24 replies to this topic

[zantezaint]

I faced a tough predicament. There was no beekeeper in my area that would extract a bee hive that is in the attic ventilation holes without charging a hefty fee so I ended up allowing all the bees to enter the room that I made a hole to the attic from to die in. Beekeepers say they love bees, but everyone clearly has to do it for money. I am not sure there is much love in that. Now, I have a tainted soul with blood on my hands.

[TennesseeAnts]

I faced a tough predicament. There was no beekeeper in my area that would extract a bee hive that is in the attic ventilation holes without charging a hefty fee so I ended up allowing all the bees to enter the room that I made a hole to the attic from to die in. Beekeepers say they love bees, but everyone clearly has to do it for money. I am not sure there is much love in that. Now, I have a tainted soul with blood on my hands.

Were they honeybees?

[ADHTCIAD]

Next time use a shop vac without the filter, some might die but the colony would probably live as long as you got the queen. Sadly it is all about the money these days, and that's why bees are dropping in record numbers. Most of the ones that are alive in north america belong to bee farms and lets just say its not an ideal situation for them, being overworked on crops/plants full of pesticides. Sad thing to do, but don't feel too bad about it, just think of all the ants that you don't step on!

 

*RIP* Bees.

[NickAnter]

In my neighborhood there is a hive near my house. I see hundreds of bees fly over our house to get to the hive I have not located every day. For a while, there wasn't very many here, but, now they are everywhere.

[TennesseeAnts]

Next time use a shop vac without the filter, some might die but the colony would probably live as long as you got the queen. Sadly it is all about the money these days, and that's why bees are dropping in record numbers. Most of the ones that are alive in north america belong to bee farms and lets just say its not an ideal situation for them, being overworked on crops/plants full of pesticides. Sad thing to do, but don't feel too bad about it, just think of all the ants that you don't step on!
 
*RIP* Bees.

It's kinda a good thing that honeybees are dying out in North America.

[BugFinder]

I faced a tough predicament. There was no beekeeper in my area that would extract a bee hive that is in the attic ventilation holes without charging a hefty fee so I ended up allowing all the bees to enter the room that I made a hole to the attic from to die in. Beekeepers say they love bees, but everyone clearly has to do it for money. I am not sure there is much love in that. Now, I have a tainted soul with blood on my hands.

 

there is nothing wrong with killing honey bees.  They are not native wildlife, they are livestfock.  When you see a hive in your neighborhood, it's like having a feral goat living in your neighborhood - they are escaped livestock and don't belong there.

 

If they aren't causing a conflict, no harm no foul.   If they are living in your attic, they have to go.

 

Just keep in mind that killing the bees is not enough.  You have to get that hive, and the honey, out of your  house.  If you do not, you could end up with mold problems inside your home, you could end up with other pest problems in your home, or you could have another hive take up residence in the vacant hive.   You could also get all three of those happen.   You'll need to get rid of the hive either way.  It's usually cheaper to have a bee keeper come out and do the work than to have a pest control company come in and kill it and remove it, then have a contractor repair the damage done in the extraction.  That's primarily becuase the bee keeper is often hoping to earn money selling honey, and will often price that addional income into the price they quote you for the removal.

 

Just a pespective from a pro.  I hope that helps you.

[gcsnelling]

Honey bees are not in trouble, period, additionally feral honey bees in southern California are mainly africanized and not safe to have around.

[ForestDragon]

to "clean your hands" you could try setting up bee hotels in your backyard for solitary bees that are native to your area and then you could help native populations of bees stay established and help them compete with the feral honey bees, and also they don't sting as much due to the fact they don't have a hive to protect, and usually let you hold them. it also looks really cool, and its free pollination, just set up some native wildflowers and put those bee hotels up

[zantezaint]

Thanks for the replies guys. Unfortunately I looked through the attic to search for the hive, but I could not find it. I am guessing it is buried underneath a foam of insulation deep in the corner of the attic. When I tried to find this hive a month and a half ago, there wasn't a single bee flying in the attic. Just recently, a thousand or so flew through the hole I made on the ceiling in the room underneath the attic. Strange. Yeah. I have to plug the holes they are going in and out from to starve the queen. It's hard to sleep with a guilty conscience, and just like you suggested dragon, I will have to make up for this with some bee farms, maybe on a property in the countryside in the future.

[ADHTCIAD]

Just because they aren't a native species doesn't mean they should just be eradicated and its okay to kill them lol. Would you do the same thing with foreign people!?   (don't answer that) After all it is us that brought them here in the first place! Not trying to start some debate here or anything, but for real lol. It aint their fault. Go mankind!

[TennesseeAnts]

Just because they aren't a native species doesn't mean they should just be eradicated and its okay to kill them lol. Would you do the same thing with foreign people!?   (don't answer that) After all it is us that brought them here in the first place! Not trying to start some debate here or anything, but for real lol. It aint their fault. Go mankind!

Any established exotic wildlife should be destroyed. If they get a foothold like Linepithema humile has in the US, they kill and displace native wildlife that has evolved to support the native ecosystems.

[ADHTCIAD]

I definitely agree that exotic species can be a problem. Many native species of bees (if not most) can't handle the chemicals and pesticides used on our crops and seeds. They either die, or move on. And due to the fact of how fast our agriculture demands grow, and the fact of less and less habitat, less and less native bees, there is no choice now but to bring in foreign species. If we killed them off too I feel like things would be a lot worse. For the most part honeybees co-exist with other bees. Its species like Anthidium manicatum that are more of a problem than honeybees. We honestly need them because of the choices we have made and how absolutely massive the agriculture industry is.

[Temperateants]

I love the reaction of people's faces when I say that bees are evil, they are terrible ect. and then explaining I mean imported honeybees and the problems they cause lol.

[BugFinder]

Just because they aren't a native species doesn't mean they should just be eradicated and its okay to kill them lol. Would you do the same thing with foreign people!?   (don't answer that) After all it is us that brought them here in the first place! Not trying to start some debate here or anything, but for real lol. It aint their fault. Go mankind!

 

Yes, it is a reason to kill them.  along with commensal rats, argentine ants, and all of the other invasive species we have allowed to spread here.  

 

I didn't blame the bees.  I don't kill them becuase it's "their fault", but they often need to be killed regardless of whose fault it is.

[BugFinder]

I definitely agree that exotic species can be a problem. Many native species of bees (if not most) can't handle the chemicals and pesticides used on our crops and seeds. They either die, or move on. And due to the fact of how fast our agriculture demands grow, and the fact of less and less habitat, less and less native bees, there is no choice now but to bring in foreign species. If we killed them off too I feel like things would be a lot worse. For the most part honeybees co-exist with other bees. Its species like Anthidium manicatum that are more of a problem than honeybees. We honestly need them because of the choices we have made and how absolutely massive the agriculture industry is.

 

No one here is suggesting completely eradicating the honey bee in North America.  We only need them to pollinate plant species that are also non native, and can't be pollinated without them, so we use them as live stock to pollinate almonds (and a few other varieties) and we love their honey.

 

But we really don't need them here.  i really like having local honey (my family eats a lot of it), but we could live without it if we had to. I enjoy eating almonds, and I probably wouldn't pay for imported almonds, so they are nice to have around, but its not true to say we can't' feed ourselves without them.

 

Regardless, no one here is advocating for that.

[Serafine]

 

Just because they aren't a native species doesn't mean they should just be eradicated and its okay to kill them lol. Would you do the same thing with foreign people!?   (don't answer that) After all it is us that brought them here in the first place! Not trying to start some debate here or anything, but for real lol. It aint their fault. Go mankind!

Any established exotic wildlife should be destroyed. If they get a foothold like Linepithema humile has in the US, they kill and displace native wildlife that has evolved to support the native ecosystems.

Well... if you'd kill off all foreign wildlife in the US - in many places there wouldn't be much wildlife left. You'd be surprised how many species you consider native aren't. Europe is even worse.

Not every species is causing problems, we should focus our resources on those that are actually an issue, anything else is basically impossible - and even with the destructive invasive ones we often can just keep them in check, killing them off usually is only doable on small islands or in geologically isolated areas. Prevention is really the best protection.

Africanized bees (if you can even call them that, genetically most populations are basically fully african, european bee genes can only be found in populations in or close to temperate regions) are no joke though, provoking them is generally a very bad idea that a lot of people have paid with their life.

Edited by Serafine, April 23 2020 - 1:20 AM.

[BugFinder]

 

 

Just because they aren't a native species doesn't mean they should just be eradicated and its okay to kill them lol. Would you do the same thing with foreign people!?   (don't answer that) After all it is us that brought them here in the first place! Not trying to start some debate here or anything, but for real lol. It aint their fault. Go mankind!

Any established exotic wildlife should be destroyed. If they get a foothold like Linepithema humile has in the US, they kill and displace native wildlife that has evolved to support the native ecosystems.

Well... if you'd kill off all foreign wildlife in the US - in many places there wouldn't be much wildlife left. You'd be surprised how many species you consider native aren't. Europe is even worse.

Not every species is causing problems, we should focus our resources on those that are actually an issue, anything else is basically impossible - and even with the destructive invasive ones we often can just keep them in check, killing them off usually is only doable on small islands or in geologically isolated areas. Prevention is really the best protection.

Africanized bees (if you can even call them that, genetically most populations are basically fully african, european bee genes can only be found in populations in or close to temperate regions) are no joke though, provoking them is generally a very bad idea that a lot of people have paid with their life.

 

 

We have rogbust native wildife populations in the US, and native fauna and flora flourish better when non natives are removed from the landscape.

[Serafine]

Well, around 10-12% of the plants in Yellowstone park are invasives, in the Everglades it's 15-20% and for Acadia it's a whopping 21-27%. Hawaii is even worse (47% in Haleakala NP) but then Hawaii is bad in general.

And that's basically "untouched" nature, everywhere around human presence it is MUCH worse.

 

Killing off all of them is entirely unfeasable (especially considering it's not even including all the exotic garden plants which can potentially jump over the fence and become the next major pest any moment) and in some cases not even desireable (like pine forests in New Zealand can act as a nursery for native forest floor plants which in other areas have no chance, giving those areas an opportunity to grow back into native biome forests over the course of decades and centuries). Focus is key.

[Vendayn]

We also gotta kill the native bees. The invasive bees can spread pathogens to them or they can just get pathogens normally, and the only way to protect the environment is to kill the native bees so they don't further spread pathogens. So this is actually a really good thing.

Edited by Vendayn, April 25 2020 - 12:11 AM.

[Serafine]

We also gotta kill the native bees. The invasive bees can spread pathogens to them or they can just get pathogens normally, and the only way to protect the environment is to kill the native bees so they don't further spread pathogens. So this is actually a really good thing.

That's basically the same as saying "let's kill all humans to stop the spread of Coronavirus".

Sure, you're removing the problem but you're not exactly solving it.