Problem with bees or wasps?

Are they honey bees? or are they wasps or yellow jackets (a kind of wasp)?
If they are honey bees then call a bee keeper they will often take them away for free.
If they are wasps then you might try covering the air conditioner from the inside and the outside and spraying the wasp spray. If the air conditioner is of no consequence then I have seem people use that expanding spray foam insulation to fill in the exit and entrance holes and trap them inside it. You would have to make sure that they cannot escape into the house though.

Closing it with whatever won’t help, i’ve heard, they’ll get through it or find another exit.
In case they are wasps I would suggest to contact a professional exterminator, that way you will be that they will be gone.
If they are bees you could consider calling a bee keeper, who might come and take them away for you.

It could be my irrational fear of bees, but I can’t for the life of me figure out of these are honey bees or wasps. They just look like pain and fear to me.

Also, I have sealed off the inside with a trash bag and tape all around the air conditioner after finding and killing 2 of them in my house.

And yes – the air conditioner is junk. I can do whatever I want with it. It’ll be removed and disposed of soon.

I do think it will require a powdered insecticide as they will pick up the powder when they enter the vent and carry it with them into the nest.

I’m liking the spray foam insulation idea, although I am not that confident that my trash bag and tape will keep them out of my house.

@Cruiser – Interesting. My local hardware store doesn’t carry anything but the spray. Have you seen this stuff in stores or is this an interenet-only type of thing.

I agree with @Cruiser. We had a wasp problem on our back wall at one of my old houses. We sprayed bug killer in it and blocked it up hoping that would fix the problem. It was only about 30 wasps that we saw on any given day so we didn’t think it would be that much worse.

We all went to bed later that night and when we woke up our entire basement was covered in a moving carpet of wasps. We had several hundred dead, dying and pissed off wasps on every surface. My brother actually lived in the basement at the time and he had wasps in his sheets, inside his computer, all of his clothing, every nook and cranny was covered in wasps.

You try to kill them and block it off? They’re gonna find a way in.

I would use Drione and a hand duster and leave it alone. The dust is a mixture of irratants and dessicants so it cuts them up then dehydrates the shit out of them. :D

Tom…I got mine off the internet but I did just read a proud now wasp free post on the net where they used cheap ordinary ant dusting powder. Makes sense to me.

Uh… contact the fire department?

I really think you should have someone who can tell the difference between wasps and bees look at the situation. Honey bees have had so many problems lately, it would be shame to kill them off when I’m sure there are beekeepers who would be happy to collect them for you and might not even charge for it!

If they are wasps, knowing what type of wasp you are dealing with will help avoid more problems. Some species are more aggressive than others, and if you have something like bald faced hornets instead of yellow jackets, you may want to let a professional handle it.

Thanks all! I know I killed a few, so I’m planning on going out there tonight when I don’t see any flying around and I’ll check for the dead ones. I should be able to identify it then. If it’s a honey bee, I’ll try to call a local bee farmer and ask for advice. If it’s wasps, I’m calling in the marines.

Look, bees tend to be fatter and fuzzier than wasps. Wasps, hornets, etc. all look shiny and slender.

@asmonet – I’m actually leaning towards honey bees at this point, although I swear I see fangs. I have an irrational fear of bees.

@tom_g My seven year old son helped someone check their bee hives by removing frames full of bees. They found the queen, checked out the hives, put it back together, and no one got a single bee sting.

But I understand, I feel the same way about spiders!

This might be the worst thing, but could you turn the air conditioner on and let the works chop/freeze/whatever the critters?

Wasps usually have their legs hanging down when they are flying.
Honey bees are kind of fuzzy and not real aggressive.

I am absolutely with @wilma and @MissAusten on this. You need someone to identify the insects as bees or wasps but if they are bees, please try to save them. Don’t feel so compassionate about wasps and I think you would have to destroy the hive.

Bees are such important little creatures though and they are already in crisis in terms of survival. See if you can find a local apiarist. They may be very happy to come out and collect the hive. Do ask them if they will collect or kill the bees and go with the person who will collect them if you can.

I have had two houses where queens have set up hives in my brick wall. The first apiarist (was about 100 in the shade I think and his wife was allergic to bees but he felt if someone had to go it should be her not the bees :-D) came around and put a box on my wall in which he collected the bees. They couldn’t get back into the wall and were contained in the box hive. After a few days, he took it away.. no more bees. The Queen died in my wall without her bee colony but at least the hive went on.

The second guy just killed the hive. I was very saddened by that.

I love bees! I hope you can find someone to collect them @tom_g

Tobacco smoke can knock em out which will allow for safe and easy removal… but getting an exterminator is probably your best bet.

Honey bee.

The common wasp.

You need to identify the insect. Personally, your situation sounds way more a wasp thing. They can make nests anywhere. Don’t know much about honeybees, but they are a little more picky than wasps when it comes to their homes. If it’s wasps, call pest control, they’ll get rid of em. They will if it’s bees, too, but as already stated, a beekeeper will be happy to take them. And if they ARE honeybees, don’t tackle them on your own, if you don’t properly know how. A bee nest can kill a person.
I’m leaning on wasps here though, which you should prolly not tackle either, since they can hurt a lot, even if the average wasp nest can’t kill a human.