whirring/purring noise in my walls?!??

[TaraPA]

Ours were hornets - I don't think they make honey, do they? We just saw the HUGE nest - no honey if there was any there. In the video where they're all over the window & the guys are trying to vacuum them - ours looked even worse - just hundreds & hundreds of bees trying to get to the light to get out!!!

 

[coolbeans]

omg!!! bees...

 

[hopemax]

I have a bee story to contribute to Bee Watch, but fair warning, it will give you the willies...

In 1984, my parents bought an old Victorian house, but it was a fixer upper. It had been "in the family" for years, before the family decided to sell it, so it really hadn't had any upkeep for years either. Well, there was a secondary chimney from when there used to be a fireplace in the kitchen back in the "olden days." Since the chimney was unused it became a yellow jacket's nest for who knows how many years. So my Dad calls a few exterminators who come out and say, "They can't do anything about it, it's too dangerous, try a beekeeper." So he calls a couple beekeepers who come out and say, "It's much too dangerous, try an exterminator." So this back and forth continues, until someone suggests a "bee bomb" that my Dad could place in the bottom of the chimney, and that it might take a couple.

So my Dad gets the bee bombs and carefully opens the door at the bottom of the chimney in the basement. And it's all clogged up with dead bees, bee droppings, old parts of the nest that had fallen down. He emptied tons and tons of 5 gallon buckets of bee crap. Puts in a bee bomb, come back a couple of days later, and has to empty more buckets of dead bees. Looks at the chimney and it doesn't seem to have had an effect on how many bees are flying in and out of the top of the chimney. Three or four bee bombs later, and finally, no more bees flying around. So at that point, my Dad got up on the roof with a 10 ft pipe and started jamming it down the chimney to break up the nest. He thinks it must have been about 8 ft deep. So of course that was who knows how many more buckets of bee crap that had to be cleaned out of the bottom of the chimney.

And the fun thing, they came back the next year and tried to rebuild the nest so he had to do another round of bee bombs, and finally got it all cleaned out.

 

[vettechick99]

wow, fascinating! This reminds me that we have carpenter bees living in our porch. I have hesitated killing them (they are just so cute and sweet) but I guess I need to get rid of them now before they infiltrate my home. eek!

 

[Mad4Mickey]

I think that about sums it up for me

 

[LadyZolt]

OK, hopefully this one will not give anyone the willies. LOL!

My great-aunt lived in Roseburg, Oregon and we were visiting her. It was me, DH, DS5 (now 22) , DS3 (now 21) and DD 19-months (now 19 years). My aunt was elderly -- in her 80's -- and lived on a sheep ranch, although by this point she no longer kept animals and rented out the land to nearby ranchers. So she wasn't doing a lot of upkeep on the house and it had mud daubers nesting in it. Now, these look like regular scary wasps, but they're not dangerous or aggressive. In the upstairs rooms where we were to sleep, these wasp critters were walking around on the ceilings. So naturally my boys had difficulty getting to sleep and my DH went into their room, crushed two or three of the bugs and said, "There. Daddy killed them all. Now go to sleep."

Well, that worked for the boys. LOL! But sadly, not for me. I knew he hadn't killed all 200 of them. LOL! I didn't sleep well thinking about them although really they were quite peaceable. LOL!

To this day, I think back on that and just laugh at what a hero a dad is to his little kids. They totally believed he "killed them all."

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[LMC]

I wouldn't get the body even if it was still around! Reflex actions in it's jaw can cause it to bite you even after it's dead. Trust me, rattlesnake bites are no fun.

Well the head was completely severed and when I threw it in the woods the head went right and the body went left so I felt pretty safe that I'd be no where near the fangs. The teacher did tell DD to tell me to wear gloves and she knew the head was gone so now I wonder if there could be venom on/in the body. No worries, I couldn't find that one, we'll just save the next one.

 

[kldmom2000]

The first thing I thought of when I saw your post was bees as well....

4 yrs ago, we had a similar sound coming from our bedroom wall. It would be most active in the early morning. I ended up calling an exterminator and sure enough, TONS of bees in the wall!!! They killed them all.... then the following year... SAME WALL.... we had an infestation of carpenter ants. They made a similar sound so I assumed the bees were back... nope.... different bug Had to call the exterminator out to rid the wall of them too

In response to the post re: the "wet" spot in the ceiling story.... my dad noticed a spot in his ceiling about 5 yrs ago. He tapped on it with a broom and the ceiling/plaster fell down revealing thousands of wasps and the nest that was in the attic They were swarming around him and he got stung numerous times. He rid the house of them himself by using tons and tons of wasp/hornet kiling spray

I hate bees and ants

I hope yours is a simple thing and easily fixed!!!! Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[flying_babyb]

OH now youve got me on alert. Im sitting in the living room with the door open (its got a screeen) and I hear a loud humming noise. I PANICKED Thininking it was killer attacking bees. It was a little grasshopper. Made the cats SOOO happy to watch.

 

[Minnie_me]

OH NO!! The exterminator just called to tell me that the brakes went on his truck last night, and it's in the shop right now. It's also supposed to rain on and off for the next few days, and he doesn't work with bees in the rain.

I'm really getting nervous!! (and tired of sleeping on the couch!)

 

[Darsa]

ACK!!! Did you offer to drive him there?? I think I would have! Holy moly, you're a lot braver than me, staying in the house...

 

[sorul82?]

The title of this thread reminds me of an Edgar Allan Poe story.

 

[agnes!]

I think I would call ALL the exterminators again and tell them the first company to come out and do the job gets a $100 (or whatever you feel is appropriate) CASH bonus.

At least this one guy called you about his brakes. And nothing personal, but this thread has given me the willies.

I also have a yellow-jacket story to tell, but it didn't happen in a house.

We were out with a group of horse-riders. My pony stepped in a yellow-jackets nest. The hornet?wasps? swarmed me and my pony, the two of us were covered with a living blanket of yellow and black. My pony was a true champ...HE STOOD THERE AND DID NOT PANIC. Other horses got stung and went crazy, running through fences, bucking, etc. An old-timer came out on the porch of his house and started waving his gun around because the horses were panicking and running around on his property. Creampuff just waited while he got stung numerous times. I seem to remember one other rider came up and started brushing off the bees, my sister came up and led me and my pony away.

I didn't get stung.
agnes!

 

[MineMail]

I like the signing bonus idea, lol. Call it a "emergency response fee."

I learned that if you see a "wet spot" on the ceiling or wall, don't poke it.

I think I would have put some duct tape up ALL over the ceiling to be sure it didn't collapse.

Are bee poop/carcasses good for anything? Compost? Ewwww....

Seriously, I hope the exterminators get there ASAP.

Did you try calling a beekeeper? I remember reading a local newspaper story about a 'house full o' bees' where the beekeeper was on retainer to a local exterminator. When a bee infestation occurred and someone called, they worked as a team - the beekeeper smoked the bees, removed the queen and coaxed the other bees into a hive rack. Then the exterminator took care of the nest and slackers. They both worked together by word-of-mouth, no yellow pages or advertising. Whichever one got the call brought in the other one.

You might get a lead on an exterminator who's soft-hearted enough to come today, lol.

 

[TheRatPack]

At least you didn't have to kill it! I came home yesterday to a rattle snake trying to get into our garage. DH is laid up in bed with an injury and it is impossible for him to get up so he loaded the gun for me. I never used this one so it took a few shots for me to figure out the sight and after 4 holes in the garage siding facia I put one in the snake. But, did that kill it......no, I had to go chop it's head off with a shovel!!! At least it slowed it down a bit. My DD took the rattles to school today and the science teacher asked her to call me to go out into the woods and retrieve it's body (that's where I threw it last night). I looked but some other woodsy critters must have made it a meal last night.
As far as the OP, I bet it's bees.

LOL, we moved to the country 3 years ago and our first experience was a pool full of snakes and frogs (the previous owner had let the lining go and so it was a breeding pool for these creatures.) He'd also left this spade looking tool in the shed....we wondered why he left it, but we soon found out.

The first month or so, my oldest son came in from the garage and said he saw a lizard....I went out and it was a snake, about 3'? I took a packing box and turned it on it's side and tapped behind the snake to make him get in the box , he did and I sat the box up and closed it with the spade....then pushed it outside and let him free.

Last summer we were all swimming and cooking out in the back (yes we have a new liner and no snakes in the pool LOL), and my husband came in the back door, brought both our dogs in and slammed the door. I was thinking...what on earth did the dogs do LOL I went outside carrying the food and he said "GET BACK" there was another 3' snake trying to take a swim. The snake had slithered across and gotten within a foot of the pool....but thankfully my dad had stopped by on his motorcycle and had his riding boots on and stomped on it so it couldn't get any further until my husband could run and get the spade.


We have a chart up of the different snakes that are in this area and if they are poisonous or not, they are all scary though.

 

[joyjoy]

Gross, so many bee stories! Okay, I have one.

My sister lived with her husband on a ranch in West Texas. One freezing cold Christmas eve, we accidentally started a fire in the chimney. The old ranch house had a wood stove they used in the bedroom for heat, with a pipe in the wall leading into the old chimney that we found out later was lined with FABRIC. (House is over 100 yrs old) So. We got the fire out and the husband got on the roof with the water hose and just to make sure, was going to squirt water down the chimney from outside. Oh, we were all kind of "merry" from the Christmas festivities. He yells down to me to shut off the electricity from the breaker box on the outside porch. It was like 30° that night. I opened the breaker box and.................................................... thousands and thousands of frozen wasps crashed out of the box all over me. What a night.

 

[Feralpeg]

If there is a university in the area with a department that deals with forestry, you might try them.

A friend of mine in KC had a huge hornets nest in her tree. It was so large that she was afraid to let the kids go into the backyard. None of the local pest control services would handle it. It was too high in the tree.

Eventually, out of sheer desperation, she called the University of Missouri in Columbia. They sent out a crew, complete with a cherry picker. They did wait until the weather got cold. The sprayed a white powder over it and waited a few hours. Then, they bagged the entire thing in a bag of the white powder.

The only thing they asked is that they get to keep the nest. They said it was the largest intact hornets nest they had ever seen. It is now on display at the University in Columbia.

 

[3boymthr]

I have a bee story for you and two snake stories.

My cousin had bought a new house that came complete with metal swing set and above ground pool. The first week they were there the kids and I went to visit and see the new house. Middle DS was 2 at the time. After exploring the house he went running over to use the swings while the other kids went into the pool. He tried out two of the swings then sat on the third and started rocking back and forth. All of a sudden he started screaming. There was a bees nest in the swing set that my cousin didn't know about since her kids hadn't used the swings yet. Twenty eight stings and a trip to the emergency room late everything was fine. But he's terrified of bees now (and of course he's a bee magnet if there's a bee in the area it will land on him). My cousin's husband dismantled the swingset that weekend. The nest ran the length top bar but for some reason weren't bothered until he got on the third swing.

Now the snake story is a little creepy. We've periodically had a snakes coming into the house. Always in the basement and 99% of the time they are little tiny garter snakes - just babies less than a foot long. One day I see movement in a box at the bottom of the stairs and see the movement of a snake head. Oldest DS was standing in the driveway by the basement door (we have a walkout basement). Since I'm terrified of snakes and he's fascinated; I yelled out the window to him to walk into the basement and grab the box and take it out into the woods to let the snake go. He does as I ask. Then comes back in the house all excited about the snake as it's one he's never seen before. Such unusual colors. So we go online to look up the snake. Ack! It was a copperhead! And yes I know these are rare in Massachusetts but it was definitely the snake that was in my basement. Okay, so I get bad mommy of the year award for putting my son in danger but really I didn't realize it was poisonous (who knew a triangular head meant the snake was poisonous)

We were at AK in May and saw this snake crawling up the stairs near the overlook for EE. There were lots of people there and everyone was watching it but staying well back. It was very hot that day and it was crawling up the stairs and into the mound of rocks there that forms a kind of barrier between the stairs and the entrance. Lots of people were coming up and resting against those rocks so I and a few other people who had seen the snake told them hey there's a snake hiding in there and most moved but a couple of them didn't. I'm not sure exactly what kind of snake it was but Ewwww.

 

[linda0706]

I have a funny snake story...

My DD was 4 years old - in pre-k at the time. I brought home some put-it-together-yourself furniture one day and I think the snake must have been in the box. Just a small little thing, but ANY snake in your house where you're not expecting it will freak you out.

My DH had just got out of the shower & left his underwear on the bathroom floor where he took them off. He walked into the bedroom & saw the snake slither under the bed. He looked & looked & looked...finally found the snake curled up in that pair of underwear in the bathroom.

DD went to school the next day & told her teacher that her daddy had a snake in his underwear. Of course we had no idea she told her until several weeks later at a parent-teacher conference when Mrs. D shared it with us. I thought it was very funny. DH--not so much!

 

[ontariomonkey]

We had squirels in our attick once and thought a cat had got stuck with them because we could hear a 'meow' sound. Went up to investige and yep, the squirel was meowing! So wierd. Maybe they can purr too.