Bee's in Chimney

[chrisb]

would love to see that. will look out for it

 

[abm]

I now use this where i can... makes life so much easier.

 

[alldigging]

Nantmoel I'm busy relocating tree bumble bees,

Where do you relocate them to?

 

[einsteinagogo]

I have had two phones calls asking me to remove bees from chimney's, I have never done this and refused. There is no way I was climbing up onto the roof. Has anyone driven the bees out of a chimney using smoke (smoke bomb type pellets)? Or any other advice would be gratefully received.

in June we started having honey bees in our Chimney, and house! I managed to lure them away with a bait hive!

interest for 2 weeks, and now nothing, and the swarm never turned up in bait hive or chimney!

 

[Teemore]

Two years ago I was advised that a swarm was successfully evicted from a chimney by the use of two smokebombs. My understanding is that the smokebomb was used on the first day the swarm was noticed in the chimney so they would have built little or no comb. The swarm relocated about 300m away and were later gathered up by one of the local bee keepers.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Two years ago I was advised that a swarm was successfully evicted from a chimney by the use of two smokebombs. My understanding is that the smokebomb was used on the first day the swarm was noticed in the chimney so they would have built little or no comb. The swarm relocated about 300m away and were later gathered up by one of the local bee keepers.

Don't know if the smoke bombs in question are the same but gasfitters use pellets which produce large volumes of non toxic smoke when ignited.

 

[GoEnviro]

Where do you relocate them to?

To a back garden or to a local farm preferably
Personally I'm not convinced its best practice - there success has got to be at the expense of some other insect - presumably our native bumble bees
Should imagine they will be considered an invasive species in less than 10 years time, but I know very little.

 

[GoEnviro]

ABM have you got traction drive on that as well?
Pretty niffty bit of kit there for working chimneys and roof lines - gets you most places I'm guessing.

 

[GoEnviro]

Two years ago I was advised that a swarm was successfully evicted from a chimney by the use of two smokebombs. My understanding is that the smokebomb was used on the first day the swarm was noticed in the chimney so they would have built little or no comb. The swarm relocated about 300m away and were later gathered up by one of the local bee keepers.

Swarm in a chimney for less than a day is an easy one to shift, but the longer they are in situ the more stubborn they are.
We had a presumed swarm in a cavity above a bay window two stories up, with holes everywhere - a true nightmare to move out, eventually got the queen and unbelievably dropped her. By the time we had them moving out they were totally confused, ended up adding a couple of porter bee escapes and returning with bee vac for next two days to gather remaining stragglers
Swarms in wall cavities are a no no for smoking out etc unless your customer really likes the smell of smoke thru out the property

 

[Mr C]

Very sensible nanmotel. The BBKA does not insure us for removing bees from a property. You need a pest controller to destroy I am afraid.

If the want them removed but no killed they will have to get scaffolding erected and you would probably have to remove pots and bricks. Been there, done that, no tee-shirt and not successful!!!!

Sorry but your wrong somke them out or cut them out destroy is a last resort

 

[Mr C]

Or a pest controller who knows how to extract them alive.
Smoking them out won't work.

Wrong are you beekeeper or wot

 

[Mr C]

Resigning colonies to the pest controllers is probably not the right move. Some pest controllers now remove colonies alive and re hive them.
Ones I know of are in
Cardiff and surrounds
Mansfield and surrounds
Surrey/Hants/West Sussex (me)

Just because a colony is in a chimney doesn't mean destruction is a given. Actually, destruction is the more expensive option if carried out legally.

You now know one more in bedford

 

[Mr C]

I saw a video the other day (can't seem to find the link anymore) about how they used -basically- upturned funnels (made out of very fine meshed wire fence material), put on every entrance/exit point so that the bees can go out, but cannot easily go in anymore. A baithive was placed in the near vicinity, to try to convince them to move into there. This might take as long as a couple of days, up to a couple of months, and does not always work.

Call a trap out

 

[Itchy]

Wrong are you beekeeper or wot

So, you have smoked out an established colony? Do tell.

 

[Mr C]

+1 - I've had good success with trap out,

Got a cut out to do next week too, directly above front door in ceiling!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Snap I have one tomorrow

 

[Mr C]

So, you have smoked out an established colony? Do tell.

No one just move in must be on same day

 

[Mr C]

Nantmoel I'm busy relocating tree bumble bees, carrying out trap outs from voids and cutouts from soffits and chimneys here in South Wales and the Devon and Dorset areas.
So if you need someone to refer that kind of work to give us a call - swarmcatcher.co.uk.
Should mention we've been doing it for some time now and are fully insured to do so,
Not saying I know it all but I have a pretty good idea, just as both Itchy and ABM do - just wish I could get scaffolding at the same price as ABM, and as cooperative a chimney sweep as Itchy.
Each of us are beekeepers as well as professional pest controllers and charge for our service,
Personally I don't go out to offer a professional assessment without being paid to do so be it for bumble bees, honey bees, wasps, rats, squirrels or otherwise, otherwise I would end up running around handing out advice all summer and have no time to earn an income. Usually we offset the charge against work we have been authorised to carry out.

Currently researching about swarm eviction of new swarms (less than a week) in cavities, if anyone can offer thoughts on trapout methods and possibility of catching complete swarms I would be very interested

Think someone has knocked trapouts on here? They should not - they aren't straightforward by any means but carried out correctly they are a great solution to an otherwise very difficult problem

I feel the same

 

[Itchy]

Wrong are you beekeeper or wot

Yes I am, 45 hives and rising, mostly rescue jobs.
I was of course referring to established colonies.

 

[Mr C]

Yes I am, 45 hives and rising, mostly rescue jobs.
I was of course referring to established colonies.

Yes we as beekeeper need to do awer best by rescuing them not killing them went and had a look at a job today wer a controller had sprayed and killed a colonie and two more swarms have moved in now I have to clean up after them

 

[Teemore]

For information; taken from BBKA Insurance FAQs -

5. I am called by a member of the public to collect bees that have swarmed – am I covered? What happens if I charge for my services?
You are covered provided it is part of your normal beekeeping activities. If you charge reasonable expenses then this will not affect your cover. However, if you make a business out of swarm collection this would be viewed differently. You would need normal Commercial Insurance for this business activity which is not covered by the BBKA policy.
Please refer to the Swarm Collection guidance on the BBKA website.
6. Is there any restriction on working at height?
Previously the policy included a working limit of 3 metres (applying to the beekeeper, not the swarm). This is no longer the case, replaced instead by the need to consult BBKA guidelines on swarm collection and height, which are available on the website.
Broadly speaking, you should not attempt any work for which you do not have adequate equipment, training or experience. The policy does not cover reckless acts, so if you are in doubt seek guidance from someone with the relevant experience or training, or preferably use an alternate method that would avoid you having to climb to height.

BBKA now provides a Swarm Collection Disclaimer. Not sure how effective it would be in practice if a lot of damage was caused or the damage was beyond the property owners expectations.