Wild bees in gables and construction work about to commence - how do I protect the builders?

[Schmeagola]

Hi - I'm new to the forum. I've had wild bees living in the gables of my house for around 4 years now. Last year they didn't survive the winter but a new swarm moved in, cleared out the empty bees and have taken up residence. I love having them around and don't want them to go, but I'm about to have a new porch put up which is very close to their hive entrance and I don't want the builders to end up being stung if it can be avoided at all. Does anyone have any advice? I thought perhaps I could loosely tape up the entrance with some muslin and duct tape but I don't want to distress the bees. I've told the builders to wait for the colder weather, but they want to start this week. I've been waiting for the porch for almost two years so don't want to put them off any longer than possible!

Any advice? Should I get a local beekeeper on standby?

Many thanks!

PS: I did get a top bar hive in case they ever swarmed, so that I could have another colony of bees, but so far I've not been around when they have swarmed so have missed out!

 

[Skyhook]

Are they definitely honey bees? It can be hard to tell from a distance- a nest of tree bumbles can look as busy as a colony of honey bees.

Also how close will the builders be to their entrance?

 

[NickB]

Build a "work tent" inside which the builders can work...making sure the bees' entrance is outside the tent,of course.Make the tent extend at least 6' or so away from the gable wall and have a flap of plastic sheet as an entrance to keep nosey scout-bees out.
Hope this is a practical suggestion.

 

[Queens59]

If they are honey bees, as it gets colder the bees will cluster in the hive and not fly as much - How soon will your building start?

 

[Russel]

If they are honey bees, as it gets colder the bees will cluster in the hive and not fly as much - How soon will your building start?

Scaffolder's netting may be what you need?
You may still get the odd curious little beggar no matter how cold it seems to get, you'll be surprised how low a temperature they will fly in.

Remember this from Jan this year, her and several bumbles buzzing about happy as Larry(?) collecting pollen when ponds and buckets were iced over and the country snowed in a week later?

 

[user 6228]

Scaffolder's netting may be what you need?
You may still get the odd curious little beggar no matter how cold it seems to get, you'll be surprised how low a temperature they will fly in.

Remember this from Jan this year, her and several bumbles buzzing about happy as Larry(?) collecting pollen when ponds and buckets were iced over and the country snowed in a week later?

happy as Lawrencia

 

[Schmeagola]

Wow - thank you for all of your replies! They are definitely honey bees - my house is made of logs and they've made their home on the sunniest side of the house, so they tend to be active on all but the coldest of days. I think I could probably rig together a barrier out of sheets/tarpaulin that would keep the bees to only the side of the gable that has the entrance - I'm assuming the bees might only get agitated once the builders are up on the roof of the porch putting the tiles on as they'll be that bit nearer. I got stung once when I was up a ladder painting and was around 3 feet away from the entrance and parallel to it but I don't think the builders will get that close.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Another alternative is to construct a temporary (or permanent, if you prefer) "shute" to take any flying bees up above the level of the building work. The walls of the shute could be anything that lets air through, to reduce the wind loading, such as nylon netting, wire mesh, etc. You want material that has a hole size of up to, say 2.5mm. The framing of the shute could be quite lightweight - wood, aluminium, plastic, etc., but it needs to be braced against wind loading somehow. It may not need to be higher than 4 or 5 feet above the present colony exit.

The idea of what I've called a shute is to get the bees up in the air above the work area.

If made permanent in some way, if would position the entering and emerging bees high above where you would normally walk when using the porch and may therefore give you and your visitors confidence that the bees are far enough away as not to be a threat.

 

[Skyhook]

Another alternative is to construct a temporary (or permanent, if you prefer) "shute" to take any flying bees up above the level of the building work. The walls of the shute could be anything that lets air through, to reduce the wind loading, such as nylon netting, wire mesh, etc. You want material that has a hole size of up to, say 2.5mm. The framing of the shute could be quite lightweight - wood, aluminium, plastic, etc., but it needs to be braced against wind loading somehow. It may not need to be higher than 4 or 5 feet above the present colony exit.

The idea of what I've called a shute is to get the bees up in the air above the work area.

If made permanent in some way, if would position the entering and emerging bees high above where you would normally walk when using the porch and may therefore give you and your visitors confidence that the bees are far enough away as not to be a threat.

I presume that, unless done when the bees are dormant, the 3' rule would apply and this would have to be done in stages.

 

[rugbee]

Wow - thank you for all of your replies! They are definitely honey bees - my house is made of logs and they've made their home on the sunniest side of the house, so they tend to be active on all but the coldest of days. I think I could probably rig together a barrier out of sheets/tarpaulin that would keep the bees to only the side of the gable that has the entrance - I'm assuming the bees might only get agitated once the builders are up on the roof of the porch putting the tiles on as they'll be that bit nearer. I got stung once when I was up a ladder painting and was around 3 feet away from the entrance and parallel to it but I don't think the builders will get that close.

another option is destruction wasp nest killer will be quick if flying or a pest control company or they can die slowly of varroa and possibly starvation whilst being a risk to safety of the public (builders falling off roofs, you have as there employer a duty of care) and cheaper than all this messing about.

 

[nikca]

another option is destruction wasp nest killer will be quick if flying or a pest control company or they can die slowly of varroa and possibly starvation whilst being a risk to safety of the public (builders falling off roofs, you have as there employer a duty of care) and cheaper than all this messing about.

Or burn the house down and then save the bother of the porch...

You do know this is a forum for bee-keepers, right?

 

[rugbee]

Or burn the house down and then save the bother of the porch...

You do know this is a forum for bee-keepers, right?

wow lets see burn your house down or destroy a colony of bees i will need a while on that one
i m sorry just how does letting those bees suffer a long term death make us better beekeepers


ps i have kept bees before your forum was about

 

[Excession]

Nice to see Rugbee trolling again...

As long as you warned the builders, I don't see a problem. Get them to put a scaffold net divide in between them and the bees.

 

[Schmeagola]

Hi - I don't want any harm to come to the bees or to the builders. I love having the bees in the gables so want to minimise disturbance but I still need to be mindful of the builders. The tent/scaffold net divide seems to be the way to go - I'll talk to the builders and see what we can rig up.

Thanks for all your advice. If the weather gets much colder this may all be a moot point as the bees may decide to stay in the warm and ignore all the banging and messing about outside!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If the weather gets much colder this may all be a moot point as the bees may decide to stay in the warm and ignore all the banging and messing about outside!

Don't bet on it - they're determined little beggars when they think there's a chance of a fight!

 

[Chris B]

The tent/scaffold net divide seems to be the way to go - I'll talk to the builders and see what we can rig up.

Forget the tent. Buy some cheap bee suits that that the builders can wear if they need to. Then flog on ebay afterwards.

 

[Schmeagola]

Builders are on site and have got the frame up. No reports of stings as yet but it's early days (and its only just stopped raining). I've got some beekeeping hats I can give them if things get tricky. Fingers crossed the bees will ignore whats going on. At the moment, the builders are around 6 ft away - we'll see what happens when the tiling starts.

 

[Russel]

Forget the tent. Buy some cheap bee suits that that the builders can wear if they need to. Then flog on ebay afterwards.

Won't last long, what with tea, *** & wee breaks every 20 mins; soon get fed up. putting on and taking off!