Bees in ceiling space

[RobHildyard]

Hi folks, new member here.

I hope I am posting in the correct section and this sort of topic is OK, but wanted to ask for some advice if possible.

During the summer months we noticed bees coming in and out of our ground-floor utility room extension roof, there's a slight gap/hole between the bottom of the tiles and gutter which they were using.

We left them to it as we like bees and they weren't causing any problems - and seemed happy enough living with us!

Fast forward to now. In the last week or so on the inside of the house there's what appears to be honey dripping slowly down the wall from the ceiling. There's (always been) a very slight crack/gap between the wall and plasterboard ceiling and it's coming from there.

Now my question - do I need to do anything?

I'd rather just seal up the gap and leave them to it if possible, there's nowhere they can get into the property that I can think of, (unless they decide to start eating plasterboard!) but would appreciate some advice in case they do need moving on for whatever reason.

Oh one more query - we were wondering why would it start oozing out in January. Did Queen 'B' roll over in her sleep and knock over the jar?

Thanks in advance for any help given!


Rob

 

[Horseradish]

It could be that the colony has died out for whatever reason, leaving all of its stores behind. The wax moths (Or another critter) have moved in and now there is an oozing honey mess up in the cavity that is slowly dripping down.

Do you see any activity around the entrance on a sunny day?

 

[Erichalfbee]

No idea why honey is oozing out unless maybe the colony has died and wax moth has disturbed the structure of the comb?
Sounds like you might be looking at removing them in the Spring if indeed they are still there.
Contact your local BKA and see if they can recommend anybody who specialises in removing colonies. It isn't easy and usually involves structural interference.
Don't go for any old pestco to poison and seal though coz they never do a proper job, the honey will be robbed out by other bees which then die and your cavity will eventually get colonised again and you're back to square one

Edit....aha Horseradish beat me to it

 

[RobHildyard]

Hi Horseradish, thanks for the reply.

I live in Greater Manchester, what is this "sunny day" you speak of?!

The weather has been pretty miserable over the last couple of weeks, even by our standards, but I shall go outside and have a good look once we get a brighter spell and come back and let you know.


Rob


Edit: Just seen your reply Erichalfbee!

I'd rather not remove them if I don't have to?

That's what I'm asking really, is there an issue with them staying put etc.

Thanks

 

[ericbeaumont]

We were wondering why would it start oozing out in January.

Unusual to ooze at this time of year, but if the colony died out any honey may have absorbed sufficient moisture to become runny. Honey stored and maintained by bees (and eaten by humans) is at about 16-18% moisture but if abandoned, has the capacity to re-absorb significant moisture and ferment.

How does the ooze taste? If you seal the ooze gap it'll only find another place to ooze. Do you have/can borrow an infrared temp. gun? The plasterboard in the oozing area may be warmer, indicating a live colony.

A removal job usually involves cutting out plasterboard to expose the nest, hoovering the bees into a bee box, cutting out the comb, tying it into frames, hoovering up the flyers, scraping out the comb remains, and telling the resident that unless every pencil-sized hole is sealed, bees will smell the remains and return next (and following summers). Not cheap, either, and on top of that the ceiling must be repaired and re-decorated. If it was summer, they could be trapped out via the flying entrance into a box on the roof with a one-way valve. Neither of these are simple fixes, so it's good that you can live with them.

Whether it's sunny or not, if temps. get to about 12C bees may fly, and they'll sometimes fly at lower temps. so keep an eye out. If they're dead it's almost certain that a passing swarm will arrive in spring or summer, clean out the mess left by fermenting stores, wax moth, mice, or robbers, and start again (but without the oozing).