Bees in Trees

treekiller

Have any of you come across a bee hive while doing a tree removal before? This was a removal from a couple months ago. The owner knew about the bees because another tree service had spotted the hive hole about 20 feet from the ground(I found out latter). I had no idea they were there, and she didn't bother telling me. I guess that's how I won the bid. I will look closer from now on. One thing we had going for us is that the night time temps were in the 30s and warming to the 60s. So, after the discovery we were able to finish the next morning when it was cold and the bees were moving slow.

But how do you guys handle this situation in the summer when the bees are active?

Eric Frei

I personally have never had a hive that bad, but others tell me they get the pest bloke in and kill'm all!

__________________

treefeller

Had problems with wasp nests and hornets,if im already up the tree i tend to try and work through them, although hornets stings are painfull. If im on the ground prior to climbing i tend to get someone in and smoke em out

newguy18

If i spot one,i ascend and either smoke or torch them out,hornets usually have thier nest on a branch,starting fluid,[ether]will put them too sleep,so i spray them with ether and light the damn thing.The nest falls to the ground before burning the the branch.If i spot them i charge an extra hazard fee.

__________________
Have your say join us today.


old schooler

treekiller

Definitely a hazard! I would have bid higher had I known about the bees in advance. I do like to stick to my bid though. It will teach ya.

Rick Haggins

taken down quite a few bee trees in dif times of year.there tuff to deal with sometimes.honey bees are the worst i dont know why but they are.took one down completly to the stob about 20 ft nobody got stung untill we fell it then it was kady bared the door.the next one came down pretty good it was august about 100 dgr eveybody wore denem jackets and masquito nets with a wide brim hat worked real good took a few more water breaks than usual but got the52 inchdia 60 ft tall 40ft spread tree down in two days not bad considering it was between 2 two story apt buildings.tried using smoke dont work real good,if you have a sprayer you can mix dish liquid and water spray em down if accassable works to deter them a lot.make sure you put enuf soap in tho what it does is keepthem from flyin or cuts off oxygn or somethin .guy told me about it i lafed but tried it and it helped a lot.one time hit two dif kinds of bees on two dif jobs in same day first was big black bumbles second was red wasp dint know till it was to late on both jobs needles to say ithik only a couple of stings.

arbdog

We had a bees nest last year when we felled a large willow on a river bank. It wasn't till i was ringing the trunk up that i noticed, lucky it was still cold and they were very dosile still, combi can of fuel and a zippo and they soon cooked.(sorry). Bloke i was working with was spiking up a ivy covered pine and covered up a wasps nest with his tummy/chest, you have never seen a climber so keen to get down a tree so fast it was funny he got stung 28 times. tee hee!

treevet

I have been stung hundreds of times in different instances over the years.

Friend of mine nearly lost his life as he hit a hornet's nest and was allergic. He was in a large tree and had to re crotch on the way down and all the while was getting repeated stings while re tying. They said he was on the edge of death.

I could tell bee stories for hours, many of them are the cold in the morning.....surprise warm in the afternoon (ouch). Last one got stung over 20 times when we dropped the stick and it was a virtual cloud of them.

Always gotta be funny to the public seeing a guy running around swatting himself and yelling and screaming....lol. There was a scene of that type in a Chris Farley-David Spade movie. I think it was "Black Sheep".

arbdog

I have been doing bat surveys with a ecoligist for the last week,, she has made me realise the importance of bees and how they effect our lifes and the enviroment and how they are in a mass decline. so i apologise for m post about killing bees. On our bat surveys we inspected one cavity (woodpecker hole) and discovered a bees nest even though the temperature was -4 they were still active in the nest.

treevet

I'd love to see some pictures of your job Arbdog. Didn't know bats lived in trees.

arbdog

I am a tree surgeon but only just started learning about bats, they are protected by law. we have just been inspecting a ancient oak woodland wich will probably be felled as we found no bats. Like i said i am still learning but am now realising the effects of wildlife and our lifes.

Sean Freeman

Arbdog, try and get hold of some of the papers written by Andrew Cowan he has worked extensively with bats and the legilslation protecting them in Europe and the UK...just google arborecology

arbdog

Will do sean thanks! The lady i work with is a expert and has written many documents she has just learnt to climb as i normally inspect the cavities/bark but now i learning to survey them properly with her tuition!

treevet

Maybe you could PUT some bats in those trees and save them!

arbdog

It is a shame about the woodland its well old it hasn't gone through planning yet it is going to be the most contriversial development this side of the m5. I am not supposed to talk about it as it is highly confidential till next friday but we lots of people getting involved such as the forestry comission/woodland trust. normally i would be raring to drop the lot if we had the job but like i said i am realising the effects of wildlife and trees in our lifes.

Eric Frei

Not a nice way to try to save bats by putting them in trees that are going to be felled!

__________________

treevet

Don't think they would be ALLOWED to fell them if bats were in them.

tom macdonald

i found a bee tree last fall took 6foot section home with bees in it. i have ten other hives . hope to put bees in log in a hive seeing there honey bees. i just stuck a cleanex in the tree where bees come out and there wasnt one bee came out.

TreeDimensional

Hey Tom, did I read about that on another site??? I have heard that Bees play a VERY important role in the world food production. Disease and other pathogens are dropping their numbers at an alarming rate.

Theres no reason to NOT practice conservation when a tree is removed, like you did by taking the hive home with you. Way to go!

Last year at our TCC we used a tree with a hive in it as our throw line tree, NOT one person was stung! Now wasp are another subject all together!

pcarborist

Varoa mite.

__________________
parkcityarborist

Bernard Keays

treekiller "Have any of you come across a bee hive while doing a tree removal before? This was a removal from a couple months ago. The owner knew about the bees because another tree service had spotted the hive hole about 20 feet from the ground(I found out latter). I had no idea they were there, and she didn't bother telling me. I guess that's how I won the bid. I will look closer from now on. One thing we had going for us is that the night time temps were in the 30s and warming to the 60s. So, after the discovery we were able to finish the next morning when it was cold and the bees were moving slow.

But how do you guys handle this situation in the summer when the bees are active?"

One of the easiest ways to take out a hive is to Cockroach/flee bomb the hive and then seal up the entrance with No More Gaps Space filler. We have also done this with 2 cans of wasp killer (aerosol packs) but you need to do this at night when the hive is resting. Otherwise you’re going to stir up the workers when they return from their foraging.

__________________
Bernie

Q.Q.

Yep I agree with Bernard. have done that befor myself when I was a pest controller. I always find wasps out here in coca's palms, so I carry a can of wasp spray at all times. It's good stuff,not cheap but well worth it as it has a four meter jet of spray.

__________________

Q,Q's Tree & Garden Maintenance

FAMILARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

treekiller

Bernards idea sounds like a good solution when time is limited. Smoke and bee keepers will be nice if I have the time to mess with it, otherwise, I will just NUKE THE LITTLE BUGGERS!

JohN Dee

A mate of mine today got chased out of an Angophra today by bees... Lucky he didn't start that saw before he saw em... Woulda sucked but been funny at the same time

__________________
We are what we repeatedly do... Excellence then, is not an act, but HABIT...

Red : Green : Blue

hanging from a rope

that's a new one on me, what kind of bee yelloa jackets or honey bee,ive had run ins with white face hornets in tree's

treevet

It is tough in the summer with an interior cavity say honey bee's nest. If you can put them off til winter is the obvious choice. If not, you are likely gonna get stung. With the hornets, if you can get the nest into a garb can or spray the hell out of it then...maybe do it. I have been stung hundreds of times. If I was the allergic type I would be dead by now.

Angus

We often encounter bee and wasp nests, we wear bee suits and either work around them, kill them or just blow them up...




Usually there is one or two that manage to bite the forearm through the gloves, but you can definitely still work.

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________
Angus McMahon
Sherbrooke Tree Service

treevet

Good show Angus.

jomoco

Angus is almost spot on with his bee suit.

I myself, while guilty of wiping out many bee hives in trees, and even being sub-contracted for that specific purpose because of my bee suit, feel that it's no longer the professional responsible course of action.

If there are bee keepers in your area, you should make an effort to find one experienced in relocating bee hives, and list them in your emergency sub-contractor rolodex.

Relocating a large bee hive only takes a day or two for an experienced bee keeper. Paying close attention to how they do it is a good idea if you want to broaden your customer base, and gain a reputation for taking your environmental responsibilies as an arborist seriously.

I use a spotting scope now to closely inspect big takedowns for bees and faults prior to bidding. But then almost all of my work is done as a sub to tree companies that have already been awarded the contract.

It's good publicity to do the right thing whether it's bees or raptors guys.

Bee suits only cost a couple hundred bucks.

jomoco

treevet

Welcome to Tree World Jomoco