Bees were sealed in wall & bee poop

[Apis_M_Rescue]

Lady that I bought lemonades from her gals from on hot southern California Independence Day & gave her & gals the oddity of honey comb, called bout bee problem weeks ago Friday. This was bout week & half after Thanksgiving. Husband told me painters had come week before Thanksgiving.

Came over & showed me their guest house w/ dead bees inside stairwell & bee poop having stained the inside of the interior. I took a drill & opened up the exterior spot the bees previous entrance/exit, painters had spackled over. Some bees started coming out to see the new yellow exterior paint job, but not in great numbers. I looked in vain but had seen no other exits/ entrances.

I asked if the owners if they pesticided the bees & they said no. The bees most likely found a secondary exit after week(s) stuck in their hive. Bees liking their home clean held it in for that time & then en masse finally released their loads. I'm still nagged that the tenants musta been freaked by having a second floor full of bees & sprayed em. Or can bees die en masse by having toxic poisoning due to having not eliminated that long?

Holidays have these owners busy so am going back after new year to see what can be done.

Here is the video of the bees coming out of drilled hole:Bees Sealed in Guest House by Painters

[AllenF]

So just how long were the bees sealed up in the wall and do you think the painters sprayed them?

[hardwood]

Was the staining from the poop brownish and streaked the walls? After being cooped up like that they probably had dysentery. You might find many dead ones when you open up the wall...hope they make it!

Scott

[Apis_M_Rescue]

Hi Allen,
Owner said the painters came before Thanksgiving so I took that to be 2 - 3weeks as I came on December 10th. They said they didn't pesticide the bees when they came out the week after Thanksgiving, but I wonder if they had someone else do it. Not being in official winter cold here not sure how long bees can hold from eliminating but I thought it was for a months period.   

[hardwood]

Bees can get the runs after just a few days. I once experimented with keeping a queen starter hive locked up for a full 10 days...thet did a beautiful job on the cells but nosema soon took over.

Scott

[Apis_M_Rescue]

Was the staining from the poop brownish and streaked the walls? After being cooped up like that they probably had dysentery. You might find many dead ones when you open up the wall...hope they make it!

Scott

Yes like a brownish tan color. Dysentery,... I wonder. The home owner wanted to avoid demo so was trying to convince doing trap out but wife wanted it & husband wanted quicker results & wanted to call pesticide company. He was peaved that just had paint job completed & now demo would have to be possibly done. Honestly I will have to re-access & observe whether this stressed hive is even worth the effort. Holidays & cold spell, rains slowing action round here.

[Kathyp]

remind him that he'll still have to get into the wall and remove the hive or he'll have dripping honey and other critters like ants.  i give my best advice to folks.  if they don't want to follow it, i just move on.  not worth the hassle.  let them do it the way they want and find out you were right  on their own.

[greenbtree]

Was there a window in the stairwell?  I have been to houses where the bees exit in the building and try to get out a window and die there.  They must get disoriented or something, because many of them don't go back to the hive.

JC

[Apis_M_Rescue]

Was there a window in the stairwell?  I have been to houses where the bees exit in the building and try to get out a window and die there.  They must get disoriented or something, because many of them don't go back to the hive.

JC

Yes there is a window on 2nd floor alongside the stairwell. I think they found exit inside guest house & went to light of window while relieving themselves. In anycase went today & home owner said those bees died out. Looked for 30 min & no more bees in that area. Yes Kathy let em know but they are like most. The bees are outta sight outta mind & the problem seems gone. They don't want to pay for a rob out of any possible honey so they're going to seal up hole. As always they possibly will discover after effects to little to late,lol.

The lady showed me an older hive coming outta their houses north side 2nd floor shingle siding by upper trim by roof, abutting the gutters. The lady said the bees will sometimes gather at the 2nd floor window or below on kitchen window. They want me rescue that one & I told em trap out would be least amount of demo. Will set up on Friday. This weeks of upper 70 temps having the bees active again, even seen some drone brood in one of my stronger yearling hive on Friday Jan 15th. Looks like early spring coming here in southern California & possible La Nina dry winter.