This is probably a weird question. It involves bees. (buy, landlord)

[i blame history]

So it's really nice this morning and I decide to open my windows. I have a cat and I'm on the third floor so I have my screens pushed up so I can drop the top window down instead of open the bottom part up.

One particular window made an odd crunching sound when I slid it down, so I look around it... there's a tiny spider, just small enough for me to see without my arachnophobia kicking in, but the kicker is on the opposite side of the window: it looks like an oddly shaped beehive has been build between my screen and my window, and with the window down, the hive is exposed to the living room.

I was groggy and I looked at it for a few seconds, thinking "what in the love of god am I looking at?" before it hit me and I put the window back up. No bees were present, but I wasn't going to take my chances. This particular screen has a couple small holes--none gaping, but I suppose they're big enough for a bee to wiggle through.

I'll have my husband take a look when he wakes up in a few minutes but I doubt he'll have more of a clue than I. So I have a few questions: is this likely a beehive? It's dark grey and papery with three holes. Looks like it to me. Could it be related to spiders instead? That makes me want to move out, seeing as that's just about the only thing I'm terrifed of.

But mainly, the reason why I am posting here, is that I want to know who would be responsible for the removal of this theoretical hive: myself or the landloard/management? I suppose it's not a direct problem, as I can simply leave the window closed, but I don't want to take chances with something that could possibly kill someone. I'm not about to throw the window down and take a knife to it or anything. If it's a hive, it's not there due to a fault of mine. Then again, management didn't put it there, either. If anything, they'd be responsible for the damaged screen, which has had holes since I moved in. I never demanded a replacement because it was never an issue for me--the holes aren't too big.

If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it. I'm still kind of stumped since it's so early. ha.

[ToriaT]

I'd say the landlord. If its a tiny thing, dried up, and not occupied, your husband could probably just get rid of it. We had a hive in our wall (yes behind the wall they built a hive) and it was active and we had to call a company to get rid of it. I'd say if you are going to mess with it make sure no one is allergic to bee stings. It could also be a wasp nest too.

[knitgirl]

It's not a hive, it's a yellowjacket nest. Bees, good, yellowjackets, bad. There are sprays you can buy at a hardware store or even Jewel, most likely. Once it's been sprayed, I'd give it a day or so, you can easily remove it.

[Chuckity]

Sounds like paper wasps ... which aren't particularly aggressive.

Spray it with Hornet/bee killer.

[Drover]

Call a wasp wrangler.

[Milwaukee City]

I'd just use a broom or my hands!

[Steve-o]

It sounds like a wasp nest of some kind. If no wasps are present, just remove it, simple as that. And no, its not related to spiders, they build nothing of the sort.

[Avengerfire]

Wasps.

[Chicago60614]

Just spray the thing, or wait until winter and remove it.

If you pulled the window down though and crunched the thing with no activity at all, it might be abandoned.