different feeling on the night ferrry.
LOL. Now I have to stop typing now.
We actually have the same exact problem at our house. Hovering in the doorway and everything. The ones that hover are male carpenter bees, and they don't sting. They actually chase other bugs/insects away, except for the female bees. Hubby got ours away temporarily with a powerwashing attachment to the hose. He says that bug spray will only shoo them away, but not kill them.
Hey congrats on the name thing. And I'm very glad to hear that you guys got some good news. Still in my thoughts and prayers.
I asked my hubby and neither of us have dealt with bees. I also vote with talking to your landlords. I have seen on tv be hives in the siding of the house so I would think your landlord should know and be responsible for it. Good luck and hope your having a nice weekend.
That is quite scary, but there must be a solution. I hope you soon get the backyard that you deserve.
I feel like this is total land lord responsibility and don't let them tell you other wise. Anony Joyce
I'd try the landlord first. Maybe they can help. I hate bees, the other day one was flying along my drivers side window and I about screemed and swerved until I realized it was ouside. I just sped up and left him in my dust. Good luck to you.
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