Help! Bees in my M543A2 Wrecker!

[nf6x]

After looking at your pictures, i went and looked at my wrecker. the main truck frame is a "C" channel and the structure of the wrecker body is also a "C" channel and the hold down bolt hole has no clearance around it where the bees could pass thru. i think they are going through a hole in the wood strip between the the two frame pieces.

You may be on to something there! I'll drive back over there, put on my home-made bee suit, and do some more recon...

you need to merge this with the snakes discussion. their solutions were 44 mags and 12 guage shotguns. OVERKILL NEVER FAILS

I don't think either of those will punch through the frame rail to get to the bees. How about .50BMG API?

First of all this is one of the funnier problems that anyone has experienced.

The humor is not lost on me, even though I'm the poor sap who needs to deal with it!! I figured that posting my problem here would be entertaining for us, in addition to turning up some good advice and intel (thanks!).

 

[WillWagner]

Mark, I like the caulk idea. Seal up the hole, then watch where they come out next.

 

[nf6x]

Yeah, I may be able to use that caulking idea. My local Lowe's and Home Despot don't have any bee-specific products, but maybe I ought to go pick up a can of Great Stuff foam this afternoon. I wonder if it sticks to poisoned steel?

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

If your truck is a multifuel link this to the alternate fuels links and see if the bees can add to your source of fuel.... Well that was just for fun but the problem is getting them to leave or they must die. Since they seem to have made this a home caulk it and see if they come out somewhere else then calk that place and keep that going till they are trapped. There is no bee rescue unit that will arrive to drill a bore hole to free them so you should be safe.

 

[vtdeucedriver]

Auto parts store.........CRC electromotive cleaner. Will drop them in mid flight!!! Go out in the am and hit them hard with a couple of cans.........the best thing..........no residue afterwards!!!!!


Kenny I know what you mean about the cab corner.........painful lesson the 1st time i discovered that spot that they like!!!

 

[Blythewoodjoe]

I think with the "shortage" of honey bee's around right now you could find someone that keeps bees that would be willing to remove them for you. Bee keepers are capable or doing some crazy things. My dad and I were robbing our bees once and got beat up pretty good. They can be right mean.

Joe Trapp

 

[cbvet]

.410 #7 shot works well on bumblebees, so may work on other bees too. We sit in lawn chairs & wait for them to fly out. Kinda like mini skeet.
Eric

 

[5tonpuller]

brake clean works for me. I use it on all those flying things. even them dam gypsy moth things.
god I hate them.

 

[hummer4x4guy]

When dealing with bees wear white colored clothes as much as possible dark colors for whatever reason get attacked more. And for some use pine needles and lots of em.... or buy a bee suite or atleast a mosquito head net oh and one of them bug zapper tennis rackets... ZAP!

 

[Kwai]

Just plug the hole and be patient. In a few days, the problem will go away or you will find they have another way in/out that you need to plug. Or do nothing and wait several months and they will probably move on on their own anyway. Either way the problem will resolve itself with minimal effort.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Is that a Navy truck? They might be Seabees! LOL

 

[gimpyrobb]

Only Kenny...

 

[Jones]

Bees, wasps, hornets, etc. are most quiet after dark though it's still a good idea to try to keep from making too much of a ruckus. You can see pretty well with a small flashlight to get a good idea of the opening size and shape. Brake cleaner with the red tube installed in the nozzle works great to deliver directly into the nest area. Then, plug the hole with steel wool. The bees, or whatever, can't chew through it so the few still outside can't get in and whatever's left of the nest population can't get out. Spray/saturate the steel wool every couple of days for about a week and your problems should be over. Once you kill the queen the nest is pretty much history since she's the only one that survives wintertime.

 

[rockman]

bees in artillery

Use of mini-flame thrower....


bees moved into a small box under the right fendr of my M35, sprayed them and filled the box with "great stuff".

Bill

 

[CUCVFAN]

I just took care of a nest on my M1009. Do any places near you sell the foaming bee spray? I get it at Ace Hardware stores. Works great.

I had a nest in my basement where the bees were coming through a gap in the sill plate. I made a makeshift bee suit from jeans and a couple of shirts (or a thick sweashirt) and a sand-blasting hood (and gloves and rubber boots). Have someone duct tape your gloves and pants legs and the hood to the sweatshirt. Then, get the spray nozzle right up on the hole and spray it in. The stuff expands pretty good and will fill up most any crevice. And those who don't try to get out right away seem to die from the fumes/residue. Good Luck!

 

[Ferroequinologist]

You say it is in the turntable area? fire the truck up and rotate the boom a few times. Might grind them up! Just make sure you wear your suit. A smoker at the entrance would bee (get it ) good for directing their attention elsewhere. (masks the attack pheromones.)

If you seal it up, they will find another way in and out. you could be sealing many holes in it for a long time. And if the queen dies, but you don't get all the rest of the bees, there is a posiblity that the hive will go into an emergancy queen replacement. If there are less than 3 day old larva in the hive, (and there probably is) they can be converted to queens. Then the first queen to be born will kill all the other unborn queens and the hive carries on. (I'm planning on keeping bees next year and have been shadowing a local beekeeper and reading alot)

My beekeeping friends recommendation- if you can't get in there to fight them, get some kind of small tube (like you tried to do) and spray a chemical in there to kill them. He said flood it with it, get as much in there as you can. They build a lot of small cracks in hives. He said he has had mixed results with the foam, in your case he said it depends on how far up in there the hive is set up.

Or step two- a local beekeeper could get them all out alive, if he knows what he is doing. he can set up a hive box near the area, and put some open honey frames in it. The bees will smell the already made honey and swarm out to 'rob' the other hive. if the other hive is set up better, they will just move in there instead of carrying all that honey back to their hive.

hope that helps.

 

[nf6x]

I didn't get a chance to do more recon on Sunday evening, and now the dreaded work week has arrived, so I don't have anything new to report today. I bought a couple cans of spray foam sealant to try sealing up the entrance hole, but I haven't found any bee-specific products yet. I think my next task is to try to see if the entrance hole is actually in the wood strip instead of around that body bolt like I thought (it's hard to see anything without getting closer than I've been willing to try yet, and the insect net hood doesn't help my vision at all!). If I can identify the hole better, I can give the poison pump another try.

Does you bee-keeping friend suggest any particular chemical? I bought a bottle of Sevin, whose active ingredient is carbaryl.

 

[blackdog]

I heard from that a bowl or pan of hydraulic fluid will attract the bees and kill them. Haven't tried it yet but there are two M110's at the Mechanized Museum that have bees residing in them.

 

[nf6x]

Well, if they like hydraulic fluid, then that might explain why they chose my wrecker! It has the stuff all over the place after more than 40 years of leaks and spills.

 

[pa.rich]

This sounds like a job for no other thanBIGBEE!