Anyone had anything to do with the removal of bees?

[_tc]

Hi all, I have a bumble bee nest in one of my log bays. I hoped they were in the pallet but when I removed the pallets I can see them going under the wood debris and into the ground. I have read up on them a little saying they should be gone by october but I need them gone now.

Anyone got any ideas/advice please?

[Guss109]

Have a look for local bee keepers as I'm sure they would take them for free of you. As the bee population is in serious decline. Hope it helps

[agg221]

Unfortunately beekeepers want honey bees rather than bumble bees.

 

Bumble bees are not to the best of my knowledge protected, so you could legally eliminate them, however some species are rare and none are harmful, and if you were inclined not to care about this you would have just wiped them out rather than asked on here?

 

Why do you need them gone? Is it just to refill the bay? If so, could you put a fresh pallet down carefully to give them an escape route under the new pile?

 

Alec

[Guss109]

Ah fair point my mistake. Goes to show every day is a school day

[xcjack]

go to a diy store and get a red light and some bee/ wasp killer foam or powder. at night go and spray the killer down the hole. only use a red light because bees and wasps cant see red ( sounds odd but always works with me) not as effective when the nest is underground but a few nights running should do it

[_tc]

Thanks guys. I need rid of the bees as I need to fill the bay and can't expect a hired in log splitter to stand there with these little dudes flying around and the bees are near the back of the bay so need to fill way past them.

I read about the red light so will uses that and will try the bee killer, it's not the way I wanted but needs must as I have quite a bit of timber ringed up read to split.

 

Cheers guys.

[Mark Bolam]

Might be worth ringing a beekeeper first.

 

They may offer to relocate them for you (question of moving the queen).

 

Just for good karma, like.

[MattyF]

I took great care lowering these lumps out in October,we waited untill then and got a bee keeper in .....saw the guy the other month and he said they died too.

To cold this winter but glad we tried.

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[_tc]

Ok spoke to the local bee keepers association and theynsaid as they are in the ground they are very hard to move so he said leave them as they will be gone in autumn or he said a petrol soaked rag down the hole and light it!!

Will have a think about it for now.

Thanks for advice guys.

[agg221]

I'm not quite sure whether this will work - I used to keep bees but obviously honey bees so the techniques might not carry through.

 

When you merge hives of honey bees you put a piece of paper in between the two colonies. By the time they've eaten through it, they smell the same and merge happily rather than fight. I wonder if there might be something to be borrowed here - a big sheet of paper (offcut of wallpaper or lining paper, or the end of a roll from a big printer?) placed over the nest, with a pallet on top on the night before you're hiring in the splitter, when they're all nesting so you're not trapping any of them outside. The bees will start eating their way through the paper but by the time they've done it (about 24hrs) your splitter will be long gone. They will probably be quite happy to negotiate their way out through the gaps in the pile, and by autumn when you want to move the wood they will be gone. Any good?

 

Alec