Comments on: Bees!

By: A little disaster in the backyard « Funny about Money

A little disaster in the backyard « Funny about Money — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:43:35 +0000

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By: copyeditorsdesk

copyeditorsdesk — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:55:13 +0000

Actually, one of the guy’s early proposed strategies was to remove the bin. However, when he saw the way it was constructed, he decided (wrongly!) that they probably had built their new hive on the underside of the lid. He felt it was too dangerous to open or move the bin, because it would enrage the little ladies and cause them to come pouring out–not necessarily all over him, because he had the bee costume, but that they could harm any passers-by. The bin was directly next to a sidewalk, separated only by a fairly low wall.

By: jewelah

jewelah — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:33:08 +0000

Remember the bees are dieing quickly and if we’re not careful they’ll become endangered. Why try to kill them when there are solutions to have them (and the compost bin) removed so they can continue pollinating our flowering plants, fruit trees, veggies and all.

By: copyeditorsdesk

copyeditorsdesk — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:12:10 +0000

Interestingly, too, he says that once a colony of bees has moved in to a spot, even after they’re gone future bees are attracted to it, because the first colony leaves its scent there.

I’m hoping he can pick up the composter and take it to where he can extricate the bees without hurting himself or anyone else. It turns out that not all Africanized bees are of a kind: some are less fierce than others. If a relatively mellower bee is at hand, then they can “Europeanize” the hive by transferring them to a manmade structure, removing the queen, and replacing her with a European queen that has been fertilized by a European drone. They acclimate the rest of the bees to the queen by putting her in a little bee cage whose entrance has been plugged with a marshmallow. By the time the worker bees eat their way through to the queen (whom of course they’re intent on killing), they realize she’s the only queen in there and accept her. Then they care for and raise her offspring, with the result that in a season the whole worker population has been replaced by European bees.

One way or another, keeping them out of the composter should be easy: just roll it over to the hatch is on the bottom and the stuff in the composter blocks the cracks around it.

By: Chance@roomfarm

Chance@roomfarm — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:48:14 +0000

Oh man, that sucks. I love bees. It sounds like these bees are going to die. I have to agree with the beekeeper, with Africanized bees you don’t want to DIY and risk them pouring out and attacking you. Live and learn. I noticed in that link you posted there was a section on bee-proofing your property to avoid wild swarms, but who could have predicted an invasion of a composter? Amazing.

By: !wanda

!wanda — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:43:10 +0000

Could you get a few people over and tape up all the entrances at once? That would work if you’re sure there are no other entrances to the hive. Also, it might take a while for them to all die.