Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[LoremIpsum]

I'm sorry if I've choosen not relevant topic.. I need your advice.
can you give any info on hive located under ground? recently one was disturbed at our neighbors yard, now, there is a new hive in our yard...or maybe it was always there...not sure what to do. can it or should it be removed? what kind of bees live underground?

[Barbara]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I'm not a bee inspector and sadly it is a while since one visited the forum to answer queries but it sounds like it may be a nest or two of bumble bees. They usually live underground in old mouse's nests. They will only spend the summer there raising their young and then towards the end of the season, the colony produces new queens which leave to hibernate somewhere for the winter and then set up new nests elsewhere next spring. The other bees do not live through winter so these nests will die out at the end of the summer.

Bumble bees are excellent pollinators and should always be welcome neighbours in the garden. Generally, if you don't disturb them they will happily ignore you and they can be fascinating to watch. Most people don't notice them until this time of year because the queens initially set up the nest and one bee coming and going every day is not noticeable but once she has raised some workers, and then concentrates on increasing her brood nest whilst they forage, you begin to see an increasing number of bees flying back and forth to the nest. The next few weeks will probably see a peak in this activity and then it will start to decline again.
Of course without seeing a photo of the bees in question and you being in the USA I may be mistaken but I am sure if you google images of bees, you should be able to ID the type of bees you have. Bumble bees are usually fat and furry whereas honey bees are slimmer and more like wasps in body shape but more brown or black than yellow.
I hope that helps you ID them and puts your mind at rest about their existence in your garden.

[catchercradle]

Three years ago, there was a colony under a manhole cover at Fowlmere RSPB reserve. A friend put a bait hive nearby to no avail and sadly this year there was no sign of the colony. They were not in an area accessed by the public unless said public were ignoring signs so there was no need to do anything.

If bumblebees, I would only think about moving if they were causing a problem. (I moved a colony once because the shed on top of the nest had been moved and the dog that spent most of its time in the garden was getting stung and the family were worried about young children who also spent time there. The move was successful.

Regards,

Dave