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HELP! Right now!

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Rand:
I was just outside working in the yard. Checked the bees, they looked fine, normal bee activity.

5 minutes later I hear this huge buzzing and look over at the hives to see the sky black with honey bees. I thought the were under attack. I raced in the house to call some local bee guys. I kept watching them and they were all over the front of the hive.

I figured swarming. I finally got ahold of one of the guys. He concurred.

He told me to watch them, get a box ready, etc. etc.

So I went out to watch them. The activity settled way down. There are still bees on the front of the box, but not much more than normal.

But as I was looking to see if they were hanging around anywhere close, I saw (for the first time) a honets nest about the size of a volleyball hanging from the back eave of my garage not 30 feet from the front of my two hive boxes. The really weird part is, it was covered with what I thought were honey bees, but now I'm not sure. It's too high up to get a close look. But the bees look to black to be honey bees. But they are honey bee size, way to small to be hornets. Is it possible that they would swarm to a vacant hornet nest?

P.S. This is happening as I write, and I have to leave for work in about 30 minutes.

Thanks for any help.

beemaster:
I've never heard of honeybees occupying a hornet or wasp nest, ever - there isn't any reason too that I can think of, it is NOT a viable home and there is NOTHING to rob.

I'm sure you caught them swarming, it is an amazing site to behold. Could a handful of honeybees be clustered INADVERTANTLY around the hornet nest - I can't imagine, but a whole swarm - I'd bet a paycheck no!

Start looking around, swarms don't go far - I don't know what type of area you live in, I live with a 1 mile square town behind my house and 1.2 million acres of wilderness across the street - little doubt which way my bee ALWAYS go - lol.

You need to watch that nest, observe the bees, follow a few if you need to, but I also say start looking around for the clustered swarm.

Last point (this is a long shot) but are you sure that what you see hanging isn't a full swarm of honeybees clustered on some protruding eve or security light or joist or ANYTHING - meaning, could that be a solid mass of honeybees with NO NEST of any kind under it???

Watch them and go hunting, get back to us - and the blackened sky with deafening roar of noise is indeed a swarm, sounds like a biggy too!!!

Robo:
I guess anything is possible, but I have to agree with John AGAIN. :D I find it very doubtful that they would move into a hornets nest.  In fact,  don't hornets build their comb (or whatever you would call it) horizontal and not vertical?

Rand:
Ok, I'm at work now, and everything seemed to calm down at the hive. I talked with my local guru again and he said they probably went back into the hive. He said they will probably be going to swarm in the next couple days. I am going into the hive tomorrow to dig out any queen cells, but he said that might not stop them from swarming.

I checked all around my property and adjacent land and couldn't find a cluster.

The "bees" crawling all over the hornets nest are not honey bees. I got a ladder and climbed up there to see what they were. I don't know what kind of bees they are. They are the same size as a honey bee, but they are mostly black (some yellowish brown but not light like an italian honey bee) with blackish wings. I will try to get a local expert to come out and look. If they are not good guys that hornets nest is toast!

thanks for your help.

I'll keep you up to date with it as it unfolds.

snowzerdog:
Kill them  They are black hornets and are the meanest i've encountered

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