Honey bees in my roof

Biggles

Zola. wrote: »

petrol & match

I suspect one of the other things your insurance doesn't cover you for is setting light to your own house. But who knows, maybe it's worth a try.....

jibbyboo

Still no update sadly. We could try cutting through the ceiling, but it extends into the main hall of the house and there's no way to partition it off. So if the colony went beyond the room we can access from the inside (moving into a 3/4 meter height hallway) we'd be a bit scuppered.

Considering selling the house at the moment during winter, but presumably we'd have to declare the bees? And ethically it's questionable not to right, even if we don't need to legally...?

Otherwise, it's several thousand £s going onto a loan to replace a roof after it's been cut into to remove the bees.

A friend of mine suggested rephrasing to insurance 'The bees have cracked the wall in my house, I'd like to keep them here but they're destroying the property'. Not sure whether something that simple would work. Equally whether I'd be able to use the phrase 'bees aren't pests' as suggested earlier in the thread!

dermonte

I feel for you. We had the same problem but we also had wasp hive next to the bee hive in the roof. It was so many of them and very noisy too. Well council came and investigated. The wasp hive was about 100 cm away from bee hive. So they said they will treat wasps. The wasps are dissapeared after the treatment and within 2 weeks bees disappeared too. We reckon they moved somewhere else as they were disturbed with the disappearing wasp hive. Maybe do something similar. Dont treat them but treat the area without touching their hive. They might move as well if they think there is a threat.

Elli452

Bees are less active in the winter months and their numbers are significantly diminished. Can you wait and try the ceiling removal/hive extraction then? If you make sure all doors are closed (except an exit) I can't see the whole house being invaded. At the end of the day if you have honey bees then killing them is only going to remove half the problem. And the remaining honey comb is likely to attract more unsavoury invaders (wasps).

Mojisola

dermonte wrote: »

We had the same problem but we also had wasp hive next to the bee hive in the roof.

The wasp hive was about 100 cm away from bee hive. So they said they will treat wasps.

The wasps are dissapeared after the treatment and within 2 weeks bees disappeared too. We reckon they moved somewhere else as they were disturbed with the disappearing wasp hive.

I doubt these were honey bees. Wasps and honey bees don't live in harmony.

The bees disappeared because they were killed by the pesticide that was used on the wasp nest. These pesticides aren't selective - the bees would have carried the poison into the nest from the surrounding area.

dermonte

Mojisola wrote: »

I doubt these were honey bees. Wasps and honey bees don't live in harmony.

The bees disappeared because they were killed by the pesticide that was used on the wasp nest. These pesticides aren't selective - the bees would have carried the poison into the nest from the surrounding area.

I am no expert lol. So thanks for explaining. One of my friend said probably they moved somewhere else.

peachyprice

dermonte wrote: »

I am no expert lol. So thanks for explaining. One of my friend said probably they moved somewhere else.

I think your friend was just being kind, a bit like telling children the dog has gone to live on a farm

bsod

a well equipped pest controller should be able to dust the entrance without going anywhere near it, or you can buy the equipment yourself for 50 to 150 pounds

jackyann

I do feel for you - this is such a difficult situation. However, my advice would be to go with the professional removal, however much it costs.

I say this because that is the only way you can be sure that the removal is complete, not likely to cause "knock on" problems, and you have someone responsible if any issues do arise.
You say that you are thinking of selling the house, and most purchasers will be very put off by this story, unless they can see proper evidence of removal by a responsible company.

As for financing this, I would talk to your mortgage provider and explain the situation. If you have been a prompt payer for 3 years, they should consider increasing the mortgage to cover this expense, or giving you a couple of month's "holiday" to enable you to cover it. In the long term, avoiding the adverse effect on the sale of your house should make it worthwhile.

As for the bees, you have done your best to avoid their destruction, and now there are no further options. Proper professional removal is humane both for the bees and for you!

I hope you can sort something out.

Lorian

I'll declare I've never removed bees, but I've dealt with my share of wasps nests, including two I couldn't get to.

I am a little lost to understand the make-up of the roof, and understand the difficulty with getting to the entrance etc.

When you say you don't have a loft - do you mean it's a normal apex roof with no access or its of some other kind of construction?

Could you post a photo of their entrance?

Can you get to the entrance?

Do they land and crawl in?

Have you considered using a lit borescope and a few holes in the ceiling to locate them?