urgent - bee behavior!! ??

last year

hello kind people of houzz gardenweb,

in my hour of need, I call upon your wisdom ... !! (Maybe I am overreacting a tad.)

Okay, what happened is, yesterday afternoon, all of a sudden there were 5 bees in the living room.

They weren't aggressive - in fact, they were just trying to get out. (Two of them seemed ill - those I scooped up in a jar and put outside.) I opened the window and pushed out the edge of the screen and they left. Though, one of them hung around on the outside of the screen a bit. Like, why??

But - how did they get in? I looked around, I don't see anything obvious. Would 5 bees all fly into a house together? (Someone had just come home recently - so, the door was open for maybe a minute.)

Five of them though? I just have this feeling that this isn't over.

Why did they come in? Are they scouts? Was it an accident?

What do people think is most likely? Have we got a tiny hole in the wall somewhere? Eeeesh.

I have a photo, I'll post it soon.

Thanks in advance!!

Featured Answer

n2xjk

last year

Anytime you have an open window or door during warm weather, a honey bee might find its way in. As to why you had 5 at once, just your lucky day? However, it's not impossible they came from somewhere else in the house. Depending how your home is constructed, if it has any exterior holes into voids (under eves, behind chimney's, gaps in the siding, loose porch floorboards, etc) honey bees might have created a colony. Inspect the exterior of your house looking for bee activity.

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Comments (6)

Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Isn't he cute!! But not in the house ... this was one of the ones I could catch.

Maybe somebody sprayed nearby, and these were sick?
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n2xjk
last year
P.S. If you have something sweet near the house it might attract honey bees, such as a hummingbird feeder.
Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal) thanked n2xjk
Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)
Original Author
last year
Thanks so much for the input!

Would you have any idea about how long should go by before I can consider it just a weird thing that happened, rather than a new actual problem? It's been 3 days already. (I am just hoping they are not living in the wall somehow.)
Gyr
last year
It is swarming season so they could be stragglers that got separated from the rest of the swarm but still have the urge to hang together. Look around for possible swarms in the area and keep a check for activity that might indicate that bees have decided an opening in your house, sheds or trees would make a great new hive location.

One year I had a swarm 15' from my entry, and they lingered for almost two weeks. I was quite relieved when they finally moved on.
Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal) thanked Gyr
Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)
Original Author
last year
I haven't seen or heard a thing since, so I guess a bunch of them just got lost.

What a relief!