i dont know if youve seen this mate but it advises against lighting a fire How to Remove Bees from a Chimney: 7 Steps (with Pictures) "Molten wax running down the chimney can catch fire like a blow torch, and you could lose your house to fire." good luck with it :thumbsup:
Yeah I had seen that red but the two bee keepers said I had no option. The likelihood of a fire is minimal as my chimney is quite wide plus my fire has a flue pipe hence no flames or sparks in the actual chimney itself where the bees are. The idea was to heat them out but it did not work lol. Right now I have taped the sides of the inset fire up with 2" masking tape bathed in white vinegar, hopefully the vinegar will stop them chewing through and the tape will keep them out of the living room. It's the best I can come up with apart from extermination which I don't favour. In the next month or two the chimney will be sealed, roofer availability dependant, and any left behind will undoubtedly die. If the roofer gets attacked and falls off that's his own fault for messing me around as had he turned up when he should the bee's had not arrived then .
I got one removed from a house last year. Used some kind of mesh cone at the entry point. Prevented them getting back in and they move on. It worked and didn't need to kill the bee's
Just had a beekeeper here last weekend to remove a swarm that appeared to be around the lid of a BT junction box in my back garden.........He got his 'carry hive' ready and then lifted the lid............the underside had a swarm hanging underneath easily 300m diameter and 400mm deep...........Shook them into his hive and then waited for the remainder to settle down. The bees had produced a honeycomb on the lid of the junction box within 6 hours - they weren't there the day before. When he had smoked out the remainder from the junction box, he scraped the honeycomb off the lid then put it back on and blocked the hole they were getting in. The damn things were still swarming around and on it the next day, but they eventually they had cleared off - four days later...............Now I can Jeyes Fluid the area and the box. He asks for donations.......£20 average.....fair, I thought as he got round here within half an hour of me calling him.
If you would really like to save the bees here is the only thing I can recommend to try. Order a nuke box and ask your local beekeeper (the one that came to help) to give you one frame of honey and a frame of brood. Put them into the nuke box with just two frames of foundation. You can add more frames later, but the open space will be attractive to the bees. Wipe the inside of the nuke box with lemongrass essential oil Set the box up on the roof as close as possible to the place they are entering the chimney. Sit back a have some beers. With luck they may find the nuke box more attractive and a better proposition for the winter than the chimney. It may take some time but the colony sends out scout bees. If they like your nuke box, they will report back and the swarm moves in…. You can then choose to sell the bees, give them away to the bee keeper or start your own hive. The frame of honey and the presence of some brood may entice them to move in. A nuke box and a couple of frames with foundation in to go inside will cost about £30. paynes Poly Nuc Hive if it has a frame feeder like the one in the link, fill this with a little 50:50 sugar water. leave the nuke box in place for at least 7 days before moving it. Its not easy on the roof, but if possible protect the box from long exposure to direct sunlight. They will not like it if it gets too hot (above 30 degrees) When they have moved in and settled, close off the entrance hole. don't immediately re-open it in the new location. If you do the bees will return to the top of the chimney (their sat nav must be reprogrammed). (to reprogramme their sat nav) Leave the box closed for 48 hours in the new location, place some leaves on twigs around the entrance hole so the bees must crawl around and through the obstructions to get out, you must stop them coming out and flying straight off. They will then adjust to the new location before their first flight. If you want to start your own hive, buy a full size hive (poly ones are cheap) and transfer the frames from the nuke box into their new home, next year you will get about 15kg of honey, that makes approximately 120 liters of mead Note: you will need to match the type of hive, likely is that your local bee keeper uses British National hive, so the link given above is correct , if he uses Langstroth you need this Polystyrene Langstroth Nuc Hive - Green: Paynes Southdown Bee Farm Ltd - this is important as the frames are different dimensions.
Whele, you know you're stuff mate, thank you very much for taking the time and effort. The bee keeper who is assisting me is relatively new to it. When he came on saturday he brought a home made box with him with the frames in it and smeared lemon grass on the entrance. For several days there were a handful of bees coming and going around the lemon grass but nothing really happening. When I got home from work last night the bees were actually beginning to work from the box! He came down, suited up and had a look inside, they had started to make honeycombs (i think that's what he said). I was quite excited I must admit. I spent some time watching them last night coming and going from the box all using the same flightpath up and over a neighbours house, fascinating creatures. I am now seriously considering learning more and keeping my own bees, although really these are my bees and I have become attached to them . Whele, once again, thank you very much.
Grab yourself an action cam and leave it on the outside of the box for a while on time-lapse. That would look pretty awesome.
You are welcome, I have 2 hives and I am self taught! Some considerations if you are thinking of becoming a beekeeper. there is almost no work required from November to early March aside from occasionally topping up the sugar solution. from March to October i open the hive every 10 days to check on them, this takes about 30 minutes per hive, so about 5 hours per months for 2 hives. Once the bees become accustomed to you (believe it or not, they will recognise your smell ) you will not need to wear gloves or a suit. Modern poly hives are the way to go, they are cheap, light weight and easy to store. choose a Langstroth hive if starting out, as you only need one brood chamber and 2 honey supers. Due to the verona mite its common that all the bees in one hive die over winter, so having 2 hives means you can make a new queen and start again for no cost. If you have only 1 hive and they die, it costs about £100 to £150 for a new colony or £50 for a queen and a few workers. The part I dislike is the need to remove drone larve 4 or 5 times a year which feels horrible (murdering the male bees) but it is the only effective non-chemical way of keeping the mite level under control and ensure the bees survive. Drones do not play a very active part in the colony so reducing the numbers has little consequence to the hive efficiency. Since I eat a lot of the honey I refuse to use chemical treatments. What you will find is that the quality of honey is far superior to commercial products. Much of the honey sold in the UK is diluted with eastern european or Chinese honey which has high levels of insecticides present. It is almost always diluted with water too, to bring to 20% water content.My honey is thick and cloudy with pollen and at different times of the year it tastes different depending what plants they are collecting nectar and pollen from. i find it very rewarding and they are fascinating creatures. They work 24 hours per day, never sleep and only have a lifespan of 3 months, they literally die of exhaustion. Luckily they don't have human rights.
We have just spotted a load of bee orchids in our garden near where the swarm was building the hive....... ......bloody stupid plants really, because the bees don't touch them..... ..............they self-pollenate............obviously rather gay flowers.
Very interesting Whele.I visited Paynes a couple of years ago-my daughter took me there.She thought that bee keeping would be something I could do.I couldn't take it up,but I do make sure we use no chemicals in our garden and have planted up a lot of bee friendly flowers and shrubs. We had a leaf cutting bee take up residence last year in an 'Insect Hotel' we had put up.It was fascinating watching it go backwards and forwards to a climbing rose,cutting neat little discs of leaf to make its nest.This year our hotel has been occupied by a large number of 'Mason Bees'.Boy do they put some effort into their nests.Got to admire how industrious the bees are.
Before my invasion I had never given bee's a second thought. After initially reading about how to get rid of them I have become fascinated by them. I am fascinated how they survive, the Queen only having to be inseminated by one of the Drone bee's (all male and black in colour with no stinger)and to then be fertile for up to 5 years and producing around 2000 eggs per day! As Whele points out, other than this insemination there are no further need for the drone bees. All the other bees are female. Honey bees are at the top of the intelligence chart within the insect world. Bees will do a specific dance to signal to others where a bountiful supply can be found and use the position of the sun as a guide. I hope the above is correct from what I have read Whele? Without these Honey Bees, the world would be a very different place. I am still considering taking a hive on but feel I have a lot to learn first.
Oh and they have five eyes and can track the suns position through thick cloud before anyone asks about them finding direction in the rain!
I have read a book called 'Meditation and the Art of Beekeeping' by Mark Magill.It is a great read about many aspects of bees and caring for them.
Looked into keeping bee's, takes time and money to set up, then the fuckers just fly off somewhere else, or get bugs and die off. Oh, and they need someone to look after them when you are away on holiday. they must get bloody lonely.
