Wasp Nest
Most people don't take the time to appreciate the intelligent design of the wasp nest for obvious reasons.
I always talk to people when I do removals and they find it hard to believe the intelligent design of a "simple bug". Humans don't have a monopoly on intelligence.
Apis Cerana, the Asian honeybee, unlike Apis Mellifera the European Honeybee, has an impressive playbook of tactics to defend their hives: hypnotic shimmering waves to warn off predatory hornets; defensive balls to roast intruders alive with their body heat; and, of course, their once-in-a-lifetime use of a stinger.
Add another weapon to its arsenal: wings. Scientists in Japan have learned that Asian honeybee guards use their wings to slap pesky ants into next week. Slow-motion video published with a study in the journal Ecology last week shows what happens when ants try to sneak into the hive’s entrance: The guard bee angles up to the ant like a tennis player setting up a mean backhand, then wing-smacks the ant so hard it tumbles end-over-end through the air as it plummets to the ground.
I completed a bumblebee rescue tonight. The nest, and it was a pretty large one, was inside of a dryer vent on the upper side of a condo. So everytime the dryer was used bunches of Bumblebees would come shooting out the vent...that's no way for them to live. I had to stick my rather large hand into a narrow tube and carefully remove all the bedding and nest itself and relocate it into a nesting box, while taking several stings and then seal up the vent to keep the returning foragers from going back inside. The box will sit there for a few days until the nest members all relocate themselves to it then be moved to a safe location so they can live out their cycle. This was the queen. The bumblebee species is the Two Spotted Bumblebee (Bombus Bimaculatus).
#mjdapiary
#beeremoval
#beerescue
#bee
#bumblebee
On today’s episode of play stupid games win stupid prizes, Dumb Ways to Die and The Darwin Awards.
This is another reason why I hate Instagram Beekeepers. They do very unsafe things without protection and have people thinking that anyone can do it..in fact a lot of people think they can. Most of us that do removals correctly are “Specialist”. Not all beekeepers can do removals the CORRECT way. Most are not insured and I’ve even heard of some giving the homeowner honey from the removal. Imagine that, honey that has been built around fiberglass installation, wood that has been treated with asbestos and mouse feces. Sounds pretty tasty, huh?
So on with my rant…. I had this guy call me Thursday. He sounded like he was in his 60s. He said that he had a swarm of bees on his soffit and wanted to know what to do. He initially said he had about 200 to 300 bees. I said that wasn’t a lot and he said he would send a picture. I’m starting to realize people don’t know how to count honeybees. The picture he sent me showed a couple thousand bees and he went on to tell me that there more bees earlier. I told him that two things could be going on. That a swarm had stopped to rest and moved on and these were the stragglers or that they had found a place to move into his home. He said that he went into the attic and didn’t see them. I told him that they would be in a cavity and not in his attic. I offered to come by with my thermal camera on the weekend and see where they were. He asks me if he could use a water hose and spray the bees that were there and get them to move on. I told him if he really wanted to get stung he could. He said that he would spray them and run once they stated coming. Seriously, this guy did not sound like he could outrun me. I told him that bees fly 35 miles and hour and that he would get stung by a few. This coming from a guy who initially asked if I could remove the bees “humanly”. So you want me to remove th
Started the morning in West Bend doing a honeybee removal and then ended the day in Fox Point doing a bumblebee relocation. These are Two Spotted Bumblebees that were nesting in a rolled up carpet. This is the second time in 2 years I've received a call like this. If you have any carpets rolled up outside, you may have a nest of Bumblebees living in it. These were moved into a nesting box for relocation. The homeowner said she got my name from a friend of hers in Illinois. I am known in other states... although it is only Illinois.
The Next removal will be set for next week Friday at 10AM. These bees have mare their home in an overhang in a house in West Bend. I was able to use the snake camera in order to get a look at them.
Advice from Mr. Worldwide.
When you’re chasing money you won't feel fulfilled, you will be unhappy, you are unhappy because life is only as good as that next dollar bill...Money is not an indicator of happiness...
Vs
When you're making money, money follows when you're passionate about what you do, work won't feel like a chore, you focus on what is important to you, you'll cherish what you already have and Life becomes simpler. Focusing on time encourages us to put our social relationships first.
WWW.MJDBEES.COM
Advice from Mr. Worldwide.
When you’re chasing money you won't feel fulfilled, you will be unhappy, you are unhappy because life is only as good as that next dollar bill...Money is not an indicator of happiness...
Vs
When you're making money, money follows when you're passionate about what you do, work won't feel like a chore, you focus on what is important to you, you'll cherish what you already have and Life becomes simpler. Focusing on time encourages us to put our social relationships first.
WWW.MJDBEES.COM
In some other groups I have seen people wrapping their hives already with those black cozy things. Personally the way Wisconsin is it's too soon for that. Generally most people will do it after Thanksgiving... we still have some 60 degree weather and Personally I'm not an advocate of wrapping hives in black. Black absorbs heat...you may think that's a good thing but here's why I beleive it's not.
The Honeybees are HVAC experts and have learned how to regulate heat and air through out the hive. Adding too much heat disrupts the natural process, in addition to adding unwanted condensation. Condensation isn't all bad. The bees will use some moister to drink in the winter, but too much can drown them.
On a day like today, it's 50 degrees out and sunny so the bees are out...what happens when it's 20 degrees and tge same Sunny? That black is going to absorb the heat making it warmer inside the hive making the bees think it's warmer than it actually is....once they head out...dead bees.
From my experience of wrapping some hives and not wrapping some, keeping a solid bottom or keeping the bottom open it doesn't matter. If you've taken care of your bees, done effective treatments, they have ample stores and the colony is healthy and strong all the extra stuff is not necessary. If you're going to use something as a wind break I suggest Refletex, something that will reflect the sun and allow your bees to do their job properly. You know what kills bees more than Varroa? A Beekeeper.
Oh the difference a day makes in Wisconsin. It was in the 60s yesterday and this morning it's 43. I decided to use my thermal camera to see the amount of heat going on in the box. The bees use honey in order to vibrate. This causes the cluster to be nice and toasty on days like this. Outside is 45, inside the box it's in the 80s.
November 6th and it's 60 degrees and sunny in Milwaukee as of the moment. Liquid feed is still going on in the backyard hives and they are out in this weather like it's August. I just pulled up a lawn chair and took it in for a while. There are probably not going to be too many more days like this. Then again it is Wisconsin, we may hit a heatwave until January.
The day started off with a trip to Riverwest where I saw a large open air hive hanging from a tree. The next trip saw me in Bayside helping a homeowner learn to live with Bumblebees....And the day ended with me in West Bend exterminating a very large nest of Wasp. Just an average day I guess....
This has been a rough week and today I was just spent and took off of work today to rest. I have a wasp extermination scheduled in West Bend later this afternoon. I get a call from a guy saying there was a swarm of bees on a peice of comb and that it looks like someone broke off the comb and threw it there. Just an odd story. I went out because he said he put the bees in a box and placed the box in their community garden. When I saw the comb it looked familiar. I've see comb like this in pictures on the side of mountains. I ask him to show me where he found it. We go to this spot under a tree and I look up and to my amazement I see this giant open air hive hanging from a branch a few feet from a squirrels nest. How many people have walked past this and never looked up? This was indeed a first. It was too high to remove without a lift so I'll just let them do their thing.
This is my most recent Bumblebee Relocation from Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The bees have been relocated to a habitat box for the past few days and as of this morning (08/09/23) they appear to be doing really well.
Today was a long one.....after I got off of work I drove to Elkhorn to the Walworth County Fairgrounds for a bumblebee relocation. Here's an FYI. When you put away your lawnmower for the year make sure to clean any grass from under it. When they pulled a lawnmower out of a shed it was covering a rather large bumblebee nest that made their nest in a pile of grass under it and ended up being dragged right to the doorway of the shed. Someone told the maintenance guy to spray them, but someone else had the smart idea to call for help....Apparently that's me..I'm Help... I relocated the nest to a habitat box and left the box so the stragglers could find their way to their new home.
As I was collecting payment, I got a call from the Eastside of Milwaukee. A woman had a colony of honeybees in her overhang. I got there and she said it had to have happened in the last day or so. I called my friend Russ to consult on the teardown and repair and came to a price on the job. This late in the year, I can combine the bees with a weaker hive. It seems like I never stop.
I was surprised by today's cutout. Russ and I started about 9AM and were before 12. It was either the smoothest, easiest cutout or I'm getting good at this stuff. Bees came out with no aggression. I set up a nuc box with cotton balls of dead queen pheromone to pick up the stragglers. We tore done the roof of overhang and kept the shingles perfectly in tact for a clean repair. Great ending to a crappy week. Happy Friday!
Ok, looks like I'm going to do another cut out next week...this time in New Berlin. I got a call tonight about a swarm on an overhang of a house. The homeowner was telling me about how yesterday there were a million bees, but today most were gone. I looked at it saw what i thought looked like orientation flights and then decided to go with my gut. I popped the snake camera in and yes...the bees were making a home in the overhang. You could even see the new white comb being built.
