Bumbles

[Poly Hive]

The heather thread set me musing this morning and it will not be long before the Bumble (more properly Humble) Queens will be emerging from hibernation, though no doubt in the milder climes they may already be around.

If you find one walking she is probably chilled so pick her up gently by a wing and take her indoors to a very small feed of watered down honey. With a restorative drink and a warm she will be fit to fly and hopefully successfully rear her colony.

There is just something so lovely about bumbles and BTW their warning signal is to lift a middle leg!

PH

 

[Millet]

The heather thread set me musing this morning and it will not be long before the Bumble (more properly Humble) Queens will be emerging from hibernation, though no doubt in the milder climes they may already be around.

If you find one walking she is probably chilled so pick her up gently by a wing and take her indoors to a very small feed of watered down honey. With a restorative drink and a warm she will be fit to fly and hopefully successfully rear her colony.

There is just something so lovely about bumbles and BTW their warning signal is to lift a middle leg!

PH

Me and my lady friend have done that many times over the years, we have not used honey though just sugar syrup which seems to do the trick, i also try to find a sheltered spot in the garden where the sun is warming a paving stone, i don't pick them up though as its a full going conclusion that i will get stung, i must smell funny lol, my lady friend however will let them crawl all over her hands and she is yet to be stung.

 

[bjosephd]

Ah, good tip!

Bumbles are marvellous creatures... I had nest in the back of the compost heap last year. Could never quite work out what flavour they were, but the compost heap remained un touched because of them.

I guess if you have no local honey, and so a risk of dodgy spores in shop bought honey, then sugar syrup will do just fine? I managed to resuscitate a bee the other day with this method... I was testing if it would actually work. The bee seemed to go into a sugar coma for a while, then I heard buzz buzz when it bounced back to life a while later.

I also put up some bird boxes (pre beekeeping) in the hope of getting tree bumbles... but now I'm not so sure about that... having met some in other places they seem pretty grumpy buggers if you're not careful!

 

[Poly Hive]

When I was running Craibstone we had bumbles in the windows near every day attracted by the honey smell and I picked them up and popped them back out to safety.

One day I got distracted in the act and saw to my amusement the abdomen start to bob up and down.

Some 20 minutes later I felt a mild ache in my thumb and realised I had been stung! I had to chuckle as the intensity was so mild it was hardly worth the bees effort.

Bottom line is they are very unlikely to sting and if the do... see above.


PH

 

[snelgrove]

I do this also if I find a queen chilled, also some are covered in mites and I place the queen in a jam jar and blow tobacco smoke in which usually knocks them off. Terrestris is usually the first to emerge, I saw two in December on heather in my father's garden.

 

[theeggman]

Last year we had a bumble nest in a birdbox by our shed door.
The shed is 'iffy' and when we opened the door and the wall vibrated we'd get 100's of very annoyed bees pouring out. we stopped going into the shed but then a Gt. Spotted Woody attacked the box side and the bees moved on (I hope).

 

[bjosephd]

also some are covered in mites

Varroa? Or do bumbles have their very own critters?

How are the bumbles doing against varroa generally?

 

[bjosephd]

Last year we had a bumble nest in a birdbox by our shed door.
The shed is 'iffy' and when we opened the door and the wall vibrated we'd get 100's of very annoyed bees pouring out. we stopped going into the shed but then a Gt. Spotted Woody attacked the box side and the bees moved on (I hope).

Sounds exactly like them there tree bumbles... a cantankerous old lot who like to send the spitfires out at the drop of a hat... or is it the messerschmitts?

 

[snelgrove]

Varroa? Or do bumbles have their very own critters?

How are the bumbles doing against varroa generally?

There not varroa and are harmless to the queen if uncomfortable, they feed on wax in the nest. There is one variety of mite that lays eggs in the respiratory system and is lethal

 

[sbisme]

Well PH thanks for this thread, I parked on our drive just over an hour ago to see a Queen Bumble on one of our evergreens, so just reading this I thought I would check on her and there she was in the same place, so I made a small amount of honey/water brought her inside for a drink and a warm, within 5 min she was ready to go so I opened the door and away she flew into the distance Hopefully she will make it and have a successful summer.

 

[Poly Hive]

Excellent!

Well done you.

PH

 

[Fatbee]

Wouldn't want to a bumble out flying in these winds today.

What I particularly like about them is that they will fly it seems in any weather - very plucky

 

[Jazzygem]

nest box

I also put up some bird boxes (pre beekeeping) in the hope of getting tree bumbles... !

You can put the bird box's on the ground as well as some burrow to make nests

 

[Goran]

Once I was in car at co-driver seat driving with window opened and bumble got inside straight into shirt and I got 4 bites.. Imagine my happiness..

 

[Poly Hive]

Sure........Deep Joy....

not really sore was it, so please tell us how did it compare to a bee sting? Was the 1st as sore as the last?

PH

 

[Goran]

If I recall right it passed a decade, even some more. I think it was like someone burns you in the back, and it was fast as it goes way down the shirt.. Later swallen doesn't keep long.

 

[Swarm]

Never been troubled by Bumbles, even after accidentally digging up a Buff Tail nest (that was a sad sight)
I've heard different accounts about the Tree Bumble though and supposedly the sting is nasty but I suppose that depends on individual reaction.

 

[bjosephd]

You can put the bird box's on the ground as well as some burrow to make nests

Aha!... will that get me a different flavour of bumble?

 

[Millet]

Once I was in car at co-driver seat driving with window opened and bumble got inside straight into shirt and I got 4 bites.. Imagine my happiness..

I had similar happen one time when driving in summer with the window down, a bee hit the windscreen pillar and exploded in my right eye, it stung like hell and quickly became blood shot, i suspect its venom sack went in my eye.

 

[madasafish]

Never been troubled by Bumbles, even after accidentally digging up a Buff Tail nest (that was a sad sight)
I've heard different accounts about the Tree Bumble though and supposedly the sting is nasty but I suppose that depends on individual reaction.

I have had multiple tree bumble stings.. Very little reaction..BUT ditto with honey bees (now after lots of stings)