Remnants of bee hive?

[Tom Cissell]

This kind of looks to me like the remnants of a bee hive on the soffit. The kind of hive that Winnie the pooh used to steal honey from. Any help identifying it will be helpful.
3185831859

[John Kogel]

It is a Wasp's nest. Some folks will say Hornets, here they would be Yellow Jackets.
Bees don't build a paper nest. That's pulp fiction. :D
Now some entomologist might try to prove me wrong, but from a home inspection perspective it is a non-issue anyway. Carpenter bees would be worthy of mention may-bee. :D

[Jack Feldmann]

i agree, looks like a wasp nest to me.

[Tom Cissell]

i agree, looks like a wasp nest to me.
Thanks Jack and John. I know it is inconsequential but inquiring minds want to know.

[Gary Burnett]

I believe that is from a Paper Wasp nest.

[Dirk Jeanis]

This kind of looks to me like the remnants of a bee hive on the soffit.

As a past apiculturist I can give a little advice about this problem:

Bees, wasps..well, all have one thing in common; their nest leaves behind pheremonal scents. With honey bees this is accentuated because of wax and honey. It is nearly impossible to remove the scent entirely whether wasp or bee. Large Apis hives in walls can require a lot of removal an replacement to end the cycle of swarms arriving to the spot, I have removed 250 pound of comb and then a bunch of wall, suds, sheetrock..you cant imagine really.

If you live in an area with paper wasps you will notice that they seem to return to the same spot or very close year by year. There are four reasons, great bee-line for flight, well protected from rain and sun, and controlable ventiliation.

So one must take care of the causes to stop recurrance. After removal of the hive spray with a wasp and bee killing insecticide, hoepfully one that smells bad, you know the stuff I mean it comes in a spray can. Scentless pesticides will not help with this problem.

Then do something to change the habitat as well. Make it less inviting and hospitable, like plant vines or a tree there to stop the flight path (there are a few spcies that prefer to live behind vines at least in Mexico). Or just check annually at the time when insects swarm in your area and spray again.

In Florida and the south, caution should be taken with wild honey bees as there are a high percentage that are Africanized and can be aggressive, very aggressive. If you notice that Apis are very aggressive then get a professional to handle it (there is a different sound in flight when bees are aggressive, faster and louder...like they are being excited and angry, a single bee or two isnt a problem..when a lot get that way it is serious). A bee suit is a must in many circumstances, or at least a lot of knowledge to remain safe.

Having had a few hives (200) and living in FL now I kill all wild swarms on my property as soon as possible. Bees that have just lit upon a site are not very protective as there is no real loss in having to move.

There is nothing more fun that walking inside a traveling swarm flying to a new place to live! So incredible and they are not aggressive in any way (not sure of African though). If you get stung it will be totally an accident (but then you should back off because the sting is a pheremonal target now)

Hope this helps everyone with some of the basics and enjoy the wild life.

[Tom Cissell]

Thanks Dirk and Gary. Very informative. I think you have nailed it. Paper wasp.

[Jerry Peck]

Thanks Dirk and Gary. Very informative. I think you have nailed it. Paper wasp.

Yes, paper wasp nest.

I have that from a professional source many years ago when I took a piece I dug out of a large nest in an attic and took it to the UF Extension office down in Davie, Florida when I lived in South Florida.

I was informed that it was a wasp nest, a paper wasp nest, and in fact it was an abandoned paper wasp nest.

When I inquired as to how he knew it was an abandoned paper wasp nest, he repeated what I had told him - it was in an attic, maybe 5-6 feet long or longer, and maybe 2-3 feet or more in height, and then he added ... and you are here talking to me about it ... if the nest had not been abandoned ... you would have been found in the attic - dead, from all the wasp stings - there would have been no way you would have been able to make it out of that attic alive.

Okay ... I was very glad to find out that it was an abandoned wasp nest - VERY glad ...

And I never again poked at any nest of any type I found in a location where I did not have a ready escape route.

[Dirk Jeanis]

Yes, paper wasp nest.

if the nest had not been abandoned ... you would have been found in the attic - dead, from all the wasp stings - there would have been no way you would have been able to make it out of that attic alive.

I was in Apotla Mexico down at the river where we have been shooting rapids on air mattresses. We were leaving and there was a giant root I crawled over and hopped down. My mattress brushed some vines and suddenly my arm was jet gloss black.

Pepe turned and saw what was happening and said Holy Mother F&%^*$ S*^# and was out of there like the road runner. I on the other hand looked at my arm...and ran my hand down it pushig them off...and then took three steps and high jumped over 6 feet to get over the brush and into the water 8 feet away...I swam underwater for about 100 yards and came up...

When Pepe returned I had caked this nasty mud on my arm and it was almost dry. Pepe looked at me and said "oh, you are alive, I thought you were dead. Those wasps they kill people, they even chase them when they swim under water. You are very lucky!"
I had over 200 stings..but the mud drying in 10 miutes two times drew most poison out, I was VERY lucky and didnt even get a venom headache. I didnt even itch much after applying alcohol interior and exterior.
Some wasps do like to like to live in vines, in Mexico at least.

[Tom Cissell]

Jerry & Dirk. WOW. Close call. Fortunately for me this nest had already been taken out.

[Stanley Thigpen]

John Kogle, what we call yellow jackets in the Southeast make their paper nests in holes in the ground.

[Raymond Wand]

We have them up here too.

[John Kogel]

Stanley, we find Yellow Jackets nesting in the ground, where you can step on them, but also here they like eaves and attics, and some times I see a nest of them under a roof vent. Like the one that was supposed to be my handhold on a steep roof. That I let go of right smartly when the little swarm came out.

A squirt bottle filled with gasoline or white gas, Naptha, Coleman fuel, will take out a wasp nest. Hit them at dusk. Let the gas evaporate.

Wasps in the attic? Yeah watch your head!

[JC Warner]

Dirk,
Thank you for the great information. I have a question about mud dauber wasp nests. The house we are buying in Florida has about 100 or so of these nests all over on the brick exterior. They appear to be abandoned. When we remove the nests should we spray those areas as you mentioned above? Do wasps return like bees?

Thank you.

[Dirk Jeanis]

Dirk,
Thank you for the great information. I have a question about mud dauber wasp nests. The house we are buying in Florida has about 100 or so of these nests all over on the brick exterior. They appear to be abandoned. When we remove the nests should we spray those areas as you mentioned above? Do wasps return like bees?

Thank you.

With that many and being dead, no, just pressure wash with soap and rinse. Much easier and will probabluy work well. YOu get to clean the brick at the same time!. If they were that many and alive I would spray first. A few live ones wont matter as water hitting them is a "nature" thing.

Where in FL?

[Dwight Doane]

I had over 200 stings..but the mud drying in 10 miutes two times drew most poison out, I was VERY lucky and didnt even get a venom headache. I didnt even itch much after applying alcohol interior and exterior.
Some wasps do like to like to live in vines, in Mexico at least.

First Dirk , thank you for your education and please feel free to start a side discussion on this topic - might actually be really beneficial for many of us.

Now can you be specific as to they type of alcohol you applied internally and how important that was :amen:

[JC Warner]

Thanks, Dirk.
We are buying a big brick home in the Bunnell area. The house has been empty about a year, so there are empty mud dauber nests EVERYWHERE. Cleaning the brick will take care of getting rid of them, I just didn't know if I should spray a deterrent as well.
I have always been interested in bee keeping, but not wasp keeping.

[Dirk Jeanis]

I have always been interested in bee keeping, but not wasp keeping.

Someone invented a wonderful new product (highest crowd funding ever recieved?, 2M in one day 12.3M total). It is VERY expensive (from my point of view) but, if you want to have hives as a beginning hobby and care to take the honey it is well worth it for just a honey super or two. This device will NOT keep you from having to enter the hive, especially in FL where possibly 85% of wild Apis are Africanized (mating of new virgins could result in aggressive/dangerous bees). You will still need to enter the hives and kill any queen cells, before they hatch and also find mommy and make sure she is alive and well. You will have to have a smoker (old coffee bags from a coffee roasting house are the best/easiest smoke) and possibly a bee suit (many of my friends didnt use them at all).

Instead this product will only help you with honey harvest. However, I have harvested a lot of honey the old way. You have to remove the super's frames, uncap them (hot knife), place them into a centrifuge and spin the honey out, filter it etc. Messy and hard work. This device cuts through all that BS and allows harvest without all the tools, time and effort. BTW, I used old panty hose/nylons as a filter to remove the legs and stuff, nothing else is needed and any pollen is still in the honey that way, also no heating is necessary.

Bee sure and choose the location carefully, eastern facing if possible for morning sun on the step. If more than one hive, separate them with a plant in between to reduce drift from hive to hive or orient the hives facing away from each other but still able to get morning sun. Make sure that the "bee line" of flight will not interfere with pedestrians, horses etc. if you must, put a lattice work up 10 to 20 ft in front of the step to direct them over 6 ft high before they take off in a line (but make sure light hits the step early). They wont mean to sting but if they fly fast in a line you can be stung accidentally. Your cat and or dog may like the hive. My cat used to lay on them all the time. The dog loved to lay hear it and regularly walked directly in front of it about 1 ft away.

Plan on making sure no queen cells hatch (this means scheduled entry into the hive to intercept incubation) and replace your queens (with commercially hatched queens) annually or so here in FL to assure gentle bees. If you find your hives have a lot of aggressive bees then you will have other decisions to make. A few aggressive bees when messing with the hive are normal (and I kill them when working as I am extremely allergic, just clap them between your gloved hands).

In San Jose I used to harvest Jan 1 and didn't have to feed them at all. 4 hives (the ones I kept at home) got me hundreds of pounds of honey, I possibly could have gotten more if I harvested more.

I say go for it if you are interested. probably cost about 800-1K to get started with all new equipment inlcuding this device. It is a lot of fun and kids/grandkids love to learn about them, even help in the hive work.

Here is the link.
http://www.honeyflow.com

- - - Updated - - -




I have always been interested in bee keeping, but not wasp keeping.

Someone invented a wonderful new product (highest crowd funding ever recieved?, 2M in one day 12.3M total). It is VERY expensive (from my point of view) but, if you want to have hives as a beginning hobby and care to take the honey it is well worth it for just a honey super or two. This device will NOT keep you from having to enter the hive, especially in FL where possibly 85% of wild Apis are Africanized (mating of new virgins could result in aggressive/dangerous bees). You will still need to enter the hives and kill any queen cells, before they hatch and also find mommy and make sure she is alive and well. You will have to have a smoker (old coffee bags from a coffee roasting house are the best/easiest smoke) and possibly a bee suit (many of my friends didnt use them at all).

Instead this product will only help you with honey harvest. However, I have harvested a lot of honey the old way. You have to remove the super's frames, uncap them (hot knife), place them into a centrifuge and spin the honey out, filter it etc. Messy and hard work. This device cuts through all that BS and allows harvest without all the tools, time and effort. BTW, I used old panty hose/nylons as a filter to remove the legs and stuff, nothing else is needed and any pollen is still in the honey that way, also no heating is necessary.

Bee sure and choose the location carefully, eastern facing if possible for morning sun on the step. If more than one hive, separate them with a plant in between to reduce drift from hive to hive or orient the hives facing away from each other but still able to get morning sun. Make sure that the "bee line" of flight will not interfere with pedestrians, horses etc. if you must, put a lattice work up 10 to 20 ft in front of the step to direct them over 6 ft high before they take off in a line (but make sure light hits the step early). They wont mean to sting but if they fly fast in a line you can be stung accidentally. Your cat and or dog may like the hive. My cat used to lay on them all the time. The dog loved to lay hear it and regularly walked directly in front of it about 1 ft away.

Plan on making sure no queen cells hatch (this means scheduled entry into the hive to intercept incubation) and replace your queens (with commercially hatched queens) annually or so here in FL to assure gentle bees. If you find your hives have a lot of aggressive bees then you will have other decisions to make. A few aggressive bees when messing with the hive are normal (and I kill them when working as I am extremely allergic, just clap them between your gloved hands).

In San Jose I used to harvest Jan 1 and didn't have to feed them at all. 4 hives (the ones I kept at home) got me hundreds of pounds of honey, I possibly could have gotten more if I harvested more.

I say go for it if you are interested. probably cost about 800-1K to get started with all new equipment inlcuding this device. It is a lot of fun and kids/grandkids love to learn about them, even help in the hive work.

Here is the link.
http://www.honeyflow.com

- - - Updated - - -




I have always been interested in bee keeping, but not wasp keeping.

Someone invented a wonderful new product (highest crowd funding ever recieved?, 2M in one day 12.3M total). It is VERY expensive (from my point of view) but, if you want to have hives as a beginning hobby and care to take the honey it is well worth it for just a honey super or two. This device will NOT keep you from having to enter the hive, especially in FL where possibly 85% of wild Apis are Africanized (mating of new virgins could result in aggressive/dangerous bees). You will still need to enter the hives and kill any queen cells, before they hatch and also find mommy and make sure she is alive and well. You will have to have a smoker (old coffee bags from a coffee roasting house are the best/easiest smoke) and possibly a bee suit (many of my friends didnt use them at all).

Instead this product will only help you with honey harvest. However, I have harvested a lot of honey the old way. You have to remove the super's frames, uncap them (hot knife), place them into a centrifuge and spin the honey out, filter it etc. Messy and hard work. This device cuts through all that BS and allows harvest without all the tools, time and effort. BTW, I used old panty hose/nylons as a filter to remove the legs and stuff, nothing else is needed and any pollen is still in the honey that way, also no heating is necessary.

Bee sure and choose the location carefully, eastern facing if possible for morning sun on the step. If more than one hive, separate them with a plant in between to reduce drift from hive to hive or orient the hives facing away from each other but still able to get morning sun. Make sure that the "bee line" of flight will not interfere with pedestrians, horses etc. if you must, put a lattice work up 10 to 20 ft in front of the step to direct them over 6 ft high before they take off in a line (but make sure light hits the step early). They wont mean to sting but if they fly fast in a line you can be stung accidentally. Your cat and or dog may like the hive. My cat used to lay on them all the time. The dog loved to lay hear it and regularly walked directly in front of it about 1 ft away.

Plan on making sure no queen cells hatch (this means scheduled entry into the hive to intercept incubation) and replace your queens (with commercially hatched queens) annually or so here in FL to assure gentle bees. If you find your hives have a lot of aggressive bees then you will have other decisions to make. A few aggressive bees when messing with the hive are normal (and I kill them when working as I am extremely allergic, just clap them between your gloved hands).

In San Jose I used to harvest Jan 1 and didn't have to feed them at all. 4 hives (the ones I kept at home) got me hundreds of pounds of honey, I possibly could have gotten more if I harvested more.

I say go for it if you are interested. probably cost about 800-1K to get started with all new equipment inlcuding this device. It is a lot of fun and kids/grandkids love to learn about them, even help in the hive work.

Here is the link.
http://www.honeyflow.com

[Dirk Jeanis]

I was replying and got an internal server error notice. Sorry for the re-posts. The system must have some problem as every post I give refers to the same error

[Jerry Peck]

And then there is this about that ...

( (http://www.honeyflow.com/gallery-videos/videos/p/60)oops, post of link to a video which explains why that is not a good idea wouldn't work, and now I can't find the link)

Oh well, not all is well that does not end well. :(

[JC Warner]

Wow! That new bee hive is amazing. Totally worth it, from what I could see...but not available until February 2016. I will keep it in mind if we do it.

Thank you again for all of the information.