We have had a bumble bees nest in the shed for a long time. Indeed I Have had to put a wire guard over the front of the entrance to stop the cats sitting and batting the bees as they emerge. Never really bothered where the nest actually is. We did think it was under the ground as is another one we have round the other side of the shed. However, yesterday I was going to look at the old lawnmower to see if I could practice cleaning the carburetter on it before letting myself loose on the new machine, and discovered that the actual nest was under the 'bowl' of the rotary mower. So, the question is, when will I be able to move the machine without damaging the bees?
If you can cover it with something else which will keep the nest protected while letting the bees iin and out - say a broken flowerpot - they should be fine. You can move a bumblebees' nest intact if you do it at night, but they sting like mad!
There is no hurry and I do not want to disturb them anyway. It would involve scraping the nest out of the bottom of the mower which I do not want to do. The question remains the same, when will they become dormant or hibernate?
Only the new mated queens will survive and hibernate somewhere dry during the winter. All the other bumble bees will die during the autumn so you will be OK to move the mower when you cannot see any more bumblebees flying in to and out of nest . They do not return to the same nest site next year.
Wow....how interestin. I too have a bumble bees nest right along the side of my shed.When I took the plot on I inherited a whole batch of tyres. They are used for holding up pieces of wood to create a small table. I noticed the bees have diving into the holes of the tyres. Likewise I have been reluctant to disturb them. But I was making plans to shift the tyres and clean the area up and renovate the shed. I take it they will definitely move somewhere else when Autumn comes?
Ta, muchly.
If they're bumblebees, the nest will die out. The young queens will hibernate, then start new nests next spring.