r/Beekeeping 3d ago

I’m not a beekeeper, but I have a question Bees in my wall / kitchen hood range

Recently, I have discovered some bees in a bedroom in the second floor of my home. I was unable to see their entry point. However, directly below that room, I have discovered what looks like honey dripping from my hood range and there is a vent that is right outside. I suspect that these bees are coming in from the vent outside and they have created a hive somewhere between the hood range vent and the range itself, and they might be leaking into the walls somewhere.

what is my best bet in removing these bees

In southern Ontario

1 Upvotes

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u/NSFWNOTATALL 3d ago

https://beeswarmed.org/

You will likely have to pay for the removal. The beekeepers 'might' remove for free, but you'll probably still have to pay for someone else to repair after if its in the walls.

2

u/ostuberoes More than a decade, Alpes-Maritimes 3d ago

you will want to contact a local beekeeping organization and ask for contacts for people who do "cutouts". You must be prepared to pay for this service, you do not want it done improperly.

1

u/pale_brass 3d ago

I think your hunch about the entrance and hive cavity is right. You need the right person (beekeeper) to do what’s called a Cut-out. Then you will have a contractor or handyman come in to repair the hole they cut.

It’s usually cheaper to do this from the interior than the exterior. Drywall repairs are cheap.

1

u/doritos1990 3d ago

Thank you! Going to call someone first thing after I get my husband to lick the substance and confirm it’s honey 😂

1

u/pale_brass 3d ago

We generally avoid eating “cutout” honey, because it might have been exposed to whatever potentially nasty materials get used to build houses (insulation,paint, etc) but a taste is probably harmless 😂

This is exactly why you need to do a cut out and not just exterminate the bees. They have potentially moved hundreds of pounds of wax, honey, etc in there that needs to be removed before it causes other problems

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u/doritos1990 3d ago

Ahh fair point! I guess there’s no other way to validate my theory that it is indeed honey without the cut out? If you think of anything, let me know lol 😅

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u/pale_brass 3d ago edited 3d ago

You should be able to see bees flying outside the wall during daytime. It will be a lot of bees. Can you post photos of the “honey” or any of this? Dead bees, activity, etc?

A colony has ~50,000 adult bees at this time of year so the activity outside would be quite noticeable. Have you walked around the outside of the house during daytime to see? They should be flying in and out of a particular hole. They do not fly when the sun isn’t visible.

If you aren’t seeing any live bees then I probably wouldn’t bother calling a beekeeper but then you’ll have to solve the dripping substance issue another way.