What to do about bees in my roof?

[TimD]

Non-beekeeper here looking for some advice and guidance about what to do with some bees that seem to have made a nest by getting under a flat roof.

They don't appear to be honey bees, rather white tailed bumble bees.

Hard to get photos but managed to capture this slo-mo video.

Can anyone confirm which bees these are and what can be done? I can hear them from inside the building although they don't appear to have found a way inside yet.

Thanks in advaance,

Tim

 

[pargyle]

They look like tree bumbles ... they don't make big nests and they don't store honey like honey bees. They will be gone by the end of August - if they are not causing a nuisance best to just let them be. They don't maintain a colony over winter - only the queen survives and she will find somewhere else to hibernate. When they have all gone look for the hole they have used to get in and block that up. On the whole bumbles are pretty harmless unless you start interefering with them.

 

[TimD]

Thanks for the info Pargyle.

Based on the above I was planning to leave it until autumn but there now seems to be a smell starting to come into the room above which the bees are entering.
Best description I can come up with for the smell is like old copydex glue we used to have in school 30 years ago.

Does anyone have any idea why that would be? Is it something in their nest? Dying bees? Something to do with the insulation they must be nesting in?

I don't want to get rid of them if I don't have to but the smell is going to make the room unuseable if it carries on.

Anyone have any ideas on what's happening and what I could do?

Thanks, Tim

 

[hemo]

Humble bees nests can and do stink as they age, Heat/humidity, detritus. The detritus can be a mix of older wax cell, dead/decaying bees, defecating bees and other material chewed up to build the covering to surround the nest, add in to this wax moths as well. Apart from the foragers you have the queen and the very very tiny house bees that rarely or never leave a nest so they have to defecate somewhere.
If this is encapsulated in fibre glass then the fibreglass (approx one sq ft or so) later will need removing and replacing.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I don't want to get rid of them if I don't have to but the smell is going to make the room unuseable if it carries on.

what I could do?

Hang on for a few more weeks.

No point in attempting to remove and re-home them at this late point in their cycle; when I had to do it (householder bumblephobic) it ended in tears.

The smell is not good but is temporary. I saw a large hornet nest last year behind an MDF soffit and it stank like a a pissoir in a run-down French port on a hot day in July: hornets had been chewing the MDF.

 

[TimD]

Thanks both for the replies.

I've got images in my head of the nest getting bigger and bigger under the roof so I'd been worrying about whether I should do something sooner.

Seems like the advice is still to wait them out and then survey the damage after they've gone/died off.

Once they are gone I guess I'll need to get the flat roof off at least that corner and see what's there......which will be fun.

 

[hemo]

If the bees are tree bees /B. Hypnorum or as with most humble bee nests then size isn't great, typically not more then 6 o7 sq inches. But such a small size can produce a bit of a niff.

If they have nested in some fibreglass and not attached the nest direct to plaster board then they should be easy to remove (if accessible) once there life has come to an end.

 

[drdrday]

Definitely no need to panic about the nest getting really big - they only really create comparatively small clumps - https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebee-nests/
Best left and just seal up any holes once they've gone to prevent them returning.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If they have nested in some fibreglass and not attached the nest direct

They don't tend to - bumbles are notoriously slobbish home builders, they will just dump the cups amongst the insulation or whatever that attracted the queen to the ara (that's why they are attracted to abandoned bird or rodent nests - nice and cosy with room to wedge the cups in.

 

[hemo]

I removed a B.Hyp colony a few years ago from a bedroom ceiling, with scant thin insulation the nest had actually become stuck to the plaster board.

 

[Heather]

Tree bumble nests are smelly! but come August/September the empty nest can be eradicated.

 

[Wavessa]

From your description, it sounds like they're white-tailed bumble bees, pretty common nesters. I'd suggest reaching out to a local beekeeping association for advice; they might have experts who can help with relocation. In the meantime, sealing potential entry points could prevent them from making their way inside. Also, consider placing some aromatic herbs or spices around the area; bees aren't big fans of strong scents.

 

[pargyle]

From your description, it sounds like they're white-tailed bumble bees, pretty common nesters. I'd suggest reaching out to a local beekeeping association for advice; they might have experts who can help with relocation. In the meantime, sealing potential entry points could prevent them from making their way inside. Also, consider placing some aromatic herbs or spices around the area; bees aren't big fans of strong scents.

It's a bit late now- sadly you are replying to a thread from 2021 and by now any self respecting bumble queens will be tucked up in hybernation and waiting for spring ..

 

[Erichalfbee]

From 2O21 they will likely be permanently tucked up.

 

[Wavessa]

From your description, it sounds like they're white-tailed bumble bees, pretty common nesters. I'd suggest reaching out to a local beekeeping association for advice; they might have experts who can help with relocation. In the meantime, sealing potential entry points could prevent them from making their way inside. Also, consider placing some aromatic herbs or spices around the area; bees aren't big fans of strong scents.

I stumbled upon this cool article on keeping bees away, you might find it helpful mklibrary.com. Sorry to hear about the bumble bee situation under your roof.