Score, Bees!

[ColdNH]

So a coworker sent out an email the otherday "free firewood" long story short, i was on it like white on rice. pretty old horse chesnut on a city lot, managed to fall in the one spot where it wouldnt do any damage.

Got about half way through cutting it up and I got stung in the head. hurt like a son-of-a. kept cutting though, then noticed a huge swarm of bees zooming around a rotted crotch in the tree. so i hauled out what I could (about 2/3 a cord, most limbs and part of the trunk) Told him to spray the bees that night and I would come back the next day and grab the rest ( the huge trunk, all the good wood)

He sprayed the hell out of it, came back the next day, bees were just as active as they were the previous day.

has anyone ever successfully erradicated a nest inside of a tree trunk? I told him i would take the wood once he takes care of the bee issue, but who knows how far the nest goes into the tree. Am i going to have to wait till january to cut this thing up?

 

[Coal Reaper]

first identify if honey bees or wasp/hornets/yellow jackets. save the bees!
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/dang-bees.110525/

 

[Ashful]

yeah... if it's bees, you should be able to get a local keeper come take the colony for you. if it's yellow jackets, then kill those bastards (most in the northeast aren't native, anyway). I've never seen wasps or hornets nest in the large numbers your post seems to suggest, so it's likely bees or yellow jackets.

My preferred method for killing yellow jackets nested in the ground is a small amount of gasoline. The fumes, being heavier than air, displace the air in their cave and suffocate them. Not much chance to do that in a log, I suppose, so you may be stuck waiting for the freeze, or calling in a pro.

 

[ColdNH]

I think their honey bees, Ill suggest my co-worker look into getting a bee-keep to come get the bees

 

[red oak]

Pouring boiling water in their nest works also. I get 1-2 each summer somewhere on my property. If they were yellow jackets and I couldn't spray them, I'd wait for those suckers to freeze.

 

[ScotO]

If they are honey bees, and its a large colony, there's probably honey in there somewhere!! Get a beekeeper to help out, I'm sure you'll get honey out of the deal!!

 

[Jacktheknife]

If they are honey bees, and its a large colony, there's probably honey in there somewhere!! Get a beekeeper to help out, I'm sure you'll get honey out of the deal!!

I wouldn't dive into that honey too hard, remember that the owner sprayed the heck out of it with pesticides.

 

[ScotO]

I would dive into that honey too hard, remember that the owner sprayed the heck out of it with pesticides.

Hopefully it didn't hit the honeycomb.....that's usually stored up above the brood, isn't it? Maybe he'll get lucky!

 

[Jacktheknife]

Hopefully it didn't hit the honeycomb.....that's usually stored up above the brood, isn't it? Maybe he'll get lucky!

That's how beekeepers do it, not sure about how nature does it.

 

[mattjm1017]

I think their honey bees, Ill suggest my co-worker look into getting a bee-keep to come get the bees

Please find a local beekeeper to help you with them. Honey bees are in a lot of danger these days and most beekeeps will do a removal for free.

That's how beekeepers do it, not sure about how nature does it.

We do it like nature. Brood is in the middle honey on the outside.

 

[paul bunion]

Several years ago my log delivery included a hollow maple. While cutting it up I smelled honey. Inside the log was a honey bee nest, fortunately for me they were not there, unfortunately I have to assume they succumbed to the hive death. I got about a quart of honey out of that log. Running the saw through it wasted a bit.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Usually, honey bees will sting trying to protect the nest. Not just one sting but many stings from many bees. I think they know they can
only sting once and their done. I think you said you got stung once? Probably yellow jackets or hornets. Save the bees! I don't know what
hornets benefit but probably pollinate.

 

[mattjm1017]

Hornets and all the other stinging insects of that sort are pollinators but the honeybee is the greatest and most important. Without them we wouldn't have most of the food that we have today.

 

[Ashful]

I think you said you got stung once? Probably yellow jackets or hornets.

Actually, yellow jackets usually attack in large numbers, unless you retreat before they get riled up. Hornets and wasps (at least those we have around here) are usually the loners.

 

[TreePointer]

If not honeybees, dump some Sevin powder in the cracks/entrances. The aerosol spray just kills the ones it contacts--usually the guardians. The powder will kill them all.

 

[NextEndeavor]

Sevin works. They track it into the nest, takes a few days to kill the troops. Then a few days later after a hatch it gets them too. The queen crawled out two weeks later and died at the entrance. We made sure they were yellow jackets before going that route.