We put out a bug zapper last fall to buy us some time. They were under control until a couple of days ago. We called Orkin and he decided the job was too big for the bug guy. He sprayed the upstairs to kill some of the bees already in the house, but didn't want to mess with the hive.
It just so happened (God's good at coincidences) that we recently made friends with a beekeeper. The beekeeper friend brought over a hive box (or whatever they are called) and put it in the yard. He thinks they began swarming because the hive is too large and there is a new queen and they need to split. They are very agitated whatever the cause. We were hoping the new queen will find the new box habitable so he could harvest as many bees as possible to move them to his farm to make cleaning the hive from the house a more managable job.
It doesn't seem that the bees want to move; however, so plan B is the bee suits. Our new friend has an extra suit and at 2pm today, hubby and beekeeper are going to tear the siding off the house on ladders in full bee gear to attempt to manually harvest the queen and some of her offspring to the new box, harvest some honey, and clean the remaining hive and bees out of the house. There are still bees upstairs, so hubby will have to go up there in the bee suit and either spray more or start swatting or shop vaccumming until the upstairs bedrooms are clear.
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2pm - bee harvesting time. They cut through 10 layers of comb to find that the main hive has already evacuated and only left a few hundred stragglers behind to starve to death. They are still swarming the combs we cut out of the house. Very interesting and I have pictures.
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