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Good morning folks,
We have had some honey bee's make a home in our roof, getting in by a small gap in one of the wooden beams.
This happened a few years ago and they have been there ever since! We didn't have an issue with it at first, they kept themselves out the house and didn't cause any issues.
However, they have started to find way's into the house, further into beams and such and are now starting to cause issues.
We contacted a Bee Keeper last year and he was reluctant to go up as it would mean removing the roofing, to get at the beam where they were living. They can obviously not be killed and we do want them to go to a good home.
Is there anyway we can remove them, or do people have similar experiences that can be of benefit?
Regards,
Paul
I don't know much, but back when my folks were considering becoming beekeepers they had a wild swarm move in. Despite being really keen on animals, and especially bees, they elected to have them killed as they would damage the house with leaking honey and perhaps fly inside.
Maybe there's a way to annoy them so much they push off?
You could try asking another beekeeper - is there no other access to the space where they're living other than the hole in the beam? Worth contacting the local beekeeping association for a second opinion as they'll be as keen as you are to get them out without too much harm
Think of all the free honey!!! [url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/bee-infestation-roof_n_1733125.html ]Blinking flip!![/url]
We contacted a Bee Keeper last year and he was reluctant to go up as it would mean removing the roofing, to get at the beam where they were living. They can obviously not be killed and we do want them to go to a good home.
I get a lot of calls about bees at this time of year. It sounds like the ones you have in your roof space are in too awkward a location for a bee keeper to reach without needing to use access equipment and taking your roof apart. Not all swarms can be saved and relocated. Saving the swarm may end up costing you a lot of money. The British Bee keepers Association may be able to recommend a bee keeper who is more willing to try and retrieve the swarm. Most bee keepers aren't professionals however and so are quite obviously unwilling and ill equipped to go taking your roof apart.
Bees can be killed by a professional pest controller if all other options have been explored and they are causing a nuisance. Honey bees are not protected despite what many people may think (they are in some European countries). However, if the nest is well established it will have a fair amount of honey in it which will attract flies etc once the bees have been killed. Also the pest controller will need to ensure that all potential entry points to the nest are blocked up after the bees have been killed to ensure bees from other nests don't enter into it to steal the honey. These new bees will be contaminated with the insecticide and may well kill off their own nests. Pest controllers have been taken to court over this secondary poisoning in the past.
I tend to avoid dealing with bee extermination jobs where possible because in the majority of cases ensuring the dead nest is either removed or properly sealed is too much hassle.