Bumble bees (1 Viewer)

Dec 4, 2012
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Opened my garage doors today and two enormous bumble bees greeted me :Smile: I love bumble bees :thumb: After watching and waiting they disappeared down a gap on the garage floor right at the front where the door meets the floor. Any bumble bee experts out there to advise me . I know how important they are to our existence so I want to do whatever I can to keep them happy :thumb: Am I right in thinking they don't have a very long life and are not likely to fill my garage with baby bumble bees in a week or so.
 

DBK

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Jan 9, 2013
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Sounds like they are making a nest. It will be gone by winter so if you can live with them this summer then please do so. However, if you have to walk past the nest every day someone is going to get stung sooner or later. You could try shielding it with say a sheet of plywood so they can't see you as they fly in and out. They will defend the nest if they feel threatened but generally they are harmless.

Unlike honey bees which number tens of thousands in their nest you will only have a few dozen or so bumble bees, well perhaps a hundred, but not too many even when the next is in its prime.
 
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Soozywoozy

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as we have an expert in the forum....
We have had an invasion of honey bees accessing an unused loft via our dormer bedroom windows/roof
when we open the windows there are lots and lots of bees around
have contacted the council who said contact an apiarist (hope I spelt right)

what can be done, are they harmless and best left alone and we keep our bedroom windows shut

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OP
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Lucky one
Dec 4, 2012
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Like many others we don't use the garage for vehicles so we are not in and out every day and there is a rear access door so I will use that as often as possible. Also we do have a remote control to open the door so we can stand well back when needing to open it :Eeek: so hopefully they won't feel too threatened .Does the nest get reused year after year. They do a lot of circling around and keep crashing into the garage door and window do they not have a very good sense of direction :ROFLMAO:
 

dryad

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Apr 25, 2010
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quite a few years now, and loving every minute..
as we have an expert in the forum....
We have had an invasion of honey bees accessing an unused loft via our dormer bedroom windows/roof
when we open the windows there are lots and lots of bees around
have contacted the council who said contact an apiarist (hope I spelt right)

what can be done, are they harmless and best left alone and we keep our bedroom windows shut

if they're honey bees then a beekeeper would possibly take them, if they're not then they don't want to know so it seems..

have got a nest of a variety of white tailed bees (bombus something or other) nesting just outside my front door in the eaves of a single story part of my home at the moment, it's really fascinating watching them as there are a few dozen dancing around back and forth all the time, but i am just a little concerned because they're only about a meter above where i have an outside socket for charging my power chair in the car (which i can't bring indoors) and just a foot from my head when i'm plugging the cable in and out..:Eeek:

have been assured that they're quite peaceable as long as they and the nest aren't threatened, which seems to be the case just walking past, but am a little concerned that when i have to stand there for a few minutes fiddling with the cable that they might see me as a threat..

at the moment the powerchair is with my mobility chap being serviced so i haven't had to test the bees out yet.......................

and i must be honest, i wouldn't really want them moved at this stage of the summer, they're no doubt rearing their young 'uns and we so desperately need our bees of whatever variety as they've had such a hard time in recent years..

have had advice from the local kent bee keepers who've told me to drape a net curtain over my head for the moment (and buy some antihistamine cream in case i get stung) well that'll confirm to the neighbours that i really am the madwoman who lives on the corner..
 
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movan

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It seems we have been this way before....:Smile:


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Wilbury

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Jun 5, 2014
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We had a white tailed bee colony living in our compost bin.
We did not mind them at all but were afraid that one of the dogs would swallow one as they used to snap at them.
We paid a local expert to come and take the nest away and resite it elsewhere.
He said that he has done this with dozens of nests in past.
He said that they have to be taken quite a few miles away or they simply return.
Clever little things. Especially as they keep whole crops growing for us.
Rgds
 

DBK

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Jan 9, 2013
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as we have an expert in the forum....
We have had an invasion of honey bees accessing an unused loft via our dormer bedroom windows/roof
when we open the windows there are lots and lots of bees around
have contacted the council who said contact an apiarist (hope I spelt right)

what can be done, are they harmless and best left alone and we keep our bedroom windows shut

Would never claim to be an expert. I am sure Brother Adam, he of Buckfast fame, said something along the lines of "still learning after 80 years".

You could try contacting your local beekeeping association, this may help to find them: http://www.bbka.org.uk/about/local_associations/find_an_association.php

But worth reading this first to be doubly sure you have honey bees. http://www.bbka.org.uk/help/do_you_have_a_swarm.php

I strongly recommend you get them dealt with. They will not go away and unlike the nests of wasps and bumble bees they won't die out at the end of the year.

I spent the best part of two days once getting a swarm out of a loft. Once they have been there even for 24 hours they will start making comb with wax and the queen will start laying eggs. At this point it becomes their "home" and they will defend it, i.e. potentially sting anyone who comes close.

Be prepared to get a groan when you contact the local beekeepers - this is the prime swarming period and they are probably fed up with removing swarms but it needs to be done.

In the worst case you will have to contact a local pest controller who will probably spray a contact poison near them. A drastic measure but you can console yourself that the individual worker bees you can see flying around will only live about 6 weeks at this time of year. A short but busy life. Curiously, bees born right at the end of the year can live for 6 months, which is how the nest gets through the winter in hibernation. Apparently, it is the rearing of young bees which shortens the life of the summer bees. Lesson for us all there I think. I know my kids have shortened my life - or at least have given me grey hair and worry lines!
 
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Moodybrook

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Jul 7, 2013
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Bumblebees

Hi, I had a relatively large Bumblebee nest in my loft. They had built it under the insulation and when I stuck my head into the loft on a warmish day it was buzzing away like a chainsaw.

After advice telling me that they would move on in a few weeks I left it alone so extra brownie points gained, as sure enough, things went quiet some weeks later. I have now blocked up their access and removed the nest, see phot.


PS. That was just part of it. Some species have just one or two cells, not this one !
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Nov 30, 2009
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Since 2009 with motorhomes several caravans then tents before that.
We have a 3 foot square patch of hard core in our back garden.
We've trained our two border terriers to go wee and poo in that area, that way we aren't searching for ,last thing at night ,land mines or smelly wee in the garden . A hose down and the odd jeys fluid spray keeps it fresh.:thumb:

Anyways , I digress. :RollEyes:

We have noticed bees landing on the hardcore where our dog , not bitch , pees against a post. They spend ages crawling all over it going right into the stones.
I was a bit concerned , thinking he must have lots of sugar in his wee. But the vet , and google :winky:said not to worry. They are just attracted to it.

Wouldn't like to think I was buying dog wee honey. Not quite as nice as flower meadow etc, doesn't have the same ring to it some how:ROFLMAO:
 
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