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Old 14-10-2018, 12:58   #16
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

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Originally Posted by Panama Red View Post
As a beekeeper, I second the above advice.
I’m a bee keeper as well. I think your going to need the help of a bee keeper also. If you somehow kill the bees or encourage them to leave, you’re going to have a smelly sticky mess up there. You’ve got to remove the comb.

Panama Red, I’m on my way home from Bee College at Florida State University. Two days of intense bee learning. If you get the chance, go. They do it at least once a year.
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Old 14-10-2018, 13:20   #17
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

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Try ammonia, the fumes will get them out and kill them. Trick is getting it in the mast.

The problem with this is that ammonia is VERY corrosive to aluminum.
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Old 14-10-2018, 13:26   #18
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

Are you sure they are bees and no wasps ?

There are ways to remove the population of the hive , and even the queen , a beekeeper can help you with this .

Now if you wanna go with the killing option , raid will work , to apply it you can go up using a halyard or the crane you gonna use to get the mast down as well .

If the boat is in the water around 9 or 10 in the morning move the boat to another place at least 4 km away , and stay there for about 3 days that way you will reduce the population of adult bees.
Anyway a hive in the mast should not be that big .

My boat had some wasps nests after sitting 3 years , I do have no empathy for wasps killed them all
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Old 14-10-2018, 13:31   #19
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

Since you’re in Mexico, there is a good chance you’re dealing with Africanized bees. If you mess with their hive they can bee very aggressive. I’ve dealt with Africanized bees. It’s no fun even in a full bee suit.
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Old 14-10-2018, 19:54   #20
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

The old solution to bee hives in the walls of houses was to drive them out with burning sulphur fumes. I am aware of this because coming from a country town one could buy it from the local hardware store.

In my early teens my mates and I used to send a cohort to buy it "for his dad to get rid of some bees" we could also get saltpeter and used to make the carbon from ground up coals from the fireplace. Everyone had wood stoves in those days. We got up to all sorts of mischief with the gunpowder we made from it.
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Old 15-10-2018, 03:34   #21
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

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In my early teens my mates and I used to send a cohort to buy it "for his dad to get rid of some bees" we could also get saltpeter and used to make the carbon from ground up coals from the fireplace. Everyone had wood stoves in those days. We got up to all sorts of mischief with the gunpowder we made from it.
I can still hear my grandmother yelling my name though the basement door when she thought the house was a goner. I never did get the mix just right! Perhaps that is why I am still here.
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Old 15-10-2018, 08:54   #22
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

How about a lot of flypaper coils. They are really sticky and if there are enough of them all around the hive, the bees will all get stuck. Not sure you can find those where you are at. There are also those sticky mouse traps that are flat. I think that it could catch all the bees in a day or two if you hoist them up to surround the area of the hive.
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Old 15-10-2018, 09:24   #23
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

Use the mast track for sail slug, fashion some thing to hold a torch away from the mast and lines so you don't burn them (the lines), light up your torch at night and raise it up close to the hive. The bee will come out and attack the flame, their wings burn off and the drop down to the deck, you may have to do this 2 or 3 times to get rid of them.
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Old 15-10-2018, 09:43   #24
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

If they are bees and not wasps, they will not hurt you unless you antagonize or squish them.

Bees forage during the day up to 2 miles, so if you left around noon, and shifted anchorage or moorings each day around noon, (or better yet, leave about 10, park for a bit, leave again in an hour or so, do this three or four times a day) the bees that left behind foraging would not find their way home. you would not have to go far, quarter to a half a mile would do it. If you did his a few days in a row you would be running low on foragers, and the queen would probably decide this is not a good home, she would have the bees that are able (house bee, nurse bees etc.) pack up the honey and move (swarm). You would be aware this is happening because the bees would "cluster" outside the opening, you would see a pile of bees at the top of the mast. a huge pile, then they would be flying around close to the opening, a BUNCH of bees in the air, they would form up and swarm off. Problem cured.

Or, just go sailing for a week.

There will be some brood left, but as they are born, with no nurse bees and no Queen they will either die or try to find a home elsewhere.

If you should try to kill them and succeed, you will have a nasty mess in your mast that will attract cockroaches, ants, other bees etc.

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Old 15-10-2018, 09:45   #25
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

bad bees..extermination for africanized bees. they are everywhere down here. and yes they look different than regular nice honey bees.
there are exterminaters in mexico.
location is everything.
may need to step mast for internal cleaning of mess....
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Old 15-10-2018, 10:48   #26
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

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carbon dioxide?
Yep, CO2 extinguisher. Another suggestion would be have an eppi-pen (sp?) or at least some antihistamines on hand.
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Old 15-10-2018, 11:20   #27
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

Had the same problem in Chiapas 3 years ago. Got infested before we left that boat for the summer. Guessing they were Africanized as when I moved a halyard or slaped the rigging they would imerge and head for anything that was moving, including me some 60' below them. After a couple of stings I figured out that wasn't going to work. Did nothing more before coming back to the boat. The solution was to hire some guys (bee people) with a smoke gun that they used to inject smoke and some kind of poison into the mast using a halyard exit hole close to deck level. First time it was a small gun and it didn't do much. Brought out the big artillery the next day. Filled the mast and in the morning there were a bunch of dead bees on the deck. The remaining hive with the queen evacuated over to a lifering on another boat later that morning. Dock crew went to get soapy water (said they can't fly with that on them) but the hive moved elsewhere before they got back.


Had some wax stains on the main halyard but that was all. Didn't bother trying to remove the nest from inside the mast and have had no repeats or problems for the 3 years since then.


Cost was under $100, although I'm not sure how much of that went to the bee people.


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Old 15-10-2018, 11:33   #28
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

Not sure about your location...

But here in Orange County , Calif, we had a huge swarm of bees that attached themselves to the limb of a tree out front of the house.

This was maybe a thousand bees or more ....huge, huge wide and and long giant swarm hanging down.

Our solution was to call Animal Control who called a bee keeper, who gladly came out and removed the entire swarm without any fuss, muss, P.O'd bees, no hassels or rube goldberg inventions.

All we had to do is make a phone call. If there are honeybees on your mast, likely there will be bee keepers in your area, who will love to come by and take care of your problem....probably for free since they are getting free bees for their hives .

The bees never returned, ever, And that was many decades ago.

Hope that will keep life easy and safe for you .

Personally, Unskilled folks like us, messing with a swarm of bees was way out of our paygrade....let the pros do it.
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Old 15-10-2018, 12:23   #29
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

Read the thread?

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Originally Posted by Lihuedooley77 View Post
Not sure about your location...
First line of the OP, language barrier.

Hence the desire to DIY.

But yes if indeed honeybees, find a translator and a beekeeper.
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Old 15-10-2018, 12:42   #30
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Re: Removing a bee hive from the mast

I had a honey bee problem here in Texas, I called an exterminator, I closed all holes in mast and he injected a powder with a aeration gun into halyard hole. It went up mast and killed some bees, he came back a week later with a bigger gun and did it again, killed some bees. I figured poison was going up against bottom of hive and not getting past so I rigged up a 3/8 hose taped to halyard and tapered so it could enter sheeve box and ran it up slightly into sheeve box, exterminator came back and pumped dry powder up and into top of mast, finally killed all. This was 2 years ago none have come back. my halyards came out with some wax from the comb cleaned a few times. Never took mast down and have not had any other problems.
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