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We have a bird box which some bees decided to squat in, at first the buzzing from inside made you smile as you walked by, but now there seems to be a bit of a frenzy going on. There are quite a few flying around now trying to get in the box, what I need to know is how long will this increased activity carry on and will it get worse? It's started yesterday, up til then it had very relaxed with odd bees in and out the box.
The bird box is only 6x4x4 inches but is close to our front door.
Any advice would be appreciated thanks.
Set a honeytrap.
IGMC
Stupid fingers.
fair chance a cloud of two to 30 is males hanging around waiting for the queen to turn up should calm down in a couple of weeks , don't mess with them now young males not getting any can be quite volatile .
My neighbour has this issue as of about a week ago. I had a look online for him and the solution seemed to be
1: Leave them alone, they will naturally go in a few months (not ideal as he has grandkids running around)
2: Landlord/Council who would probably just send round pest control and kill them, not ideal for the bees...
3: Local bee swarm collector and I pointed him to a couple of people
[url= http://www.bbka.org.uk/help/find_a_swarm_coordinator.php ]http://www.bbka.org.uk/help/find_a_swarm_coordinator.php[/url]
On one link I read that it's best to move them at night, wait till dark, use a red light as they apparently can't see them (I'm thinking rear bike led on solid mode), block up the nesting box then move it somewhere but I would try the swarm collector option first
If you can remove the box without it being opened gaffer tape over the hole (cool evenings best) then remove box from wall and relocate elsewhere
....and remember, winegar for wasp stings, bicarbonate for bees.
Ring one of those swarm collectors on the link above. Other half's old man does it and the phone doesn't stop ringing at the minute with various swarms. He's always happy to help out though, as I believe others on the list are - it's a voluntary thing so they'd not put their names down unless they wanted to.
[stw] Have you actually tried talking to them? [/stw]
What kind of bee? Some can be collected, others like bumblebees cannot. Bird boxes tend to be tree bumblebees (orange-black-white), they are harmless even in a drone swarm and can be ignored.
Thanks for all the replies, I should have mentioned they were bumblebees! As what phead says above is what local bee guy suggested.
They are probably tree bees. It seems they arrived in this country about 12 years ago and have been spreading across the country since then.
I had them in a bird box, in my garden, last year. They proved to be harmless and from what I have read are not dangerous. Best just to leave them alone. You should find they will have gone by the end of June. A friend of mine has some in a bird box at the moment.
Contact bbka to find a local keeper who will gladly help you out.
We had a swarm in the garden a couple of years back, fantastic sight but they could not be left where they were so they were rehomed by the local bee keeper.
Just leave them alone and let them bee.
Bees are good mmmkay?