Keep in mind that bees have other ways of accessing a chimney besides through the top.
Bees in chimney vent.
Infrared camera to see size of honey bee hive in the chimney.
Routine chimney maintenance helps to prevent this type of damage and bee access from occurring.
Visible bees entering or exiting the stack bees in the house sudden activity of bees in your yard or around the home honey or beeswax buildup dead bees in the fireplace residue deposits around the chimney top.
As mentioned earlier honey bees are very important to the environment and should not be killed.
You may find bees near a light or on the window in a room near the chiminy.
Bees that are entering in and out through the vent opening outside of the structure seldom live inside the vent or air duct shaft but instead are living in the wall or void around it and only appear to be going into the vent.
Before nesting in a chimney a honeybees will send out scout parties handfuls of bees in search of a new home.
If the chimney masonryis in a state of disrepair bees can get through any openings including cracks.
The answer is often yes.
Do not start a fire in your fireplace to remove honey bees from your chimney.
Usually the first thing you will notice is bees flying in the windows or up near the skylights.
What not to do to remove honey bees from the chimney.
This fine mesh screen is against code and can create a dangerous situation for the homeowner if they use the fireplace.
One of the main entryways for bees to get into the chimney is through the weep holes.
Some signs of bees in the chimney.
Scout bees that are inspecting a chimney often wander too far down the flue and gets lost inside the house.
Although there are many other ways bees can get into your home through the chimney is one of the most common scenarios.
If you see bees inside your bathroom kitchen bedroom or other area of the house or find bees near windows these few bees are getting in by accident and simply represent a much larger problem bees can generally observe them from the outside.
Bees can get into any area as small as 1 4 but in california building code requires that the screen be 5 8 which will allow bees to enter the chimney.