Scottish Elises

Hi

Any advice from the SE apiarist division?

We have bees going in and out of an air brick at the front of the house and wondered if we should do anything about it? Will they do any damage?

Is it worth taking any action or should we just let them Bee? (Sorry)

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Alistair

You need Colin Tinto !

i think with bees they can be moved?
bees need all the help they can get atm.
ive a wasp bike about 5 feet from where im typing, need the exterminators again!

It depends...What sort of bees are they?

If it's a bumble bee hive then they are only small numbers involved so won't be a problem, they will make a small hive and probably mostly die over winter.

If it's honey bees they could be a problem, if you can get to the hive then a local beekeeper should happily take them away for free (A swarm is worth £50 odd retail) The problem with honey bees is they are prolific and will expand the hive to occupy the available space... if you can't get to them then a pest controller should be able to deal with them.

Noops is your man, pest controller and beekeeper in one go!

Rich H wrote:It depends...What sort of bees are they?

If it's a bumble bee hive then they are only small numbers involved so won't be a problem, they will make a small hive and probably mostly die over winter.

If it's honey bees they could be a problem, if you can get to the hive then a local beekeeper should happily take them away for free (A swarm is worth £50 odd retail) The problem with honey bees is they are prolific and will expand the hive to occupy the available space... if you can't get to them then a pest controller should be able to deal with them.

Noops is your man, pest controller and beekeeper in one go!

Sounds to me like a bumble bee queen has taken a liking to having her nest in the cavity of your wall via the air brick, I'm assuming its a low one?? and mostly facing the sun??.
There is little cause for alarm. I deal will lots of these over the summer and this is the best I can advise....unless you wish to do otherwize........
They will not eat the brickwork or dig a tunnel that your house will fall into... the nest is probably the size of a tennis ball possably growing up to three times the size depending on strength of queen and food available made up of leaf and grass matter, Bumble bees like all bees are in massive decline right now and any should be encouraged not extermenated...

Any descent pest control co, would not kill any bumble bees unless in an extream case>>its deemed to be for the public protection???the nest however if possable would be rehomed ( in this case not possable) so advise would be given to leave well alone as they are very very unlikely to bother anyone and leave the cavity once their job is done at the end of summer.

They are a mild nusance to us in the wrong place nothing more... however the value they do in the environment is unexplainable as the true extent of what bees do is not fully undertsood yet.

Enjoy your new pets

scottishselise wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEogJacj ... re=related

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Noops wrote:

Rich H wrote:It depends...What sort of bees are they?

If it's a bumble bee hive then they are only small numbers involved so won't be a problem, they will make a small hive and probably mostly die over winter.

If it's honey bees they could be a problem, if you can get to the hive then a local beekeeper should happily take them away for free (A swarm is worth £50 odd retail) The problem with honey bees is they are prolific and will expand the hive to occupy the available space... if you can't get to them then a pest controller should be able to deal with them.

Noops is your man, pest controller and beekeeper in one go!

Sounds to me like a bumble bee queen has taken a liking to having her nest in the cavity of your wall via the air brick, I'm assuming its a low one?? and mostly facing the sun??.
There is little cause for alarm. I deal will lots of these over the summer and this is the best I can advise....unless you wish to do otherwize........
They will not eat the brickwork or dig a tunnel that your house will fall into... the nest is probably the size of a tennis ball possably growing up to three times the size depending on strength of queen and food available made up of leaf and grass matter, Bumble bees like all bees are in massive decline right now and any should be encouraged not extermenated...

Any descent pest control co, would not kill any bumble bees unless in an extream case>>its deemed to be for the public protection???the nest however if possable would be rehomed ( in this case not possable) so advise would be given to leave well alone as they are very very unlikely to bother anyone and leave the cavity once their job is done at the end of summer.

They are a mild nusance to us in the wrong place nothing more... however the value they do in the environment is unexplainable as the true extent of what bees do is not fully undertsood yet.

Enjoy your new pets

Perfect - thanks mate.

Quite happy to leave them to do their thing - we'll be installing our summer plant pots in the front garden shortly and they'll get their fill from our petunias and pansies!

Just wanted to be sure they didn't pose any problems - if they stay in their bit I'll keep to mine!

Now - last question - can I make my favourite Crunchie chocolate bar out of their produce

Thanks again folks

Alistair

if you can get to it then you could I suppose, but it'll be hard work!

Coincidentally one of our hives swarmed yesterday, I was watching the GP and glanced out the window (out of boredom)... to see the area infront of your house full of bees...!

They settled in next doors garden so we got in and collected them in a box (3 stings for my trouble).

SWMBO called one of her friends in the loacl club and they came out to advise... We put the box of bees in a brood box he brought and, 2 mins later, they were off again!

This time they swarmed into the neibours garden on the otherside and we spent about 2 hours trying to coax them out of the dense bush/trellis they settled in.
We left a box over the swarm hoping they would climb into the box (Apparently usually successful)

2 hours later the neibour says there's been another swam just down the road... sure enough the box over the swarm is empty and they are now in a conifer further down.
This tiem on just a couple of branchs so a deft bit of lopping and we caught the lot. Stuck them in a nuc box and closed the entrance.

Left them sealed up until this morning, opened them up, hopefully they'll still be there later today!

Speak to your local bee keeping club. They are always on the look out for rogue bees to start new colonies. Where are you based? My Dad is looking for a swarm to start a new hive.

smee wrote:Speak to your local bee keeping club. They are always on the look out for rogue bees to start new colonies. Where are you based? My Dad is looking for a swarm to start a new hive.

Based in Linlithgow- he's more than welcome to them but not sure how you get to them? Or do you just capture a really fit looking bee from somewhere else and wait for them to come out to chat it up?

I think I have some too.... How do you tell the difference between a bunble bee and a honey bee?

mwmackenzie wrote:I think I have some too.... How do you tell the difference between a bunble bee and a honey bee?

The big old Bumble girl one has a big fat ass often with differant colours due to differant types.. slow flight and the no's entering the nest is one or two a second...the other one doesn't, it is much narrower plainer and by the feck you will know you have honey bees as there will bee..... hundreds coming and going per second.

The very words "I have some too" means you have bumble bees( harmless) of some type and not honey bees or you would be saying " I have fecking millions

I don't even have to look

Thanks man!

Well our swarm that we caught 3 times buggered off yesterday anyway

Honey bees are commonly mistaken for wasps, they are not as brightly coloured, usually orange or black, quite a bit smaller and less hairy than your average bumblebee and move with a lot more urgency!

Honey bee: