How can I sort this bee problem?

[Rkweld]

No, don't kill them!!!

See if a local beekeeper will move the hive, and/or find the queen etc.

If they were wasps I'd happily concur that nuking from orbit is the only way.

Even if it is wasps, they will soon die off because the queen will go off and hibernate. They will be leaderless. If you leave the nest wasps will not reuse it and actively avoid sites with other nests in when building next years nest.

 

[Maker]

Looks like a wasp to me.

It always amuses me how people are so keen to kill wasps but do everything they can to save a bee. Wasps pollinate plants just as bees do, as well as eating other pests so you could argue they're more ecologically beneficial than bees.

I'm the same though, if a bee comes indoors I catch it and let it out, wasps get the WD40...

 

[Migmac]

Seal the holes into the rooms and let them bee.

 

[MattF]

It isn't until a wasp lands on your whatsits, that you realise that there is ALWAYS an alternative to violence.

 

[gt6s]

I have no problem with bees have been known to let one land on me not scared of them at all. WASPS I WILL RUN A MILE.

 

[gaz1]

It isn't until a wasp lands on your whatsits, that you realise that there is ALWAYS an alternative to violence.

more so when a mrs holds the fly swatter

though the fly zapper is worse

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Wasps, although pollinators, will feed on 'middens' and spread disease - bees not so much.

From the pic they could be (see, I resisted the obvious ) up under the lead flashing, would expanding foam seal it well enough?

 

[brightspark]

Looks like a wasp to me.

It always amuses me how people are so keen to kill wasps but do everything they can to save a bee. Wasps pollinate plants just as bees do, as well as eating other pests so you could argue they're more ecologically beneficial than bees.

I'm the same though, if a bee comes indoors I catch it and let it out, wasps get the WD40...

hair sprays better. they fly round then go stiff when it dries

 

[mart]

They turned out to be wasps. I am treating the area with my 1500w vacuum.

 

[brightspark]

dropped a fair few with the propane roofing torch

 

[gt6s]

They turned out to be wasps. I am treating the area with my 1500w vacuum.
View attachment 313838

RESULT

 

[roofman]

dropped a fair few with the propane roofing torch

We do it every day to the little bleederson a roof this time of year and they are like flying pitbulls with no feelings

 

[DAPPH]

There are a lot out there that don’t know the difference between a wasp and a honey bee.

Wasps & bees are nasty stinging little beggars who don't always need an obvious messing around with to get to stinging you .
Bees sometimes make excess honey inspite of the attentions & intentions of the supposed beekeeper.

 

[DAPPH]

When we were kids we used cybol to kill wasps nests.

Never heard of that name . We called it Cymag - Magnesium cyanide.

feral bees bring with them all manner of fatal sickness

There is far less of ‘fatal sickness’ in feral colonies than the average man-managed concentrations of colonies

Just get some Nippon wasp nest killer

for wadp nests but not honey bees.

Even if it is wasps, they will soon die off because the queen will go off and hibernate.

Partly correct. The old queen is toast - it is the new queens from the last round of brood-rearing that get mated then go off to hibernate.

At this time of the year, when next year’s queens have been reared no more larvae are reared.

During most of the summer, the workers are rewarded by the larvae (for their food) by secreting a sugary substance for the worker wasps to feed on. When this is no longer available those workers look elsewhere for sustenance - your sugary drinks, ice cream, over-ripe fruit, etc. They do pollinate late flowering plants like ivy but do not be remove any other pests, such as caterpillars, at this part of the life cycle.

I’ve only kept bees for about twenty years, but they are still a fascinating insect.

Have you not seen an overwintering wasp's nest ? They can be 20 or more feet long and stretch 9 feet back and reach up from the floor or come down a wall some 5 feet.

From a picture used by the dailymail.co.uk
I've had several that filled more than a dozen heavy duty rubble sacks from places like factory's ,hospitals & old folks homes where it's nice & warm all year round and the is a source of food for them.

Here's a UK one from Swat Pest control , say ....16 " between centres of the roof timbers makes it about a yard wide by 2 foot high , get that lot fall through eaten away ceiling boards on to a sleeping person and they are unlikely to survive the massive number of stings

 

[DAPPH]

Killing honeybee colonies with persistent insecticides is prohibited by law and could cost you more than it is worth. The honey stored in the nest can be robbed out by other colonies in the future and kill them, too.

Clearly sealing any entry to the inside of the house is the singular simple cure for insects‘ entry to the house interior. If you don’t know whether they are bees hornets or wasps, find out. It is not rocket science.

If the bee colony must be destroyed, best done in early spring when the stored honey stock, within the nest, is at a minimum. All entry possibilities must be securely sealed, after destruction with a suitable non-persistent agent, to avoid the cavity being re-inhabited later.

Any decent pest controller will once the bees nest is killed , will open the area up to remove all the honey comb , scrape where it's been fixed then dust it the area with an approved insecticide that prevents return of a few years. The big problem is that any honey spilt or left behind comb soaks in to the surrounding material and when it warms up in late April it gives off the sort of scents that bees & wasps can detect for miles around . One factory I did a big clearance on had me use a proper steam generator to clean the area back to being honey free & sterile .

 

[DAPPH]

Have you not seen an overwintering wasp's nest ? They can be 20 or more feet long and stretch 9 feet back and reach up from the floor or come down a wall some 5 feet.
View attachment 313991
From a picture used by the dailymail.co.uk
I've had several that filled more than a dozen heavy duty rubble sacks from places like factory's ,hospitals & old folks homes where it's nice & warm all year round and the is a source of food for them.

Here's a UK one from Swat Pest control , say ....16 " between centres of the roof timbers makes it about a yard wide by 2 foot high , get that lot fall through eaten away ceiling boards on to a sleeping person and they are unlikely to survive the massive number of stings
View attachment 313992

View attachment 313991

Feral colonies don't usually last long due to the varroa mite and subsequent infections in the varroa damaged bees . These dead nests full of dead rotting bees little or no food and lots of mould are often re colonized by new swarms of newly escaped beekeepers casts that are fairly healthy a year or so later, till the uncontrolled varroa rate & subsequent diseases in the feral causes nest collapse ... untreated problems like Nosema in the now varroa damaged feral nest increases and then the whole cycle of a dying nest starts all over again.

Beekeepers of any decent measure will be using mesh floors & drop boards in their hives and be treating their bees with a aricide or icing sugar when they find the varoroa drop count is on the up . To either kill of the varroa or get the bees started on cleaning the icing sugar & varroa mites off each other till the unattached varroa mites drop down away from the bees through the mesh floor to a white witness board which may / may not have a sticky surface to stop the mites leaving.

 

[gaz1]

 

[mart]

I might have misunderstood the problem, but if the bees are crawling under the lead and coming out in your room, then the answer is to close the hole on the inside of the wall, surely.

I live in a wooden shingled bungalow so bees, wasps, hornets, spiders etc live in the walls of my home. I rather like them. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone.

What you say John makes a lot of sense. I did look around the inside of the bay window but found nothing. After seeing your post I looked properly and found where I believe where they may be getting in. I had never noticed that previously, and only lived here 30 years last month. Thank you for your prompt John.

(Photo is looking upwards at top of bay, under the wooden pelmit area

).