Bees are ruining my house

[NellieBee]

That's it really. We moved in last August and had scaffolding put up so pest control could get to the bees nest in the eaves. The house gets FULL of them (think 30+ a day) which terrified the DCs and we don't understand where they get in.

They discovered they were masonry bees and had to kill them- no local bee places wanted them, we rang 7- they're the 'wrong' type of bee. They've filled the wall cavities with honey.

So bees were killed. Wasps moved in instead. It was a dreadful summer and despite hundreds of pounds to the pest control, nothing kept them away.

Now they're back.

Any ideas? It honestly makes me want to move away from my (otherwise perfect/dream) house. The DCs are scared to go upstairs and I'm sick to death of having to clear out hundreds of bees and wasps every day.

Get pest control back in. The best won't be very big atm.

I've been looking at the fake wasp nests you can get. Wasps are territorial and won't go near an already established nest. They have to be put up before nesting starts though or they don't work.

Worth it for next year maybe.

Do you have any of those little vent holes? Where there's small square/rectangular plastic bits sticking slightly out above windows and doors? I have them at the back of my house and the bees will be in and out so I've stopped them up with a bit of wet kitchen roll (when it dries it expands) and they can't get in. I was slightly (very) paranoid they'd be filling up the walls with bees. There's another hole I think I need to go stopper up now while I remember. You wouldn't think they could get in but they do.

Who told ypu they were masonary bees? Masonary bees are solitary so if you have a nest, they won't be masonary bees. They also don't make honey.

If you phone local bee keepers and tell them you have bees making honey in your attic, I'd be very surprised if they didn't even come for a look. They won't be interested in masonary bees but as I say, they didn't sound like masonary bees.

Do you have wasps or bees now?

Types of bees: www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2017/07/types-of-bees-in-the-uk/

Difference between bees and wasps (I don't mean to be patronising but it's not always obvious):
www.beeloved.co.uk/buzzfeed-1/2016/6/21/is-it-a-honeybee-a-bumblebee-or-a-wasp

You need to take different actions with different bees/wasps. I know it's hard if your kids are scared but most bees won't sting unless you bother them. Bees are amazing and so important. Wasps nests can be stunning. Try to encourage your kids to learn about them to stop them being scared.

Pest control tend to kill everything, including bees.

The best thing to do would be to block all the holes you find, even the tiny ones. If there are wasps in there you could leave them until they die out after summer and then plug all the holes.

I don't hold with killing insects just because you can, or for money, bees and wasps are both pollinators and we need them. I lived with wasps above my window for a season, just put some insect netting on the windows to keep them out. The following year they were gone. I have bees in an airbrick by my kitchen, the second year this lot have been here, am continually shooing them back outside as they sneak in when I open the door, it will only last a week or 2. I have net over the inside of the airbrick so don't get in that way.

There is no need to kill them. Smoke can encourage wasps to leave though.

We have masonry bees buzzing in and out he crumbly, south facing, gable end at the moment. They are solitary creatures but they do like to hang out in a crowd. They're great pollinators. Do not produce honey. You clearly have honey bees.
Also I'd get money back from last year's pest control company, they clearly did nothing.

Thanks everyone. @Shitley it doesn't last a week or two though. Last year we went from August-October with it ruining our lives, literally, killing 10, 20, 30 a day in the house.

It's an almighty swarm. I think they're bees at the moment. Apparently our walls are full of honey?!

Thanks for the links, @Floosey. Definitely honeybees. The ones on the left- I thought they were wasps but right now definitely bees. Slightly hairy!

If you have honeybees, a local bee keeper will definitely be interested as a colony of bees costs upwards of £200! Look up your local beekeepers and get in touch with them, they will lost likely be able to help relocate the bees to a more suitable location.

Honeybees are not aggressive and won't sting unless you threaten the hive. Obviously having them in the house is not ideal, but they are not a threat (allergies aside).

I couldn't live in your situation either.
We had a wasp nest last year and as I've already had one anaphylactic reaction to a sting in the past we took no chances and called in pest control.
It's harder with honey bees though, no reputable pest control company would kill them. You need to ring around local beekeepers again. They were fighting to collect my aunties hive of honeybees from her attic. Apparently she had 40,000 rare Italian honey bees worth hundreds

I stopped them last year by keeping the door and windows closed as much as possible and putting net over holes. If they are already in your house then I suppose it won't work for you.

If you have honey in the walls then you have honey bees. From past experience some bee keepers don't want the bother of checking and will tell you they are wasps regardless.

You could contact pebadaleapiariescheshunt.co.uk/ for advice, regardless of whereabouts you are.

In that case beekeepers will be happy to take them. While they are collecting them, have them look at where they could be coming in and get some advice on preventative measures.

I'd also complain to the pest control company if they told you they were masonary bees but there was honey.

We found some miner bees in our garden today. That was quite exciting (Well we thought so anyway!).

Trust me the amount in our house is more than not ideal. They’re all over the floor, buzzing at every window. The DCs are terrified.

Had two beekeepers yesterday come over. Neither could access the nest as it’s high up in the outer eaves. Both said they couldn’t safely retrieve it, even if we paid to get scaffolding put up again.