nest of honeybees in construction pile

[kris b]

We live in a rural, new construction are in the desert. (arizona) The dumpster for the new house had a bees nest in it and then was taken to the dump. Some bees stayed behind and we had hoped there wouldn't be another queen. Last night I was moving some of the pile when it started to humm! yikes! All of the bees stayed put and didn't venture out, so I am guessing that they are not africanized. When they are flying about, they don't bother us or our animals at all.

The builder said he and his buddy will come out and just kill them all with a bunch of spray. We have always planned on beekeeping in the future and would hate to see these destroyed. There are a whole bunch of hives about 3 miles from us on the state land. so we think they may have wandered from there? Is there anything we can do to save them? How can we REALLY QUICKLY and inexpensively get set up and go about it? Is there anyone here that lives close to the phoenix area that could come and get them? Should we just let them be destroyed?

thanks

kris

[Hillbillynursery]

Look in the Top Bar Hive(TBH) forum a bit. Since the bees are in scrap lumber you could make a box and hang the bees/combs into it from what ever they are attached to. Then You would have time to read and decide if you want a standard hive(Langstroth designed it so they are call by his name or just Lang for short) or make a TBH as these take little skill to make(you probly have enough lumber in the sc rap pile to make 10 hives if not more from a single new home construction). It is hard to get and assemble your standard hive without a bee supply company real close. I hope you have luck with the local guys.

[wildbee]

down load hive plans from this web site build your own hive and shake the bees in it. you may want to contact beekeeper 3 miles from you to help you with the frames and the wax. He will know what to do. cheap???

[Michael Bush]

Are you sure they are honey bees? I worked construction and found many a nest of bumble bees in a pile of construction material but never honey bees.

[kris b]

Bumble bees look different don't they? These are what we have always known to be honey bees. They sure aren't yellow jackets or wasps like we had alot of in Oregon.

I am not sure of who owns the other hives on the state land. Is there a spot on this site that would tell me what to do after I build the hive? Don't they make their own wax? Tahnks for all of your help. What are the best clothes to wear?

[east_stingray]

kris, if you want an email exchange, I check my email religiously (4 or 5 times per day) because of school stuff that gets sent there. nphelan@eureka.edu and you can just fire off all your questions at me and i'll do my best to either answer them or link you to the correct thread here. I'm third year, and I still remember all the expensive mistakes I made, so maybe I can help you save a bit of money. Drop me an email.

[Barry Digman]

I'd see if I could find a local beekeeper who would be willing to loan/sell you the basics to hive them AND would help with the capture.

[Michael Bush]

I'm not saying they CAN'T be honey bees, but I am saying while I've seen many bumble bee nests in construction piles I haven't found honey bees.

[kris b]

part of the problem may be that the HUGE dumpster was supposed to be just for construction waste. But there are families that are moving into the houses as they are finished and think its cool to throw their trash and everything in also. So this time there was food and waste and junk topped off with wood debris. It rained and flooded, then was in the 70's during the day. They showed up one day in the dumpster in an obvious nest, becaus eof the number of bees. When the dumpster got hauled off, it was during the day and alot of them got left behind apparently. they set up house in the pile of styrofoam debris that was overflowed and on the ground from the dumpster. I found their home, its in a scrap roll of tar paper. I accidently tossed it aside thinking they were somewhere farther down. They started buzzing around as if to make a statement that they were irked. they stayed within several feet of the spot and never stung, followed, or tried to attack us. wew!

In oregon, a bumble bee is a big round black fuzzy bee that may have yellow stripes. a honey bee is the yellow and black striped oblong body shaped bee that gathers pollen. NOT the yellow jackets with longer body connectors and bite or anything with REALLY long stingers! We also have what we call potato bugs (the rolly polly, sow bugs, pill bugs) of other states. We play with them as kids and have fun. We moved to california and found out what potato bugs REALLY are, YIKES! So I'm not sure if bees are called the same everywhere or not.

[Michael Bush]

Odds are if they didn't try to sting you after you tossed the roll they were in, they were honey bees. Bumble bees or honets would have nailed you.