Removing Bees from Walls or Ceilings

When honey bees swarm they send out 'scout bees' whose mission is to look for the best place to establish a new home. Usually they find a hollow area in a tree, but any enclosed empty space that will provide protection for the weather will do. They may well find an opening in your home's outside walls or foundation that will provide them a very nice cozy spot inside your walls, ceilings or even your basement or attic space.

Removing honey bees from inside any of the above spaces is a time consuming process that is best put in the hands of a professional. You can do it yourself but only if you really know what you are doing and you use extreme caution, especially if you live in an area populated by the infamous African Bee. The removal of African Bees should only be done by a professional service, as you could easily be attacked and lose your life !

It is important to realize that it is not sufficient to simply kill the bees and not remove the entire hive. Honey bees ventilate their bee hives and if they are not there to perform this task then the hive will get too hot in the summer weather and its contents will eventually melt and seep through your walls or ceilings. That creates a real mess !

Most people first notice honey bees coming and going through a small hole in their home's outside walls or eaves. Sometimes the bees are able to find a hole where the foundation and your home's wooden structure are joined together. In this instance they either get up inside your walls or make a home in your basement or crawl space. Their entrance can be anywhere.

Sometimes honey bees are first noticed flying around a window inside a room of your home. In this instance they have built a hive inside a wall or ceiling and they have found an opening very often around a ceiling light fixture. Try to observe how they are getting inside your room and open a window to let them get outdoors. They will have all left by nightfall. If possible close the door to the room after they have all left. Keep the door closed until an exterminator arrives.

In any case, once you have noted how the bees are coming and going, call a pest removal service or a local beekeeper you may know or can find in your area. Some beekeepers will remove the bees and the entire hive.

In any event, the honey bees most likely will have to be exterminated and the person doing the job is going to have to access the hive by removing part of your outdoor or indoor wall. This will then provide access to the bee hive combs, which must be removed in their entirety plus all that remains of the hive. It is important to exterminate a colony when all the bees are in the hive after dusk or before dawn.

A variety of pesticides, in liquid or dust formulations may be used to exterminate the bees. One needs to be careful in their use as these formulations are equally of danger to the health of us humans. There is good evidence to show that soapy water is a very good material for this purpose. It is inexpensive and relatively environmentally benign.

It is essential that all honeycomb and its contents be removed. Bits of wax left behind give off highly attractive odors that will attract other bees looking for a new home.

Once the bees have been exterminated and all traces of their occupation have been removed then the area that has been opened requires additional carpentry skills to perform a repair to restore it to its original condition and to ensure that no openings are left for a future swarm to move in a second time.

You may be able to see the exact opening being used by the honey bees to come and go but it is another thing to figure out exactly where they are inside a wall or ceiling. The hive can be often located by tapping the wall or ceiling area that is inside opposite the outdoor hole being used by the bees. While you tap you must simultaneously listen for an answering buzz from the honey bees. Once the hive is located, the exterminator will need to bore a hole, preferably through the outside wall [ for obvious reasons :-) ], so an insecticide can be applied to the hive.

To recap:

Try to observe and note the hole(s) in your outside wall being used by the bees.

Do not attempt to kill the bees by spraying a pesticide into this opening. This will only kill those bees using the entrance/exit. It does not get rid of the thousands of bees inside the bee hive proper. Plugging the hole after using a pesticide could force the remaining inside bees to find a way to get in your home itself.

See if you can determine on your own, by the tapping method suggested above, where the hive may be behind your wall or ceiling. You can also use a drinking glass by placing its bottom against the wall and putting your ear to the open end. If this is all too fearful for you then forget it and let the exterminator locate the hive.

If you live in an area [ southern part of the US ] known to be inhabited by African Bees then use extreme caution, as you could easily lose your life if attacked. African bees are much more aggressive in stinging and chasing you long distances. Jumping into water to get away from them is also not sufficient as they will fly around watching for you to eventually surface. Do not delay, call an exterminator service immediately.

Carpentry skills are essential to this operation to both open up the exterior or interior wall or ceiling to provide access to the bee hive, but also to re-close that opening to its original state once the job is completed.

Do deal with the problem when it is noticed. It will not go away and if you wait a few months you may well have thousands of more bees to deal with when you decide to tackle the problem. Ceilings have been known to collapse into a room from the weight of all the honey that has been stored in the bee hive over time.

Interested in learning more, visit the author's web site - How To Remove Bees From Inside Your House Walls and/or Ceilings