Ducks and bees? :O

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shaylabailey

shaylabailey

In the Brooder
8 Years
Jun 2, 2011
53
1
39
Rhode Island
The past week I've been seeing a bee or two flying around my duck coop. I went in yesterday to get their waterer out to refill/rinse and I heard a low buzzing like I was inside a bee hive. I finished with the water and went to my dad who got out some bee spray or what have you lol and he found 1 or 2 holes in the wood which he sprayed and knocked on the wood and sure enough the bees are living in my coop. OF COURSE, the spray didn't kill them, they left shortly and then came back.
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And I'm terrified of bees so...
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aghh.
I'm scared for my ducklings since they have to stay in the coop because the fencing and pond isn't done. Can the bees harm them? I don't really have anywhere else to put them.
My dad said the ducks would eat them if they tried to bother them but I'm not too convinced. I have a very small female runner who I'm concerned about if they get at her.
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There should be somewhere you can contact that would remove the bees for you. They will probably charge a fee but safely removing a hive is a really good thing, bees are having trouble right now and someone would want your hive. I would just google bee removal and see what comes up in your area. Or maybe pass along the info to your dad.
 
The spray was a big mistake. It irritates them, and worse the survivors will become aggressive, if you killed their queen. Now, if they die or more one you will have the comb with brood, pollen, and honey in the wall. Now that stuff will decompose and attract other pests. The smart way would have been to contact a bee club and have them come out and remove it. Beekeepers love to get free bees, it's like a treasure hunt to them. True some will charge you, but others will do it for free. Now you are on your own. No beekeeper will take a hive that has been sprayed. BTW honey bees are rather gentle. I have two hives and occasionally open them up without protection. Just google youtube for naked beekeeper and you will be amazed what you find. Anyway bee nests are not hard to remove and there are methods like trapping out etc available.

Forgot to mention, bees do not care about ducks. Stinging means death to the bee, so they are not really inclined to sting. My ducks lay next to the hives and no stings. My golden retriever sticks his head into the hive boxes and no stings either.
 
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Don't kill the bees!!!! We need all of the bees we can get because they are declining in numbers.

Get up with a bee removal service and they will remove them and relocate them where they can thrive.
 
I agree with mom2jedi... you should remove them humanely if they are honey bees. First you should probably see what kind of bees they are (or they could even be wasps, sometimes people get them confused). If they are honeybees they will be little and black striped with dark yellow or even a brownish color and fuzzy. I would not worry too much about the hive in your duck pen, at least for a short period, unless the bees seem really agitated. From what you described, it seems like they are just flying around trying to get in and out of their hive and not actually attacking you. I have my beehives about 15 ft from the duck pen and they never bother the ducks (but they do get eaten if they try to get a drink out of the duck pool!) If you are still worried about it, just block off that corner of the pen until you can get someone out there. Get ahold of a local beekeeping club (google), or your county extension office. If they are honey bees, most likely you can find someone to get rid of them for a minimal cost because they will be getting free bees (however they will probably charge you something because they have to work to get them). Please do not kill them because (1) honeybees are dying off like crazy lately and yours should especially be saved because they are wild bees and will therefore should do well in your area (2) if you just kill them and don't clean out the area, the honey and wax smell will just attract more honeybees to the site and you will be back at square one.
If you come to find out that they are wasps or hornets, I would be scared because they can be significantly more hostile than honeybees. In that case I would probably remove the ducks and spray the nest at night, then clean it out (otherwise you will have the same problem as above).
Just read your post again and it sounds like it is just a small hole they're coming out of? If so, you might have mason bees. They again are usually fairly docile and if this is the case I might not do anything at all. They are solitary bees so if you see more than a few it's probably something else.
Sorry for the long post, as you can see by my name I have ducks and bees so I can get quite chatty talking about them both!

Edit: True duckabcs, I wasn't thinking about how the beekeepers wouldn't want a sprayed hive...
 
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The Duck ABC's :

The spray was a big mistake. It irritates them, and worse the survivors will become aggressive, if you killed their queen. Now, if they die or more one you will have the comb with brood, pollen, and honey in the wall. Now that stuff will decompose and attract other pests. The smart way would have been to contact a bee club and have them come out and remove it. Beekeepers love to get free bees, it's like a treasure hunt to them. True some will charge you, but others will do it for free. Now you are on your own. No beekeeper will take a hive that has been sprayed. BTW honey bees are rather gentle. I have two hives and occasionally open them up without protection. Just google youtube for naked beekeeper and you will be amazed what you find. Anyway bee nests are not hard to remove and there are methods like trapping out etc available.

Forgot to mention, bees do not care about ducks. Stinging means death to the bee, so they are not really inclined to sting. My ducks lay next to the hives and no stings. My golden retriever sticks his head into the hive boxes and no stings either.

I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that they're honey bees. A lot of people lump all bees and wasps together and just call them "bees." Where I live there are tons of yellow jackets and not so many honey bees. I know the difference, but they're both yellow with black stripes and it's just SO much easier to call them all bees. Yellow jackets (and lots of other wasps) are MEAN and have no reservations in stinging men, women, and children... Although I don't know if they would do anything to a duck. I don't think any beekeeper in their right mind would go spelunking for yellow jackets.​
 
Do you know what kind of bees they are? They could be carpenter bees or wood bees. I have the wood bees and they have bored round hole in my deck. They won't usually sting unless you catch them in your hand and squeeze them. I'm sure you aren't going to do that. They can do a lot of damage to your wood. Try to find out what kind they are then treat accordingly.
 
Post some pictures. I bet someone will be able to help identify them. I wouldn't worry about them stinging your ducks. The ducks feathers are very thick. My drake liked to stand and eat bees from the front of my hives. It took the bees QUITE a while to train him not to do that, just because they would have to get him on his face for him to even feel it. If you have a hive in the wall of your coop, you probably will have to pay for it to be removed. I and most of the other beeks I know will go get a swarm off a tree for free, but doing a cut out is a lot of work, and the bees are more defensive. How long have they been in the wall? If they JUST arrived within a day or two, they won't have much comb built up and you could TRY a product called "Bee Go". It's a repellant that MIGHT drive them from the hive. You'd still need protective gear so you don't get stung. If they've been in longer than that, you will have to have the comb, brood and honey removed or it will a: melt and mold inside your walls and b: attract more swarms even if you do poison this one. Good luck.

Traci
 

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