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sally_g

Dead & live bees in apartment

Sally_G
18 years ago

I returned to my apartment last night to something very bizarre: there were a couple dozen bees in my kitchen, most of them dead. I found 9 dead bees on the floor, one dead bee on the counter near the sink, 6 dead bees on the windowsill, and about 8 dead bees in the metal track where the sliding window rests. There was one live bee crawling on the windowsill, which I promptly killed. This morning I was in the kitchen when I became aware of a live bee crawling on me; it flew away toward the living room.

I looked at the kitchen window outside my apartment to see if there were any bees or bee hives near it, and I didn't see any.

I would like to know if anyone out there has heard of such a thing. I have lived in this apartment for 15 years and usually leave the kitchen window open because I live in a warm climate. Occasionally, I will find a single dead bee on the windowsill.

There are no trees or plants near the window. Until two years ago, there was a tree outside the window that had red bottlebrush-like, spiky things that attracted bees, but it was removed by the apartment management. I don't have any live plants inside my apartment, either.

The water in my apartment complex (four buildings, about 300 residents) was shut off for most of the weekend, and I wonder if that would have anything to do with the bee situation in my apartment.

There was a bee hive near the front of the apartment complex that was removed about a couple of months ago. My building is in the rear of the complex.

I would like to know 1) possible reasons why this occurred, and 2) what can I do to get rid of the live bees (besides closing the window)? I don't have any insecticides, nor do I want to use any in the kitchen.

Any advice you can give will be most appreciated. Thank you!

Comments (16)

  • txbeeguy
    18 years ago

    I think it's a sign of the 'end times'.

  • bambooo
    18 years ago

    Besides closing the window a screen might help.
    It is swarm season in much of the USA
    red bottlebrush? Calliandra? Chestnut? Annatto?
    No guessing where you are.
    Here is a novel idea, next time you get a bee indoors try walking it onto a piece of paper and letting it out the window, trapping it on a windowpane under a drinking glass and then sliding a piece of junk mail over the top will contain it.

  • Sally_G
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thanks for the response. I live in southern CA. I have screens on all of the windows in my apartment, I've checked the screens for holes and open gaps along the sides. I found a few more dead bees on the kitchen floor yesterday; no live ones. Very strange...

  • txbeeguy
    18 years ago

    Sally_G,
    I hope you and your mom get along okay; sounds like to me, you'll be there more than just one night. Now you've given us enough information to go on...apparently a honeybee swarm has taken up residence inside the wall next to the kitchen window. That hive will have to be removed and/or destroyed and their access hole(s), blocked up. Maybe this can be done in just one day but given my experiences with apartment managers, it'll probably take more....

  • sqinaz
    15 years ago

    I live in Arizona, where 99.9% of our honey bees are now Africanized. I'm allergic to bee stings, and have taken care to remove ALL flowering plants from around my house (except one hibiscus, which I have never seen bees around).

    Last week, there was a bee on the wall next to my back door. I stuck a flyswatter out the door to shoo it away, and it fell to the ground. Later, it died.

    Yesterday and today, I found one single dead bee on the patio by my back door.

    Several times a week I check the entire perimeter of my house and the yard for any signs of a hive forming. Since I am allergic, I certainly want to nip any problem in the bud. I have seen NO signs of a hive, anywhere. But the three dead bees concern me as that has never happened in the 6 years I have lived in this house.

    Reading the post above makes me very concerned that there could be a problem forming somewhere around my house, without me knowing about it.

    Any suggestions on what to do or any hints on what to look for that I might be missing? I do go outside and check at dusk, when the bees should be heading home to their hive.

  • barbara_muret
    15 years ago

    I don't want to sound like a "wacko"... but I've had similar unexplained experiences for the last three years. The first time it was "sowbugs" - absolutely abundant, dead, in two rooms of the house for three days (I cleaned them up each day). Each year its the same time, I can't remember last years specie, this year it was something that looked like a ladybug but an orangish color. Three years in a row, three days each, very few alive bugs, all dead in huge numbers. In the same two spots.

    My house is very sealed up, there is absolutely no way for them to get in.

  • miltfar_aol_com
    13 years ago

    This phenomenon also happened to me in July 2010, I lived here for 6 yrs. and carpenter bees, which I no longer see any of here in CT, were not the culprits, and have mysteriously disappeared and were not present this calender year, The Bumble bee was entering my home, I also came into my home one day to find several bumble bees dead. After approximately two weeks, they continued to find entry into my home in which they would just die off. I thought that it was my fault for covering a nest hole into my back door, I could hear the queen in the wall buzzing, and frequently, one or two or even three would find entry into my home even after sealing any possible entrances into my home, I find this weird, but the only possible cause that I could come up with is the cell phone towers are redirecting the bees causing them to no longer be able to follow their natural signals that they emit to communicate.

  • donnathomas33
    7 years ago

    I'm having this problem now and for the last few years around this time, I have no idea how they are getting in except for maybe the vents from the air conditioner outside. Most are dead or dying, the lie ones stay in the window as if they were trying to get out, but you can see that they are dying. I sealed all my windows. I have over twenty two windows in my home, however I only find the dead or dying bees in two (in my family room). Both windows are below my vents. I clean up 30 to 40 bees a day. I thought I was the only one with this issue, I see now I'm not, but all of us has the problem but no answer to why and how?????

  • metro2211
    7 years ago

    I just found about 2 dozen dead bees in my house this evening. I'm in Honolulu, Hawaii, and last night we had a heavy rain pass through. Then today it was extremely humid from last night's rain. I was home until 3:30 in the afternoon and didn't notice any bees. I got home at 8pm and found dead bees throughout the house. My house is very big, and I do have a few holes in some screens. So they may have found a way to get it, but I don't see why the bees would want to come into a house and die. Very bizarre!

  • Valery Richards Jacobs
    7 years ago

    every morning when i switch on my bathroom light at 5 am the bees come in direct to the light and minutes later start crawling on the floor and eventually died...... is this normal ar does it mean someting ..... ?

  • Aubrey Shipman
    4 years ago

    I just found 8 bees dead in a room where the door has been closed all day. They weren’t there this morning and I live in AZ. Most of them were grouped near the window but one was across the room.

  • Stacy Morris
    4 years ago

    This is exactly what just happened to me. I have a photography studio in my house and keep the door shut to that room. Yesterday I went in and there was a bee crawling on the floor. My husband caught it and took it outside because I am very allergic to bees. I went in my studio again today and counted eight dead bees on the floor by the window, one dead bee in the middle of the room, and one dead bee by the door. I have no idea where they’re coming from. Needless to say, I‘ve since left the studio, shut the door and am waiting for my husband to get home from work to figure out what to do next. I can’t chance getting stung. Did you ever find out where your bees were coming from?

  • rober49
    4 years ago

    I'm a beekeeper & I capture swarms & remove hives from homes. you probably have a hive in your wall or ceiling joists. a few get it in thru a light fixture or some similar access point. you're finding them near the window because they are drawn to the light. watch outside to see where they are entering. check around for a local beekeeping association. they usually have a list of people who remove bees. killing them in your wall can lead to other problems like mold, ants, mice...….there's also an insect that hitched a ride in some freight in the 90's from Africa called the small hive beetle. most hives have some lurking in the hive. if the bee population drops the beetle population explodes & you'll be finding them & their larva in your home instead of the bees.

  • Nykia Howard
    3 years ago

    Sometimes bees build there hives in side the walls. Or they can squeeze through small holes.

  • kassandralombard
    last year

    Night before last I woke up through the night for the bathroom, everything was normal. At 8am I woke up to find 10 or more live bees in my bathroom, over the next few hours that number turned to 30 or more. I killed them with RAID's essential oil spray safe for pets and children.

    I have a newly remodeled apartment (clean), brand new double sealed doors, windows and screens with no holes in them, and a brand new HVAC system installed. There are 6 units in my apartment building but only my apartment ended up with bees. There are no holes in the walls. It's a mystery. I couldn't sleep last night but took every precautionary measure I could think of, searched the interior and exterior of my apartment for entry ways and could find nothing. I've been here for 3 years and last August, the same thing happened with giant flies...just one night a swarm. Today when I rose, two live bees were in the bathroom that weren't there before, I had cleaned up the 30 carcasses from before. I had all sinks stopped up and kept the fan running in the AC and the bathroom ventilation fan to keep them from entering if that is their path yet I see no entry path...they just appear mostly in my bathroom and hallway which have no AC vent.

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