Received a call from Angie a few days ago about some bees in the Monte Sereno house she’s renting. She said the landlord had sprayed it THREE times already and have not gotten rid of the bees. So today I went for a site check to see where the bees are and to give the landlord an estimate on the removal. And guess what, he went over there last night and sealed the entrance with spray foam! BTW, spray foam does not work on bees, they will chew through it in hours. And that’s exactly what happened. When I was there the entrance was blocked but I saw a small hole where the bees were coming and going. Obviously they chewed their way through.
I got a new toy that will help me in determining where the heart of the honey bees colony is located. It’s a Fluke TiR, infrared thermal imager. Because the core temperature where they keep brood requires about 95F, the heat will show up through structure on cooler days. It will not show the cooler combs around them but it does give me an idea on where they are at and where to cut open first.
I also went inside for an inspection as Angie informed me that bees were coming inside the room. The landlord also sealed the inside with spray foam. I did find where the colony is from the bathroom. Below is the thermal image. It looks like we’ll go at it from the outside of the house which is usually my preference as the bees will be flying all over.
Los Altos Honey Bees 