First topic message reminder :

Last year was an epic for us as we moved from our property in Turkey which we had lived for five years to start our new life here in BG. Several renovations have taken place including the removal of a chimney which to our surprise housed a family of bees and the queen bee of course, the local bee keeper came and took them all away for us. A year later and we have found that the bees are back and the queen bee appears to be in the middle of a dry lined wall which forms part of our kitchen.

So out I go with the bucket of cement yesterday and had nearly finished when one of the bees became agitated and decided to sting me, I have just come back from having another go at the wall and guess what . . . two stings this time. What do I do to keep them away and forget where the queen is living??

PS: My hand is in pain now!! Poor soul!! I'm a man, I can't take pain!!

Just remember this..once you have been stung, the bee usually goes away, leaving the sting imbedded in your skin..never, ever use your fingers like a pair of tweezers to get it out!!! Sweep it away or scrape it off with a knife blade or similar..if you look at the sting, you will see it has a whitish coloured blob on one end..this is the poison sac and it holds quite a bit. If you squeeze it whilst trying to get it out, you will just add to your pain.

starlite wrote:

stay well clear of the bees, they will be angry. i have just had my first bee sting ever while watering and it hurts .

Yes Barry it hurts - whilst looking at the nest in our wall over the past few days I got stung three times on one hand and guess what . . . . yes, you have guessed right, another visit to the hospital in Pavlikeni. My hand was approaching double it's size and itched like mad!! So into the A and E and seen straight away because no one else was in there, into the surgery and a quick explanation of what was wrong and the magic cooling solution was applied after putting a big bandage on my hand and wrist.

A prescription was written out for allergy pills of 1 mg and a bottle of the magic solution iadein (haven't spelt that right) and on my way back to the car, all done in 10 minutes. Can't speak highly enough of the BG health system, they might not have the up to date equipment, but their care is unsurpassable.

This may or may not ring any bells..when I was a kid (a hundred years ago), my mother used a little tablet in her rinse water whilst doing the laundry and it used to turn the water a lovely blue colour..in Australia it was called 'Reckitts Blue'. Applied to a bee sting, it would give instant relief...no pain and no swelling.

Anyone familiar with this?



Just as an aside, I got zapped by a swarm of angry wasps today..copped at least ten stings which got my attention rather quickly. Luckily the sensation only last a few minutes.

It always baffled me as a kid why the washing never came out being blue.

That just what washing powder used to be like.

Thinking back, I'm sure that I pondered mightily on the same subject..my Mum used to put this tablet in an old cotton sock and dangle it in the cold rinse water..whites came out ' whiter than white' and the blue water went down the drain. T'was pure magic to a little boys eyes..but not as magic as the instant relief from a bee sting!

Bernard came around to us last night and he was armed with some powder, some petrol, a piece of rag and a long stick. All of this was put together and tied with string and without any notice he turned himself into a rireraiser. The stick was lit and plunged into the crevice that the bees had used to enter our wall and smoke was billowing out all over the place, in the middle of this Annette did mention whether the house would catch on fire, to which I answered in the narrative.

To be honest I really didn't know at that point whether the house would catch on fire, but luck was on our side and everything calmed down, the fire eventually went out and we all said goodbye in the knowledge that all would be OK this morning. So this morning I inspected the wall and the bees appeared to be going in and out as usual, not much has happened there I thought. Bernard told me this afternoon that it may take a few days before everything quietens down, so here's hoping that they have gone somewhere else . . . and not in our house!!

bgbazz wrote:

Thinking back, I'm sure that I pondered mightily on the same subject..my Mum used to put this tablet in an old cotton sock and dangle it in the cold rinse water..whites came out ' whiter than white' and the blue water went down the drain. T'was pure magic to a little boys eyes..but not as magic as the instant relief from a bee sting!

Used to be called Dolly Blue. Didn't know it was good for bee stings though. Used to use it (carefully!) on the grey hunters at work years ago, before all the very expensive whiteners came on the market. Had to be a bit careful on the very white ones though.

Mrs Eq

Also for instant pain relief crush a little of the paracetamol to powder and put on the affected sting area.

Business as usual at the bees nest this morning, will now put Plan B into action!!

itchyfeet wrote:

Business as usual at the bees nest this morning, will now put Plan B into action!!

Mybeee you need to sweeten the deal with honey

It would be nice to see the honey Berni, but it is in the middle of the wall somewehere. Still taking the allergy pills, not getting too close again, especially in daylight!!

When the builders renovated our place 6 years ago they had to fix the roof they said when they too the roof off there was a wasp nest - they said they got rid of it but I am not sure we have lots of orange color wasp like insects - So I am prepared for the new builders who will be fixing the roof again to tell me we have a nest.

I think sometimes if they are not doing the home owners any harm or damage to the property then maybe just leave them to it.

But as I said earlier my mothers wasps had to go because they were starting to find their way through the wall cavity and into the property just below the sink unit.

Bernie.
If your loft area is also fairly well sealed, then maybe installing some bees could put a sting into any unwanted intruders who decide to try entering the property again through the roof.

Phil-H wrote:

I think sometimes if they are not doing the home owners any harm or damage to the property then maybe just leave them to it.

The problem we have got is the fact that the wall they have adopted needs to be insulated with polystyrene and then webbing and then cemented. We will have a cold winter if we don't get the wall sorted first.

I know I'm repeating myself, but things are now getting serious.

I'm assuming you know exactly where in the wall they are.
So try what I suggested earlier, which was something like a electric motor vibrating against the wall to try and drive them away.
Maybe some sort of kitchen blender/mixer taped or propped against the wall, but make sure it's further away from the opening to try to drive them out and not drive them further into the cavity.

Obviously you would need to start early one day then probably go out for a couple of hours, mainly to get away from the noise.

Either that or it's a new sheet of plasterboard and a lot of swearing.
'And of course a good friendly word with Bernard'