Bees

[crosslandkelly]

Three or four years ago, I made a bird box for my mums garden. For one reason or another the birds never took up residence. Resigned to it being a design fault, I thought no more of it.
Today when I went to visit mum, and found that a colony of bees had moved in. I know nothing about bees, so any advice would be gratefully received. I didn't have a camera with me, but will post some pics asap.
Thanks.

 

[wingstoo]

Depends if you want to keep them or not...

If you don't then contact your local bee keeper to take them away, if you do....Contact your local bee keeper for advice on giving them a proper home..

 

[British Red]

London is problematic for bees ck - too many bees for the available forage. There is a colony of bees per acre in central London - far too many really. What you have there is a swarm that's found a nice home. Its unlikely to do well in a bird box long term - even an owl box is too small for a healthy bee colony. Its likely to be a cast (one of a number of repeated swarms from a colony - each of diminishing size).

As wingstoo says, your local beekeeping association will probably remove them for you - we do it for nothing round here as a service.

The BBKA publishes a good ID check to be sure they are honeybees and a contact form for swarm collection

http://www.bbka.org.uk/help/do_you_have_a_swarm.php

HTH

 

[crosslandkelly]

Thanks guys, very helpful.

 

[John Fenna]

As I have discovered that we have TWO bee's nests in our garden - one up in the eaves of our house and one behind our shed - and my wife has managed to get herself stung going to the shed to get out tools to "work" in the garden, this advice is very useful to me as well.
The dilemma is - do we keep the bees and let them work in the garden or do we get shot of the bees and let my wife work in the garden?
As the bees all seem to fly away from our garden to visit other houses and my wife now shies away from going near the shed I think I will call our local bee keepers to get at least the shed mob moved on.....

 

[British Red]

John, if the "nests" are out in the open, they are unlikely to thrive. I would suggest either hiving them or removing them. Swarms generally succumb to predation or sickness (especially varroa) within a year or two. Wild swarms can act as disease reservoirs so leaving them be is not a great option tbh

 

[John Fenna]

The ones in the eaves - well it is more like the roof-space ... not the loft itself but in the angle of the roof that makes our bedroom ceilings ... so not in the open..
The shed mob - well our shed is up in a corner of the garden with walls on 2 sides and only about 2' from the wall on one side and 1' at the back... the creepers that cover the wall are dense and thick and in places reach to the shed ... so not really too exposed either ... and both would be "interesting" to get at...
I have not actually seen the "nests" just the constant activity - in and out - of the bees.
With my spotting scope I have seen the roof mob as they land and enter the roof but have not been able to closely observe the shed mob as they land out of sight.
I will see what happens when I get back (off to a trade show in Kendal and my Aunts 90th birthday party tomorrow and back next Monday) - I cant see the local (elderly female) beekeeper going up and getting the roof mob!

 

[crosslandkelly]

Just been round to my mums to take some pics. I think they are Honey bees judging from the info given on BR's link.

 

[Big Stu 12]

Would loved a couple of hives, but hey not got the room... keep them mate... a couple of my friends have them and love it

 

[Pterodaktyl]

I'm pretty sure those are bumblebees, not honey bees, although I'm having a hard time figuring out the species.

Best left to their own devices - they are much less aggressive than wasps or honey bees so shouldn't cause your mum any trouble.

For more info: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/faqs/bumblebee-nests/

 

[ged]

My first reaction is that anyone who has attracted a swarm of bees is very lucky. In England, I've had a purpose-built box on the shed wall for years and never got any interest. In France we had a few down the chimney earlier this year but none in any of the thousands of places where it might have been possible to make use of them.

As Red has mentioned, bee diseases are a problem and it's getting worse, and there are other pressures such as our colossal use of insecticides and the lack of food plants in many areas. Knowing the environmental stresses that bees are under I'd have to say that you need to do more than just stand back and watch, because to do that could (of course it isn't certain, but it could) do some harm.

This isn't just altruism of course, there's a healthy self-interest in having healthy bee populations to pollinate plants which feed humans directly, or feed the creatures which humans eat.

So my advice is either take it seriously and get into responsible bee-keeping, which can be a lot of work, or call in the local bee-keepers' association to do what they think is best -- which may, unfortunately, be to destroy them, and if you're like me you'll need to be mentally prepared for that.

 

[Lou]

Are you sure they are honey bees? They look rather fluffy.

 

[crosslandkelly]

My first reaction is that anyone who has attracted a swarm of bees is very lucky. In England, I've had a purpose-built box on the shed wall for years and never got any interest. In France we had a few down the chimney earlier this year but none in any of the thousands of places where it might have been possible to make use of them.

As Red has mentioned, bee diseases are a problem and it's getting worse, and there are other pressures such as our colossal use of insecticides and the lack of food plants in many areas. Knowing the environmental stresses that bees are under I'd have to say that you need to do more than just stand back and watch, because to do that could (of course it isn't certain, but it could) do some harm.

This isn't just altruism of course, there's a healthy self-interest in having healthy bee populations to pollinate plants which feed humans directly, or feed the creatures which humans eat.

So my advice is either take it seriously and get into responsible bee-keeping, which can be a lot of work, or call in the local bee-keepers' association to do what they think is best -- which may, unfortunately, be to destroy them, and if you're like me you'll need to be mentally prepared for that.

Thanks for that. Once I'm certain that they are Honey bees and not Solitary bees, I'll get in touch with the local keepers, to remove or destroy them.

Stu, I would love to be able to keep them, but this is not my garden, and I,m so short on time to spend on bee keeping.

 

[Lou]

You could give them a home and not 'keep' them. They will be doing your locality a massive favour by being there whether you tend them or not, I keep bees and often feel very sad that I take their honey away each autumn and give them sugar to eat instead, I plan to move into natural beekeeping soon, when I am more certain of what I am doing, and leave most, of not all of the honey for the bees to eat over the winter that way, they fend for themselves without any intervention from you. There is a question of treating them for varroa mite etc. but I believe that if they are left with their own natural food they are more resistant to viruses and parasites anyway. It just means that you will have bees in your garden, but not necessarily any honey.

 

[crosslandkelly]

You could give them a home and not 'keep' them. They will be doing your locality a massive favour by being there whether you tend them or not, I keep bees and often feel very sad that I take their honey away each autumn and give them sugar to eat instead, I plan to move into natural beekeeping soon, when I am more certain of what I am doing, and leave most, of not all of the honey for the bees to eat over the winter that way, they fend for themselves without any intervention from you. There is a question of treating them for varroa mite etc. but I believe that if they are left with their own natural food they are more resistant to viruses and parasites anyway. It just means that you will have bees in your garden, but not necessarily any honey.

As I said previously, this is not my garden. Mum has already had a complaint from an idiot neighbour, ( who I put, back in their place.) So it really is not feasible.

 

[Lou]

Oh sorry, I thought you were planning to move them to your own garden, I misunderstood.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Oh sorry, I thought you were planning to move them to your own garden, I misunderstood.

No problem.

 

[British Red]

CK, even as a beekeeper I'm struggling to be positive from the photos - sorry . Certainly not wasps, hornets look to be the wrong colour for solitary bees. I think they are bumblebees. The furry abdomen (bum) in one picture leads me to think this to be the case, honey bees may have a furry looking thorax (upper body) but not thorax. Bumbles are known to inhabit bird boxes.

Red

 

[Bowlander]

Babbity bumbles! No honey for tea.

 

[crosslandkelly]

CK, even as a beekeeper I'm struggling to be positive from the photos - sorry . Certainly not wasps, hornets look to be the wrong colour for solitary bees. I think they are bumblebees. The furry abdomen (bum) in one picture leads me to think this to be the case, honey bees may have a furry looking thorax (upper body) but not thorax. Bumbles are known to inhabit bird boxes.

Red

Thanks Hugh, the reason I don't think they are Bumbles, is that they about the width of my thumbnail long.
Colin.

Will try to post a better pic tomorrow.