To ask WWYD if you had bees in your bird box

[Idontwanttotalk]

My DM is upset that she hasn't see the blue tits going into her bird box for a few weeks. She mentioned she'd seen bees including a huge one (Queen?) so gave it a little shake and soon some bees came out before going back in. We saw the Queen fly off and then come back.

She obviously wants to get rid of them but we aren't sure how to go about it. Do we lean out of the window and put the bird box into a bag and then take it elsewhere and release them? Would we get stung? They're not like homing pigeons are they?

Ideas anyone? (I've googled and they aren't honey bees).

I'd be actually quite delighted that they'd trusted your garden enough to set up home. How on Earth are they to know that this habitat is for birds only?

Buy another bird box but, like a PP said, all the blue tits have probably fledged by now anyway so wouldn't use it.

The species specialises in colonising old birds nests. They won't move into a clean nest box - so if you don't want them next year make sure that you give the nest box a clean in the Autumn.

Having said that, one of our boxes was clean at the start of the year but with the on-again off-again spring a pair of tits made an early start in the first warm spell and then gave up when the weather turned cooler. The bees moved in once it warmed up again.

Another few weeks and the colony will complete it's cycle and they'll be moving out again.

The birds won't come back this year. They will have found somewhere else to raise their chicks. They don't live in a box all year round, they only use it for breeding. Any other birds you see going in the box during the year are just popping in to look for insects to eat in the nooks and crannies.

It is quite likely that the colony of bees will die off when the weather gets cold. Move it or clean it out in the Winter if she insists.

There is NOTHING to be gained by interfering with the nest right now.
It's really sad how many people see nature as something that's problematic and needs to be 'controlled' like this.

We had a bee takeover in our garden a couple of years ago, with hundreds of bees in and out of a nestbox. They disappeared by the end of July, caused no harm whatsoever (no stinging of anyone) and we were really chuffed to have them. Next door neighbour is a pyromaniac and wanted to smoke them out, and kept coming round to have anxious conversations about pest control! (Idiot). It might be a generational thing about obliterating insects?