Patching and Plastering - Bee's Nest in Walls
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mcskers
02-06-06, 07:03 PM
Been removing wall paper from our house, older house and we have a brick fireplace. Over the firplace it looked like water had broken down the sheet rock as well as along the brick mantle. Tearing into the wall to change out the sheet rock I fond a bees nest about 3 feet tall by 2 feet and 3 inches plus thinck behind the wall!!! :wall:
Come to find out it was the honey staining the wall. To the right of the chimmeny there is fiberglass insulation as well as to the left. Nne in the area the nest was. Hoeny is all over the coating for the chimmney.
was wondering what would be a good solution to cleaning it and preventing it from happening again!
thanks any help would be great!
Come to find out it was the honey staining the wall. To the right of the chimmeny there is fiberglass insulation as well as to the left. Nne in the area the nest was. Hoeny is all over the coating for the chimmney.
was wondering what would be a good solution to cleaning it and preventing it from happening again!
thanks any help would be great!
marksr
02-06-06, 07:14 PM
Welcome to the forums
I've heard of situations like yours but have never actually seen it. The only way to prevent reoccurance is to stop access and possibly insectiside. You should caulk and/or board up any possible entrance. IMO periodical spraying would take away their desire to inhabit your home. I don't know what would be the best method to clean up the sticky mess. Wish you luck.
I've heard of situations like yours but have never actually seen it. The only way to prevent reoccurance is to stop access and possibly insectiside. You should caulk and/or board up any possible entrance. IMO periodical spraying would take away their desire to inhabit your home. I don't know what would be the best method to clean up the sticky mess. Wish you luck.
brentwoodpmg
02-06-06, 08:09 PM
is it a live nest?
i agree with marksr, that you must close all acess points to the bees if they are active, and as well as i love honey, the best way to boot them off is to use sevin dust. the stuff follows their hair follicules down to their body cavities and kills them. and now to remove the honey, (if not an active nest, if active let us know) pull the comb into a clean bowl and scrape all the wax that you can off,
if you can save any of the honey, enjoy it, it's good for you. then take a heat gun or even a good hair dryer and melt the wax into pieces that you can remove, replace the insulation, get some (belive it or not) roofing flashing at lowes or home depot, and place it as a barrier between the waxed timbers and the evential drywall. hopes this helps, been there, done that.
barry
i agree with marksr, that you must close all acess points to the bees if they are active, and as well as i love honey, the best way to boot them off is to use sevin dust. the stuff follows their hair follicules down to their body cavities and kills them. and now to remove the honey, (if not an active nest, if active let us know) pull the comb into a clean bowl and scrape all the wax that you can off,
if you can save any of the honey, enjoy it, it's good for you. then take a heat gun or even a good hair dryer and melt the wax into pieces that you can remove, replace the insulation, get some (belive it or not) roofing flashing at lowes or home depot, and place it as a barrier between the waxed timbers and the evential drywall. hopes this helps, been there, done that.
barry
mcskers
02-06-06, 08:54 PM
THanks for the info guys..... Heres an update, I dry vacumed the nest out, some of it was soft with honey some parts hard and dry. Now just dealing with the clean up of the residue from the nest. I did not see any Bees in the nest but the fact that it had some honey in it makes me think it has been used recently. So do I heat up the left over honey/wax????
brentwoodpmg
02-06-06, 09:19 PM
just follow the last post that i put up, other than trying to collect any honey.
i know what you are going thru, and it worked for me ( i got 4 qts. of honey)
just remove all signs of the nest and close up all access the bees won't come back. hope your project is a good one.
barry
i know what you are going thru, and it worked for me ( i got 4 qts. of honey)
just remove all signs of the nest and close up all access the bees won't come back. hope your project is a good one.
barry
tightcoat
02-07-06, 04:53 PM
Most beekeepers are willing to come and collect a swarm for it. They can get the queen and most of the bees and the rest will leave or die for lack of a queen. Then still make sure you close all the access points and deal with the comb and honey as described above. I haven't seen this myself but my dad told me about exactly such an incident as you describe. The honey running down the fireplace was a mess. Steam cleaning comes to mind but I don't know if it will work. And if you don't get most of it out of the wall it might run out again when it gets hot. Don't waste the honey.
Nature's way of preserving honey is for it to sugar or solidify. It might be easier to handle after it has done this which is in the winter. It will still be good to use only you will have to let it warm up first. Do this soon before summer comes.
Nature's way of preserving honey is for it to sugar or solidify. It might be easier to handle after it has done this which is in the winter. It will still be good to use only you will have to let it warm up first. Do this soon before summer comes.