Bee identification

[lexifir]

Hi all, my first post here and hoping someone can help.

There has been a hive on the rear side of the house for a few years, is left undisturbed but I'd like to know what species of bee it is.

Thanks all

 

[user 819]

Apis mellifera.
Carniolan ?
or British Black bee ?

Varoasis looks possible, are they yours or abandoned.
I would get in touch with a Bee inspector who ever they belong to and have them checked out for disease as they don't look to be in great condition.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Varoasis looks possible, are they yours or abandoned.

sounds like a feral colony ensconced in either a wall or roofspace

 

[lexifir]

These are the ones at the bottom of the house. The hive is in the eaves on the north side of the building.
These ones appear to be the bees that have reached the end of their life as each morning there is a scattered pile that gets hovered up.

House is in Wales, although its nice and sunny. The hive has been here for several years tho.

 

[JamezF]

The hive has been here for several years tho.

Most likely not continuously, though it may appear so. There's a feral colony in the gable end of an office block near here. They moved in during a couple of months back: the gable is up tight to the road and by sheer chance my daughter drove through the swarm as it arrived. Last year there was another colony in the same place, but they died out at the tail end of last Summer. I'd bet most people who notice them would say the site had been continuously occupied, but unless you're deliberately keeping track of them you can't really be sure.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

The hive is in the eaves on the north side of the building.

Not hive but colony.