Late in the summer, we found a ton of bees nests “nestled” behind our shutters. It seemed every shutter was plagued by it, but one was especially bad, with a incessant stream of bees going in and out.
The nest covered the back of the shutter and was starting to make it’s way around to the front. Nasty. Matt wielded two cans of bee killer spray from the porch, spraying the nest with overlapping motions, like he was swinging nunchucks. All the while, he made ninja noises. That’s my husband. In the end, the nest was decimated, which was the goal. We figured we’d be free from the pests until they ramp up again in the spring.
You wouldn’t believe my surprise one day, while looking up at our big tree in the backyard, with it’s leaves freshly fallen, to find this! Can you spot it in the picture below?
Yes, it’s a enormous bee/wasp/hornet nest. Look at that thing!
Yikes! Does anyone know much about these mammoth bee houses? Are the bees dormant all winter? Is it wrong to hope Hurricane Sandy rips that thing right out of the tree?
Wildlife disclaimer: If the nest behind the shutters wasn’t a threat to us, we would have let it be, but we had to destroy it as it was just a few feet from our front door and posed a danger to our guests and ourselves.