Been there a little longer than anticipated….

One of the first questions I ask of a homeowner with bees is:  “How long have they been there?”.   Many times, the answer will be “I’m really not sure – maybe from last year or early this spring”.  And occasionally I’ll hear “They just moved in this week – come get them NOW!  It’s an emergency!!”

This particular case – was that the homeowner admitted that they had only recently (in the last week) *noticed* the bees – and they really didn’t know how long they had been there.   A person performing a removal would MUCH rather hear this honesty – then the insistence that bees have been in there for only a day or so – only to open it up and find 10-20 full combs that are brown to black – indicating that the comb had been there for a matter of years.

These bees were fairly high in the air.  2nd floor soffit.  (click pics for larger versions)

Once the soffit was carefully opened – it was evident that the bees had been there a *bit* longer than a week or so.  The texture and color of the comb indicates that they had probably been there since last fall.

In all – there were 13 combs removed.

The brood and honeycomb were tall – Appx 20″ tall at the back (as they followed the steep roof line).

After the removal was complete, the void space was filled with fiberglass insulation, their entry hole was filled and repaired, and the soffit was put back in place.

All in a good day’s work!