During the warmer months, it is not uncommon for honey bees to establish colonies within indoor wall voids. Honey bees are able to access wall voids by entering attic spaces or by fitting through cracks, crevices and other entry points on the exterior walls of homes. The gaps around outside faucets, electrical meters, utility lines, porch lights, and the gap between foundations and siding are some of the most common entry points that honey bees use to enter indoor wall voids. Removing honey bees from a home is not as easy as simply applying insecticide to their nesting site, which is often how indoor nesting wasps and bumblebees are eradicated.
These days, it is customary to keep problem honey bees alive while removing them from homes, as honey bees are essential for maintaining both a healthy ecosystem and global economy. However, whether honey bees nesting within a home are immediately killed or removed alive, is is their comb that is difficult to remove from wall voids. Once honey bees gain access into wall voids, they begin constructing a wax comb where they raise offspring and store food, such as pollen and honey. Due to being well hidden in wall voids, honey bees often succeed in building extensive honeycombs that can span multiple floors and rooms.
Naturally, large amounts of honey are produced within homes that contain sizable honey bee combs, and extensive honey bee infestations have caused honey to drip down indoor walls in some cases. This excessive amount of indoor honey often attracts additional insect pests into homes. Honey is highly acidic, and if indoor honeycombs are not tended by honey bees, the honey will begin to spoil and develop bacteria. Honeycombs that remain within wall voids will cause serious structural damage, as lumber quickly decomposes and breaks under pressure as a result of becoming soaked with honey.
Professionals must take down entire walls in order to remove large honeycombs that have become established within wall voids. Honey bees are normally preserved, but they must sometimes be destroyed during the removal process. After a comb is taken out of a home, the interior wall where the honeycomb existed must be cleaned thoroughly in order to remove lingering pheromones that will attract additional honey bees into the wall void in the future. Cleaning will also remove sticky honey that will almost certain attract other insect pests indoors, most notably ants.
Have you ever heard a buzzing within your home’s walls?