Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[AndyC]

Wish I had a tenner for every call about honey bees that turn out to be bumble bees.

Lady this afternoon asked if I could help as her cat keeps bringing dead bees into her kitchen.


I didn't have the heart to suggest resurrection was not something I could manage.

Popped round anyway and it's those white tail bumbles again.

[Barbara]

Yes, I'm the same. I've just spent a couple of hours in the dark with a red light trying to remove a bumble bee's nest from a compost bin. Managed to eventually dig down to the nest which of course was nearer the bottom than the top but no way of knowing until I got to it which was slow progress. Then transfer as much of it as I could to a shoe box with a hole in it and leave it in situ in the hope that they will all orientate to the shoe box tomorrow (today) and I will be able to collect the box with nest and all the bees tonight. It's an hour round trip so I could have done with sorting it at one go but there were 30-50 bees not in the nest by the time I finished which I'm hoping will have found there way back by tonight.

I did get a call to a swarm of honey bees that had moved into a soffit in a rented house this afternoon but since neither the tenant not the housing association wanted to cough up for scaffolding and I'm done with working off a ladder at two stories, it looks like they are staying put.....why do I never get nice straight forward swarm capture phone calls!