When bees are started to nest somewhere, like inside wooden wind chimes, what can I use to discourage them?
Question:I don't like using highly toxic substances. What kind of natural repellent is there, to anyone's knowledge?
Answers:
There is no natural replent for wasps or yellow jackets. I have seen a report from the Dept of Agriculture where spraying with WD 40 on the surfaces of tractor seats keeps these insects away and is about the best repelent around lasting for up to 4 weeks per spray.
These wasps and hornets, They seem to go where there is some protection against other predators which feast on them. So your chime area is a good place to build a nest.
Those are not honey bees that are responsible for so much polination. Those are either hornets or wasps and are dangerous characters.
The wasps are very beneficial eating the eggs of many other insects including house flies.
However, you need to protect yourself, the hornets and even wasps can be very dangerous and even cause death to some people who might frequent that area around those chimes. The yellow jackets in particular, will swarm a human and inflict many many bites.
I suggust you take the attitude that bees are just fine away from your chimes and patio, and if there are there then they are fair game for you to rid of them using a poison such as "hornet and wasp spray" ASAP before they kill somebody who is alergic to bee stings.
I am not sure but if they are for sure BEES, please do not kill them, they are dying all over North America! Maybe at night, take the wind chimes down and lay them somewhere away from people etc, hopefully they won't like it and they'll leave...maybe!
Smoke - you can smoke the chimes by burning sage or pine and it will not only scare them away it will leave an unpleasant fragrance that might deter their return.
smoke is used by many beekeepers as a repellent. If u can find a way to get a lot of smoke in there, the bees will leave. The only way I know of keeping them out for good is spraying the area w/ raid. The smoke should keep u from getting stung when u move the chimes.
Vaseline petroleum jelly. I'm not kidding. My mom used it to coat the mud dauber nests on the house to keep them from coming back. It's sticky, non-toxic, and they just don't like it. Don't put too much or they'll stick to it and be unable to fly away. Put a thin coat with a Q-Tip inside the chimes and it should discourage them
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