Help - shifting bees from a bird box

[b-movie]

Hello all. I'm not a bee person, I've registered here to seek a bit of expert advice, so I apologise if this topic is covered elsewhere.

My father has a bird box in his garden. He usually gets blue tits in it, this year he has bees. My extensive research (ten minutes of googling) shows these are bumbles, with a few males bumbling about round the box. He's building a shed next to it, and there are often toddlers running round the garden, so he wants the bees to be elsewhere. He's not a sentimental sort, and his solution is to just seal up the entrance with the bees in it. I'm trying to talk him out of that for obvious reasons, and hope someone can help. He won't move the bird box, because it's not only firmly attached to a wooden pole (about 10 feet off the ground), but the box has a camera in it.

I've read that if the box is sprayed with a water/vinegar solution over the course of a few nights, the bees will relocate. Can anyone confirm this? Or suggest another solution that involves moving the bees out of the box without killing them? Thanks.

 

[enrico]

Leave it alone. They are tree bumble bees and will be gone by the autumn. They will do you no harm. You will see the males hovering around the entrance.
E

 

[b-movie]

Thanks - I would if I could, but the box isn't in my garden.

 

[enrico]

Honestly the bees will harm no one as long as you leave their box alone. Can't you persuade him that bees will be as interesting to look at as birds just for one year? They are fascinating to watch.
E

 

[thorn]

It's a bit late for tits to nest in the box now. Persuade him to help the pollinators.

 

[madasafish]

Be aware that tree bumbles can - and will - sting humans multiple times - and it hurts - but usually only if you annoy them.
If you let live,they usually reciprocate..

 

[Helen]

Relocated a bird box with bumbles in it from someone's garden a while ago. They didn't want it with their kids running around.

So it went up on my fence. Great fun to see the youngster bees inside but peering out through the entrance, looking at the great wide world.

Can't you relocate it for the summer, pop another box in its place, then bring it back in the autumn?

 

[Tomlow bee]

In my experience they will be gone by August and as long ss you do not position yourself in their flightline or interfer with their nest, they will ignore you. At my sailing club, we had a nest of tree bumbles establish themselves in the bow buoyancy compartment of a sailing dinghy. Despite people of all ages walking past their nest, nobody was stung in the 3-4 months that they were there.

 

[Summerslease]

Wait until it is getting dark and all the bees are inside. Than tape over the entrance and move the box to somewhere secluded. Remove the tape and they will be quite happy. Have done this a few times for neighbours. Unfortunately I have a tree bumble colony in last year's compost heap and they all come out to mob me when I add stuff to the adjacent heap. I think the solution is to box them up first and then move the box when they've got used to it.

 

[b-movie]

Good news! It turns out his neighbour knows someone who keeps bees. They've had a look at it and have volunteered to take the whole thing away, and bring it back in a few months when the bees have finished with it.



No bees were harmed in the production of this thread.

 

[pargyle]

Good news! It turns out his neighbour knows someone who keeps bees. They've had a look at it and have volunteered to take the whole thing away, and bring it back in a few months when the bees have finished with it

No bees were harmed in the production of this thread.

Good result ... we need all the help we can get from pollinators and bumbles really are under threat .. last thing you would want to do is kill them ...

 

[Amari]

Good outcome.
I've had several call-outs from households in my village over the years for white-bummed tree bumblebees (Bombus hypnorum). In our garden our bird box is usually inhabited by blue tits but some years by B. hyp - without any annual cleaning. A few years ago I was asked to deal with a colony in a bird box in an apple tree where a family garden party was due. I sealed the box at dusk the day before, moved the box to a shady spot, and reinstalled it after the party. The bees survived.
The problem is that the drones dance 'aggressively' in front of the colony entrance waiting for females to emerge and this is scary for the non-cogniscenti.
Last year I published 'Bees in your birdbox?' in our parish magazine since when I've had fewer calls.