Then there were none

[Jerrymac]

One of the colonies I was to get out of someones attic is no longer there. Very little wax was left. From what I could see where the comb was built it must have been of pretty good size. But they were gone. What I did see was great big huge rat turds all over the place.

Now I wonder if a hive is continually bothered by rodents will they move to some other location? There is this old run down delapidated house about a hundred yards or so from the first house that has bees in a wall. The young gentleman said there were bees coming out of a hole about thirty feet from where these bees were. I am athinkin' they were probably the ones from his attic but were not strong enough to make it long after the move.

Now here is something else I wonder about. These bees I got from the barn were in the north wall. This makes sense as the summer sun on the metal exterier wall woould be hot.

The bees in the pump house is in the north wall. It is also metal.

The bees that were in the attic were started on the north side of the house.

The two that were in the house a hundred yards away, and only one left, were in the north wall.

I checked out an old church building that has a large PVC pipe coming out of the wall that the bees use for an entrance (around the pipe, not through the pipe) And this is located on the north wall.

There is a house with bees under the floor and the only way for them to get under there in through a vent on the south wall.

The question is do bees normally look for homes on the north side of where ever?

[Beth Kirkley]

North side? That's an interesting thought Jerry - it would make sense to me - like you said, the winter sun giving warmth on that side.

And what you asked about "would bees leave if continuously bothered by rodents?". Yes they will. It's called "absconding". They'll leave their home for other reason that would lead them to not like the home any more, but rodants and ants I think are common reasons.

Beth

[TJ]

Jerrymac, since you are in Texas, Your bees and you have much hotter summers to deal with than most. It makes sense they would stay on the north side. I have heard that is true in general. I wonder if the bees up here in New York behave the same. Hmmmm. I will have to start paying closer attention.

[Anonymous]

Both the wild colonies that were in my trees were on the south east side. I believe One would say South South East.
The big dead limb sticking out to the right of the screen down a bit is a knot hole.



  Al

[latebee]

Nothing scientific about what Iam going to say here but, I removed three feral colonies from building walls here in western New York,and two were on the east side of the buildings. The other was oriented north-north west.Perhaps they do have a favorite side,but maybe the ease of entry or size of the interior cavity has some direct effects on the equation for choosing a new home for the colony. The other thing that two of them had in common is that they were using an entrance right next to a window.