Need help with a problem.

[njoylife10]

I have an elderly lady who has bees in a tree in town.  The tree is about 4 feet from the road and children walk past there every day to go to school.  She is concerned that a child will get stung and she will get sued.  This woman is in her 80's and is hoping not to have to cut down the tree.  It still looks healthy and is a nice large shade tree.  I've tried to tell her that I really don't think she has much to worry about.  The bees are very docile.  I stood with her right in front of the hive for about 30 minutes visiting.  Even if she gets them removed, there is a lot of bee activity in her area, and I believe they would just move in again in the spring.  We had 4 swarm calls in a two block area last spring. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on what she can or should do?  The entrance is about 2 feet off the ground and the opening is small, but would be hard to completely close off.  We live 40 miles away, so for me a trap out is out of the question.

njoylife10

[FRAMEshift]

If she is determined to remove the bees and there is no possibility of a trapout, the best solution is to seal the entrance.  You say the entrance is small so it should be possible to squirt in expanding foam.  This will seal around any irregular surfaces.  

If it were me, I would try a trapout.  You don't have to check it very often.  The entrance is just off the ground so it's easy to set up a box with a wire cone.  There is still time to do it before winter.  Get as many bees out as possible before hard winter and then seal the entrance.

If she is willing to wait until spring, you will have more time and a better chance to get all the bees out.

[Kathyp]

that's a tough one for this time of the year.  check with iddee on the trap out.  for your area, i think it's to late to do it and make a difference.  not only will you not get a hive, but if you are not done before the weather changes, you won't do her any good either. + the bees can get pretty pissy during a trap out and the kids might well get stung then.

if she insists that the bees must go, killing them is probably the best option.

[BlueBee]

I don't have a good solution, but another idea might be trying to move their entrance hole up and over the kiddies heads.  If the tree is hollow, maybe try to drill a hole higher up and plug the lower hole?  Maybe try to force the bees through some kind of an external tunnel (schedule 40 pvc pipe?), up and over the kids?

A big tree with a hollow down low is something I would be worried about in a storm.  Trees weigh TONs literally!  She might want to get the advice of an arborist as well.  Some of the old hollow trees on the UofM campus have been filled with cement to give them a little more structural stability.

[T Beek]

I don't know???  How about putting up a sign and charging admission to view local honeybees at work?  Kids know more about the current plight of honeybees than most non-beekeeping adults these days.

Or just leave them bee.  Chances are good everyone will forget about it by Spring when a trap out would be more successful for all involved. 

Original Post didn't say that anyone got stung, just some worrying about getting stung.  The elderly lady isn't "keeping" bees, they just live in a tree nearby so I believe that negates any responsibility on her part if someone were to get stung.

I think the OP missed an opportunity to educate a neighborhood, something all beeks should be involved in on an as needed activity. 

That all said, there is some concern regarding the integrity of the tree and perhaps an arborist (sp) is a good place to start.

thomas

[D Coates]

I just finshed up a trap out and I'd not recommend starting one this time of the year if I got another call today.  To me it's too late, the evenings are getting into the 50's (close to clustering weather) and a freeze will invariably hit in the next month killing off any additional stores for the trap out to use to make winter bees with.  You can't really feed with an 80 mile round trip.  Considering you won't have a laying queen for 30 days you'll have few young bees to overwinter with.  What I would do in your position is tell her to wait until spring.  If the hive survives the winter, it'll be small with limited stores (i.e. easier to trap out).  If they didn't survive the winter she can simply foam the hole, problem solved.  My 2 cents and it may be worth less than that.

[BlueBee]

Sounds like D Coates has the best advice on this one.

I did come up with another idea for getting the bees above the heads of the kids.  Maybe she could surround the tree with a 6 foot tall wood fence with no gaps between those boards.  That would force the forager bees up and over the kids heads as they come and go from the tree.  Envision a 6 foot tall wood cylinder encircling the tree, spaced about 1 foot from the tree.  If the bark is old and ruffled, maybe just a fabric wrap around the tree would suffice.

I routinely walk within 6 feet of my hives and bees are flying all around me without incident.  However I know not to swat at the bees.  The problem is the kids will not know that.  If you swat, you have a much greater likelihood of getting stung.   From your description, it does sound as though the bees flight path will be right into pedestrians on the public sidewalk.

[caticind]

Agreed with DCoates.  This close to winter, there is little opportunity for anyone to be stung.  Spring is a much better time to pursue a trap-out. 

[sterling]

Them little boys will have a big time throwing rocks at a trapout set up. :evil: :evil: