I am sorry I did not see this earlier.
I can imagine that this is really stressful.
Are the bees still there? If they were congregating outside, it sounds as if a swarm was there. I guess by now they have either begun building the hive inside, or moved on. It may not be too late if it is a swarm, they will have only just begun if they decided to move in there.
The hive in the tree....is it a hive? or a swarm. A hive has structure, a swarm is a big ball of bees...The beekeeper will want to know the details on size, how high up it is, how long it has been there, and a contact number.
Honestly, probably the best thing to do is contact the beekeepers association nearest you. I know there are lots in arizona. The good news is that if it is a massive swarm it is probably not africanized bees because they swarm in small swarms, albeit more frequently than european bees. I am just guessing here, of course I cant say for sure but that is the more common situation.
A beekeeper can put up a swarm trap nearby and catch them without going on the property if they have not already taken up residence. If they have, then yes, the beekeeper will need the banks permission. It would be great if you could contact them anyway, just so they are aware of the situation and can head of the exterminator. You really dont want that. Even if they tent the house and kill every bee inside (:cry
the returning foragers will be very aggressive. NOT GOOD!! A good beekeeper will return in the evening to collect all the stragglers.
If they have built a big hive in there, a beekeeper can still remove it and save it.
I know you are worried about the kids. Bees are like busy commuters. Once they figure out where they want to go, they take the quickest route there, and hopefully it is not across an area the kids play. If it is, you need to redirect the children until the thing can be taken care of.
Usually bees busy during a honey flow, like now in the spring are just super busy foraging and once they settle in they will be so busy building a new home that they are not likely to become aggressive if they are european bees.
Its bee season, so to be truthful even if there were no hive in that vacant house, there would still be bees around. If any of the children are highly allergic I would imagine that they have epi pens on hand and either a parent or caregiver on hand to use them safely. Lots of people have strong reactions to stings that are allergic in nature (swelling, etc) but are not anaphylactic/lifethreatening. The childrens parents will know which is which. Most people do not have this condition. Have childrens liquid benedryl on hand, and I swear also by Bach Rescue Remedy spray from the health food store! One spritz on the sting and three on the tongue and we are good to go.
Everybody needs to know the safe way to remove a sting, which is to scrape it off, not grab it, you may end up squeezing more venom into the sting. Also if someone is stung, they should know to quickly leave the area immediately. The bee releases an alarm pheromone when she stings/dies, and it is a signal. Rescue Remedy helps mask this, too.
The more you and the children know about bees and what to do if you are stung, the safer you are. Children and bees should be able to coexist as long as they are not Africanized bees
Good luck!
I'm at an impasse and would sincerely appreciate your assistance in helping our kids feel the sunshine and play outside again without the threat of having an allergic reaction.
We live in AZ btw. I don't know if they are honeybees or Africanized bees, though we do have Africanized bees here.
Many many TIA!!
