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Produce => Kept Animals => Topic started by: oakmore2 on July 28, 2008, 17:52:33

Title: Help with bees nest please?
Post by: oakmore2 on July 28, 2008, 17:52:33

I wondered whether anyone may be able to help me? I've recently taken on a new allotment which I've been clearing over the last week or so. I've found what appears to be a bees' nest in the ground. At first I thought it must be wasps, but having inspected the residents more closely I'm certian that they're bees.

Now I'm all in favour of bees, and certainly don't want to kill the little creatures, but at the same time I don't want them in the middle of my asparagus bed! Does anyone have any advice on how I might be able to get them to move on, or get them removed without harming them?

Any advice gratefully received!

Many thanks

Title: Re: Help with bees nest please?
Post by: Baccy Man on July 28, 2008, 18:32:38

If you can work around it for now they will move on in late summer/early autumn.

Title: Re: Help with bees nest please?
Post by: oakmore2 on July 29, 2008, 08:40:45

Thanks for your help - I think working around them sounds like the best plan. Forgive me for being ignorant - but where do they go when they move on?

Title: Re: Help with bees nest please?
Post by: Old bird on July 29, 2008, 09:46:15

Someone elses lotty!

Old Bird

 ;D

Title: Re: Help with bees nest please?
Post by: Barnowl on July 29, 2008, 09:47:09

Might be worth contacting your local/county bee keepers association.

Title: Re: Help with bees nest please?
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on July 29, 2008, 18:41:57

Bumblebees (presumably that's what we're talking about) don't exactly move on. At the end of the season, the queen produces drones, and some of the female larvae are so well fed that they develop into fertile queens. The old queen stops laying, and the whole nest dies off. The only survivors are the young queens, now mated. They hibernate in the remains of the nest, then fly off in early spring to start new nests.

Title: Re: Help with bees nest please?
Post by: Columbus on August 01, 2008, 06:20:56

Hi Oakmore, Hi all,  :)

I had a busy bees nest in the ground next to my strawberries last year. I didn`t bother them and they didn`t bother me even when I was picking fruit. They were in and out of a hole large enough to get my hand in (should I have been so inclined) That was the third hole in the ground bees nest I`ve had close proximity to on my plots but it was by far the busiest. They`ve gone now and I have missed their comings and goings this year.

Intrestingly being so close to them all last summer I was able to identify by sight three different types of bee on my plot. They seem to like comfry and nasturtiums on my plots. No shortage here.

I warned people about the nest in case they were allergic to a sting and the risk of putting their foot in the hole but I`m not and no-one else was so it was never a problem. I say live and let live.

Col

Title: Re: Help with bees nest please?
Post by: Gillyflower58 on August 02, 2008, 23:45:20

Bumblebees nest in the ground, leave them alone as they are getting to be like hedgehogs, a bit of a rarity.  They'll move on soon enough.