Bees?

[svp07 14]

What are you guys doing about bees if encountered? Up charge by the nest or can of spray? I had to clean out the gutters for this house I was going to wash and I ran into about 7 nests...lost 2 hours on the gutter cleaning I figure and 3 cans of spray. They were hiding up under the edge of the shingle in the gutter and behind the gutter...for some reason there was a 1/4" gap between the house and the gutter.

I am going to put in a disclosure on my estimates about bees...maybe $10 a nest.

Any thoughts.

[CCPC 26]

I have never encountered a bee problem before, but I do encounter wasps on a daily basis. They don't take to kindly to me blasting there nests off the sides of houses. I actually kind of enjoy wasps. There good for target practice. Whenever the're flying around me I try to get the tip of my lance right up next to them and whamo! I press the trigger and they drop like flies. As a matter of fact, I just had some good target practice at a house this morning.

[svp07 14]

I ment wasps...I'll fix my post.

You can't shoot these off the house you would damage the roof.

[CCPC 26]

What kind of spray are you using?

they do sell a spray called hornet and wasp (I think) that you spray on the nest and when the stuff hits them it leaves them flightless as well as dead in seconds.

[svp07 14]

I have something by spectracide and also RAID, used that this morning.

I know about killing them I was just wondering about what to charge the home owner and how to put it in the estimate as a disclosure. Something to the effect of ....if bees/wasps/hornets impeed completion of work they will be delt with inorder to complete work, this will be billed to the owner.

I had 2 bad cans when I ran into this problem. I think the stuff went bad from the heat, the wasps were bathing in it and walking around.

[RyanH 14]

I had this problem awhile back and billed the customer an additional $15 per can I had to use. I had the 20ft spray cans, so I just walked around the house and had some good target practice.

[Henry B. 4]

Wasps are one thing but recently I've been running into a bunch of european hornets (basically yellow jackets on steroids about 2-2 1/2 inches long. Very aggresive and will sting the hell out of you.

I've contracted a pest control company that gives my clients a discount if they are clients of mine. Name of the company for you Maryland people, all pest solutions.

[svp07 14]

Henry,

What does he charge to show up and take out a few nests?

The problem is not just the nest and the wasps there, it's the ones that are coming back to the nest and find it has been terminated. They seem to hang around and I don't want to get stung while on a ladder or on the roof.

[Henry B. 4]

Anywhere from 45-150 or so depending on the difficulty.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Henry,

You can HAVE that business. Rod is allergic to bee stings. One thing we look for where ever we work, are nests. He's been stung a few times, and luckily been ok but it does scarry things to him...

Beth

[squirtgun 122]

Beth,

It sounds like Rod needs to get an epi-pen,if he doesn't have one already.If not a trip to the ear,nose and throat doc would be in order to determine his exact allergy so they can give him the correct meds.Epi-pens can save the life of someone with severe allergic reations.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

He has an epi pen. He also has a fear of needles. Someone has to be with him or it won't get used. Nearly faints each flu shot season. I have made sure several times to get him Benydryl ASAP. That he will take.

I wish the epi pen solition could be applied via patch or nasal spray. I would feel alot better when he is out. He has one of those battery operated insect swatters and zaps them too. it goes up a ladder with him, especially when it's the season where they are most active.

As for me, bugs don't bother me. The sting will hurt me less than the squish will hurt them. ;) As a matter of fact I took down a hornets (at least I think they were hornets) nest today, from a commercial building.

Beth

[EmpirePW 14]

As for me, bugs don't bother me. The sting will hurt me less than the squish will hurt them. ;) As a matter of fact I took down a hornets (at least I think they were hornets) nest today, from a commercial building.

Beth you are a good woman... I am the bug killer in my house and I only wish my girl could pick up a shoe and do it herself so I can continue doing whatever I am doing that is probably more important than squishing some dumb bug.

[Henry B. 4]

Hey Beth,

I don't remove bees... Not unless they're chasing me away from the house..lol I've got a deal worked out with a pest control company that will give us quick service and discounts for our clients. The name of the company is all pest solutions if you'd like to check it out. My sister in law is the president. 301-770-2400

We refer them out to clients all the time for yellow jackets, hornets, bald faced hornets, european hornets and anything really nasty. Regular wasps we just kill with the spray as long as they're arent that many of them.

My wife is also allergic to bees. She has about 25 seconds to use her epi pen or she's in deep trouble. She's not wild about needles either but there isnt much of a choice at that point.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Be careful with wasp spray near the roof...I seem to remember reading something about it being damaging to shingles.

I can't imagine losing 2 hours on nests. I can walk a house and spray all the nests in less than 5 minutes. We get a lot of paper wasp nests, and mud daubers. I've only run into yellow jacket/hornet nests twice, and both times I referred them to a pest control company...these are the nests where you can stand there and count dozens of yellow jackets coming and going in the span of a minute...meaning there are hundreds, if not thousands, in the nest. Both times the nests were inside the attic, and they were accessing through a gap between the fascia and siding. Those jokers HURT when they sting...not like a regular bee or wasp sting!

It isn't the wasp nests on the houses that bother me...it is the ones in the bushes that you can't see until your climbing through them to get to a window you need to clean, or to get to the gutters...

I have a totally irrational fear of bees/wasps/etc. I know it isn't that bad to get stung, been stung plenty...But let me get near one, especially in an enclosed area, and I'll get a bit nuts. Here's how irrational it is...Even knowing that male carpenter bees can't sting since they have no stinger, I still let them chase me all over roofs.

Do they make an epi-pen for irrational fears?

[svp07 14]

You can't spray a nest you can't see, and when they are hiding up under the shingle's edge that goes into the gutter you do not know they are there. This house had the the shingles run into the gutter practically only leaving a 3 inch gap; that makes it hard to get your hand in to pull the crap out. It's not fun putting your hand in and finding a wasps nests. So besides the placement of the nests and being on the ladder there were also nests that could not be reached due to shrubs and gutter guards in certain areas. Thats where 2 wasted hours comes from.

Understand that this was probably a house with unusual circumstances and and unusual amount of nests.

[RyanH 14]

Mike,

sounds exactly like my little brother. If it has wings and flies around his general vicinity (even some jumping things, like crickets), it might as well be a mad-as-hell hornet with precision-tracking abilities and he's the feast. And his eyes are like a hawk. We can be carrying on a conversation and suddenly his stare freezes and locks onto a lumbering bumblebee 100ft away and he goes into defense mode. Craziest damn thing I've ever seen. The only thing for which I have an irrational feer are snakes and women with mustaches, but my brother will let snakes hang all over him at zoos and think I'm crazy for not wanting to get near them.

Just letting you know, you aren't alone with that fear thing.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Exactly what I'm talking about, except with me, it is only bees/wasps etc. Other flying things don't bother me...Even biting flies like yellow flies don't bring out that reaction.

Hell, I've started getting out of a moving truck because one got inside. It is a totally irrational, and almost uncontrollable reaction.

[charlie 14]

Have a water bottle that can mist water they will not come through the water. Learned that trick several years ago. I was doing a deck and walkway hit the bushes and got stung 11 times in 30 seconds. Took the water and blasted them out of the air I was like rambo. But before I realized it they were trying to attack me from behind so I took the wand and spun around providing a barrier, so the yellow jackets wouldn't get to me. Or you can buy a bee suit. Another thing if you charge for killing bees you might have to have a pest control license. In WI we have to.

Charlie

[svp07 14]

So every homeowner needs a license to kill bees/wasps/hornets?

[Mike Williamson 198]

So every homeowner needs a license to kill bees/wasps/hornets?

No, you just need a license to do it for hire for others....Just like a homeowner can do just about anything he pleases regarding repairs inside his home, but I can't get paid by him to do much of it because I'm not licensed.

[charlie 14]

That is correct Mike.

Charlie

[seymore 90]

See him... him and his friends were tryin to get me hiding under the deck today when i started P/washing.Sorry i don't have an after he was flatened by 3200 PSI :bullistic

[Mike Williamson 198]

The ones I really hate are the paper wasps...especially the small ones...They build their nests everywhere, and it always seems to be where I didn't check, especially in the shrubbery!

[seymore 90]

For these lil buggers i took a bucket of hot soapy water and poured it in the deck cracks.That took care of them except for a few stragglers.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Housewash mix with chlorine works well too. :)