Non-motoring > Moving a tree bumblebee nest Miscellaneous
Thread Author: henry k Replies: 12

 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - henry k
Bees have taken over a wooden bird box that is screwed on my fence.
i do not want them destroyed but moved elsewhere in the garden.
I have found some info.
www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebee-nests/#movingnest

Has anyone had experirence of this ?
IIRC the box is secured by two exposed screws.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - CGNorwich
Looks like you have all the info. you need. Personally if at all possible I would just leave as is. They will be gone at the end of the summer.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - maltrap
A local beekeeper might help.
But there may not be enough there to interest them.
You must NOT destroy them.

I think it's illegal.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - henry k
>>You must NOT destroy them.
That is the very last thing on my mind. i like bees.

We already have had other residents for many years - Masonary bees.
They use an old redundant external brick built boiler chimney.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - henry k
I hope your buzz off comments are good.
My coming concern was re a three year old who hopefully will be back in the garden this year.
The bird box is about five feet of the ground and I could construct a temporary fence around it.
My bird cam is still in the box but the connections are too :-(
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - Haywain
"Has anyone had experience of this ?"

Yes - we did a few years ago - Tree bees moved into a birdbox on the side of the house. They didn't bother us so we left them to get on with their business. By autumn, they had all cleared off.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - martin aston
I am very relaxed about honey bees and will even let one crawl up my hand if it's stuck in the house and needs releasing. Only been stung once when I whipped on a cycle helmet where one was sleeping and I started inadvertently crushing it. Fair enough.

Bumble bees are even less aggressive and they don't have a barb in their sting so it's not left behind. Bee keepers locally collect honey bee swarms but I don't think they are interested in free swarms of non honey bees.

While I understand the concern re a three year old they are probably old enough to understand to leave well alone, aren't they? If you've lived with masonry bees you know how not to disturb them and I think you will be fine leaving them alone. In fact disturbing them is the riskiest option.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - Manatee
Regardless of the legal position which I don't know, bumble bees are getting quite rare aren't they?

If they aren't a nuisance I'd be inclined to leave them bee.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - Manatee
I like bumble bees anyway. I know it's me anthropomorphizing but they seem quite friendly.

You know that thing where you find them on the ground and you give them a prod to get them to buzz off to safety, they clearly aren't dead but they just wave their legs about? Apparently it's because they can't get airborne if it's too cold.

Perhaps the obviously incorrect factoid about them defeating the laws of aerodynamics is nearly true after all.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - CGNorwich
You can revive them! Just put a blob of sugar water within reach. In a few minutes the will have taken on enough energy to get airborne. I refuelled one in my greenhouse last week!
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - CGNorwich
moralfibres.co.uk/how-to-revive-tired-bees/
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - sooty123
We've got a load of bees that live in the chimney. They appear every summer, I just ignore them. We don't have any problems with them.
 Moving a tree bumblebee nest - No FM2R
>>Just put a blob of sugar water within reach. In a few minutes the will have taken on enough energy to get airborne.

Thank you for that, I wish I'd known years ago. We seem to get quite a lot of bees in that state in the summer and I've never really known what to do other than move them to shade. I say "quite a lot", a couple a month or so I guess.
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