Bee nest?.....advice needed

kippers

I'm hoping there will be some bee experts around to help me...


Yesterday i kept hearing a single buzzing noice on and off, coming from a old vent in our floorboard/carpet (the vent was used when we had a back boiler). We blocked the vent with card board when we had our new combi boiler 2 years ago as we were told this was ok to do. I also saw a hugh bee (like a big bumble bee) coming in and out of an air brick not far from the vent.

Today i saw the bee again (there only seems to be one bee) coming and going. After it came out i blocked the air brick so it couldn't get back in and it's been trying to get back in for a while.

I'm not sure if i've done the right thing. I was hoping it would go and make another nest elsewhere...but will i be too late and will it have already laid eggs that will hatch under our floorboards?

I will be grateful for any advice.

SallyForth_2

Because it was a bee, rather than a wasp, I would rather a potential nest be moved rather than destroyed.

If it were me, I would try one of the following options for advice,

either Ring the RSPCA, they may have contact numbers of experts in this area you could phone.

or ring someone like Rentokill, they may, inspite the name, have methods for the relocation of nests, or have contact numbers of people who will do this.

or check something like Yell.com for people like Bee Keepers local to yourself, who might have advice.

Is there anyway you could determin if something is 'happening' in the vent yourself, maybe lift a floor board or something as I would imagine any expert would need to do this anyway to deal with the problem.

wssla00

There are solitary bees which just use an old hole to make their nest. Can you see any other bees or any evidence of other bees? It might be a solitary one. I have one in my garden fence doing no harm.....He is good for the garden so he is my guest.

kippers

There is definately only one bee (at the moment). The bee is 'massive'.

wallbash

Only one ( even if its the biggest bee ever) leave alone. He gets his mates around ,
get an expert to destroy the nest.

conradmum

We had a nest in our garage and called the council who gave us the phone number of a local beekeeper. He identified the type from a description over the phone and said just leave them alone. We did, just made sure they could get in and out and the nest died over the winter.

Missy79

I'm guessing it was a bumble bee if so bumble bees are in decline and are now protected in the UK I believe. If it were to make a nest it would be small, the bees would never swarm and the nests are only temporary. I had a nest in the garden a couple of years ago and the bees were fab to watch and not aggressive in the slightest.

rhiwfield

wallbash wrote: »

Only one ( even if its the biggest bee ever) leave alone. He gets his mates around ,
get an expert to destroy the nest.

Odds are that its a Queen Bee. And a bumble bee. Non-aggressive and increasingly scarce.

Kimitatsu

rhiwfield wrote: »

Odds are that its a Queen Bee. And a bumble bee. Non-aggressive and increasingly scarce.

Absolutely agree with this - we are really lucky as we have several bumbles in our garden but ours is very much gardened for wildlife. If its a solitary bee then try putting up some tubing and it will happily go in there or it will find a crack in the wall.

Try looking up your local beekeepers association - they should be able to identify it for you and if necessary relocate the nest but please please dont destroy it.

kippers

It appears to be a bumble bee. Thank you all for your advice. I think i will leave it alone and see what happens. I have told my DD's to keep well away and have explained to them how lucky we are to have this bee visit our garden

Thanks again all

poly1

Does anyone know how long bumble bees nest for? We have had a bumble bee nest in our wall for about two months now, we left well alone as we did not want to harm them BUT the wall is due to be demolished in the next months or so and I was really hoping that they would be gone by then, at the moment we get up to 10 bees a minute flying in an out of the nest. I really do not want any harm to come to them but I don't know what to do now as unfortunatly the wall has to go so we were really hoping that they would move on soon. Any one any suggestions/advice?