Open The Window For Bees

[Jen]

[efmesch]

Often bees will fly into my house in the evening/night.  That's because my hives are placed so close to the house that some are attracted to the indoor lights.
Then they start buzzing around the light bulbs and get all mixed up.  If there are any visitors at home when that happens, they usually start getting panicy. My solution is to place a drop of honey on the tip of my finger and coax the bee to sit down and get distracted from the light by a free meal.  While the bee is dining away, I open the window and blow it off my finger in the direction of the hives.
I assume the bees  keep alive till morning, when they can go home, but even if not, they serve a good lesson to the uninitiated---bees don't sting just because they are on you.

[Jen]

Ef, I've had a lot of fun with the 'uninitiated' myself. A bee may be batting at a window, and I say "Oh! let me get her and put her outside" I open the sliding door and set her free and say "Go play with your sister's." One evening my burly nephew was sitting in our living room and I did that, but I stopped at the chair where he was sitting with his arm resting on the arm of the chair, I let her crawl off of my finger and onto his arm. He froze for about a minute, then started to relax and he watched her groom herself. Now, he's fascinated with bees and has actually helped my in the hives one time. It was really cool!

[iddee]

I just pick them up like it was a queen, and carry it outside.

[Jen]

I have this way of placing the side of my index finger up against the bee then with my thumb I press one of her wing against my index finger, this way she curls up with her rump away from my finger, then I let her outside. Works every time.... almost