Hi all,
I just hived three new nucs. They are about 100 yards from the house and are buzzing my wife as soon as she steps out on our deck. We are wondering if we sprayed the deck rails with bee quick if it would keep them away and for how long.
Also, how soon until these bees turn into the gentle nice bees I keep hearing about?
Thanks
Lee
I don't know if I would spray it that close to my door. Are you still feeding the nucs?
they like or dislike her smell, change it
I should note they are buzzing me also. I am feeding them honey in open feeders because I didn't ave time to get hive feedrrs :(.
Something is not right here. 100 yds is a long way. I have never had bees bother me more than 30 yds from a hive. Something is attracting them to your house or to you and your wife. When you say they are buzzing you, do you mean they are head butting or doing the guard bee figure 8 in front of your face or are they stinging? If they are just foraging around your house, that does not seem like a problem. Bees are not generally defensive so far from their hive.
Are the open feeders near your house..... closer than the hives?
some of the bees are headbutting and going for our heads, some are just buzzing by us. The feeders are next to the hive there is one for each hive. We have an orchard and our house is between the hives and the orchard, I didn't think the foragers would bother us this much.
thanks
lee
Try changing your laundry and bath soap!
Scott
Quote from: hardwood on May 11, 2011, 09:49:33 PM
Try changing your laundry and bath soap!
Scott
That may actually be the problem. Strange as it seems, this is far from normal bee behavior. Do the bees act the same to visitors who have not been inside your house?
soap and shampoo were my first thought. The skeeters love my wifes shaving cream, they eat her legs up. Perhaps some scent from the house is lingering on your clothes, air freshener?
wow mine are 50 feet from my back porch and you wouldnt know I have hives unless you walk behind my garage and see them, well except for bee poop on my truck
Look around and see if you ended up with a colony by or under your Deck/house and your
right in there line of flight
Can you move the hives so your house is not between them and the orchard
Good luck
Tommyt
QuoteWe have an orchard and our house is between the hives and the orchard,
Heck we don't want to disturb the bees. Just move the house. LOL
Thats what the government would do,or else declare it a protected zone and tear your house down.
The beequick thing is not the way to go, it will wear off likely within 24-36 hours where you will have to reapply. Besides its quite an eye irritant! And a pricey repellant!
I must agree with the others here about the scent thing, I use odorless deodorant and natural smelling shampoos that don't have a lingering strong odor. I also never use cologne. I have had bees voice their displeasure to me when I used something strong smelling.
Also, what race of bees and where did you get them? (location)
...JP
You must to make sure that they like or dislike her smell, if they dislike her smell, you may should tell her change it.
I hope this could help you, thank you very much.
Move your open feeders to the orchard. Bees will often ignore feeder placed near the hive in favor of one further away. They will even ignore feeders placed in the hive in favor of forage.
Since the orchard is a natural forage area, is between the house and the bee hives, it just might divert the bees.
Lastly put away the pledge and use something w/o lemon oil to polish the furniture.
y'all keep talkin bout showers and soap and furniture polish like we sposed to clean ourselves and our stuff! Ain't a bath a month too much already! :lol:
kidding. I did find out that the bees have californian italian queens (which means they're angry off cause they got shipped to cold/cloudy west michigan).
they also weren't near as bad today.
thanks for your input everyone.