Bumble bees ! Advice please

[woodyapex]

Well you get a hive and a few bees and everyone thinks you can solve all be problems !!!
My dad this morning went in his compost bin and a colony of bumble bees have set up home !
They are smallish a little bit bigger then my drones !
White backsides and a bronze ring around there shoulders ( I'm still not up on tecnical terms )
They are definitely collecting pollen on there back legs !
I'm sure I can Id them when I get home on the net ( not I phone )

But what do we do with them ?????

By the way I've found out the hard way they do sting !!!
Woody

 

[Nose Ma]

Like this one - http://www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o439-whitetailedbumblebee.php?

As long as you have no urgent need to use the compost, just let them be. They don't tend to nest in the same place each year, and at the end of the year they will all die off, bar the queen who'll pop out and find somewhere to hibernate.

My sister had the same thing in her garden last year, and aside from being pestered when she hung out the washing they were no trouble.

If you must get to and use the compost, I can't advise on how to safely move them, and it seems a shame to kill them with petrol. Not to mention really expensive!

As I recall they are good for pollinating tomatoes, so make the most of them.

 

[woodyapex]

Mi dad sez " we ant got any chuffing tomatoes !!!!! "
But I'm sure he can leave em be , we dont want to kill them .
So we'll just see how we get on !!
Thanks

 

[Erichalfbee]

White tailed bumble?
I have them in one of my compost bins.
I just make sure nothing more goes into that bin till autumn by which time the new queens, who will overwinter, have been raised and the nest is abandoned.

 

[Rock_Chick]

We also have bumble bees i our compost,I'm just letting them get on with it,I don't need the compost this year.
So if you can just let them BEE.(sorry)

 

[Nose Ma]

Mi dad sez " we ant got any chuffing tomatoes !!!!! "
But I'm sure he can leave em be , we dont want to kill them .
So we'll just see how we get on !!
Thanks

Depending on how composted the compost is/big the heap is - why not plant some tomato plants in, the compost heap, at the top? I'm sure they'd be happy.

(I am so glad not to be near your dad when he hears that suggestion)

 

[peteinwilts]

i believe killing them is illegal as they are protected (others more knowledgeable people can confirm\deny this)...

if the flight path is bothering you or your dad, erect a screen around them and they will adopt a new flight plan

 

[peteinwilts]

or find a friendly person in a white suit (a beekeeper, not a loony... hhhmmm... maybe we are one and the same! ), and they will move them for you.

 

[merylvingien]

They are not protected, no bees in the uk are protected oddly enough.
They can sometimes be relocated but its a bit hit and miss. Best off to leave them alone, start a new compost heap for this summer then combine compost in the autumn using the paper method of course

 

[woodyapex]

thanks

I can't see them beeing a problem !
And i'm not suggesting he grows tomatoes !
thanks all
woody