> I received a call from a neighbor across the lake about some honey bees in
> his attic.  On inspection I found them to be quite buried in the wall and
> too infected with mites to try to retrieve.  Anyone have a good method of
> putting the poor girls out of their misery, without doing too much damage
> to
> the guy's house? Looks like they are from this spring's swarms.
>
> Thanks
>
> Don Campbell


Don -

If they are weakened by mites, you will likely need to do nothing.  They
will die naturally in short order.  Next spring... before swarming season...
carefully calk any entrance a new swarm might use.  If by chance they
survive the winter, trap them out in the spring when they have consumed most
of the honey.  Leaving the honey in the walls is a potential problem and the
bees may solve that for you. Besides that, with a smaller spring population
the colony would be easier to bait out.  Either way you can leave the house
in tact.

Larry Krengel
Marengo, IL

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