honey bees

WHAT TO DO ABOUT HONEY BEES

Honey bee swarms > if you find a large 'clump' of bees, hanging from a branch or the side of your house, this is likely to be a bee swarm. This is a queen with her new colony looking for a place to build a nest. Contact your local beekeeper (see the National Beekeepers Association swarm collection contact list) and he/she will try and collect the swarm without harming it for use in honey production. The swarm may move on of its own accord within a day or two.
Note: Honey bees are generally not aggressive while swarming. Great care should be taken in treating the entrance to a nest as there is a risk of being stung. It may be advisable to do this operation at night when there is no wasp or bee activity.

Nests > Only control honey bees as a last resort. The nests of wasps and bees generally have only one entrance/exit. If this can be identified the colony can be destroyed by sprinkling or puffing the apicide NO WASPS INSECTICIDAL DUST, CARBARYL INSECT CONTROL or MALDISON INSECT CONTROL powder into the entrance. The workers will then pick up the dust as they enter the nest and take it inside where it will kill larvae and queens.
Note: The problems caused by honey bee colonies that have had time to build a nest are not likely to be solved using insecticide alone because the honey store in the nest will continue to attract bees and wasps. The honey store must be removed or sealed up following destruction of the colony.

About

Bees are Beneficial Insects; they pollinate our fruit crops, other flowering crops, the flowers in the garden and of course they make honey

There are several groups of bee; Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Solitary Bees and Bumble Bees.

Honeybees can form colonies of tens of thousands. The honeybee is not normally a pest, producing the honey for our morning toast and pollinating our crops and flowers. These bees are usually cared for by beekeepers. However, wild colonies, or swarms that leave a hive to start a new colony can cause considerable consternation to those whose building they may choose as temporary accommodation or new home.

Honeybees have a painful sting to which some people have a bad reaction. The bee sting is barbed and will stick in human skin when the bee flies off, or is brushed off. The sting will continue to pump poison and should be scraped out with a fingernail and not pinched out. Pinching the sting will pump the venom into the skin. The sting also releases a pheromone (smell) that attracts other bees to the sting site and induces them to sting also. It is therefore good advice to retreat calmly from a colony of bees if stung once.

Images in the gallery for comparison.

• Other Risks from Bugs
• Integrated Pest Management
• How to Avoid Stings and Bites

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