After work yesterday I came home to find some bees in my apt in Albuquerque. Most of them were docile, barely moving on the floor under the windows, but some were on the screens or the glass window panes, trying to get out. I think they were honey bees but have no bee wisdom or experience. I swept them into my dust pan as gently as possible and took them outside, tossed them into the air. The ones that didn't fall earthward, flew off in a westerly direction. I'm sad to say that many appeared to be dead. I searched my apt inside and out for a nest/hive, but found nothing. The swamp cooler (what we call air conditioning in these parts) on the roof was just opened up for use, but my flashlight showed no bee hive inside. Any ideas what happened with these bees? Did I do the right thing, or were they destined to die anyway?

-- Jeannine Maxwell (jmaxwell@nmtr.unm.edu), May 01, 2001

Answers

well,, if they werer honey bees,, check the outside walls,, and see if there are any coming and going. If there are,, then there is a hive in the walls,, my guess is,, is that they werent honey bees though.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), May 01, 2001.

I'm fairly certain they were a swarm. A swarm is a new queen surrounded by other bees that are looking for a new home. That would be one reason they were so docile. The bees that died were old bees that had lived through the winter and it was just their time to die. It would have been great had you known a beekeeper to call so he/she could have hived the swarm. You did the right thing by getting them out of your apartment. They would have shortly set about building comb and setting up a colony had they stayed. As for how they got in your apt in the first place I have no idea.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), May 01, 2001.

If this was a swarm, it was an awfully small one. The title to your post said "65" bees. A true swarm would be in the thousands. I would quess that there is some hole that they got in, but couldn't get out and that there is something in your apt. that attracted them. There are lots of hole shapes that allow bees one way access only. They may have gone into the swamp cooler to collect water and came down the ducts into the house. Honey bees have to collect water to bring the honey to the right moisture content. If the weather is fairly dry there and you just opened up the swamp cooler and soaked the mats, then any honey bees nearby probably made a "bee line" for this new water source. Once inside, it may have been easier to go down the ducts than back out the way they came in, or if the fan was blowing, they probably got sucked down. If this continues to be a problem, I suggest installing a tight fitting bug screen all the way around the cooler to keep the bees out.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), May 01, 2001.

When moving hives weve left little clusters of bees. not all bees get under the net and weve had to go back and kill small groups of bees for folks. What im saying maybe a beekeeper stopped near by and then left agian, leaving a few stragglers. Just an idea.

-- MikeinKS (mhonk@oz-online.net), May 02, 2001.