To be annoyed that killing things is so much more cost effective?

[Gotabadfeelingaboutthis]

So long story short but basically on Sunday we had a giant swarm of honeybees land on our house and take up residence in our chimney. Bees were coming into the house via the wall where the electric fire is wired in, windows, everywhere. I have a 7 year old and 12 month old so we packed and left the house. I have spent Sun, Mon and today trying desperately to find someone to come and remove them but because the hive is at the top of a chimney which is bricked up at the bottom (supposedly, though clearly not well since bloody bees are still getting through!) access is obviously an issue.

I have phoned so many people. Lots haven't answered, lots haven't called me back, some have said no. One person has said they can do it in 6 weeks for £2500!!

The noise from the bees is awful, the fact they keep finding their way into the house is even worse. The fact that it means we can't open any windows and the house is currently over 30 degrees is unbearable.

So the only 2 quotes I have had are both in or around the £2000 mark. Yet someone has said they will come and just kill them all for £150.

How can that be right?! Aren't we all meant to be saving the bees? Morally I just can't accept killing them is the right thing to do, but nor do I have a spare £2000 and I need my house back!

Are they honey bees? Because apparently honey bees are a problem for other bees and not the sort of bees we should be protecting.

The new trend for beekeeping apparently is part of this problem. Cant remember where I read it now.

Oh that is interesting, yes they are honeybees.

It's illegal to kill honey bees.

But yes removing a hive is very expensive and time consuming, we had the same problem last year. If it's any consolation we eventually became quite fond of the noise and little visitors.

honey bees collect nectar, that is exactly what we want bees to be doing

Try here. Maybe the moma bee has died or a moma bee is trying to make your home their home. Lots of people help with bees you could also try your local Facebook page we always have people asking on ours and it’s usually sorted pretty quickly. I’m surprised someone offered to kill them.

Hope this helps.

https://www.bbka.org.uk/find-a-local-swarm-collector

As I understand it, honey bees aren’t necessarily a problem for other bees. But in urban areas, there are so many bee keepers that there isn’t enough food for all the honey bees AND all the other species of bees.

we should still be protecting them in the countryside and not using pesticides that will harm them

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/think-of-honeybees-as-livestock-not-wildlife-argue-experts#:~:text=Western%20honeybees%20are%20a%20commercially,decline%20at%20an%20alarming%20rate.

“The crisis in global pollinator decline has been associated with one species above all, the western honeybee. Yet this is one of the few pollinator species that is continually replenished through breeding and agriculture,” said co-author Dr Jonas Geldmann from Cambridge University’s Department of Zoology.

“Saving the honeybee does not help wildlife. Western honeybees are a commercially managed species that can actually have negative effects on their immediate environment through the massive numbers in which they are introduced.

“Levels of wild pollinators, such as species of solitary bumblebee, moth and hoverfly, continue to decline at an alarming rate. Currently, up to 50% of all European bee species are threatened with extinction,” Geldmann said.

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/think-of-honeybees-as-livestock-not-wildlife-argue-experts#:~:text=Western%20honeybees%20are%20a%20commercially,decline%20at%20an%20alarming%20rate.

Thanks, I did try on here and neither of the people in our area answered or got back to me :(

Op just get them killed. They are swarming and if they think they're protecting the queen they could hurt you, your children or people passing by.

It's not nice but you won't end the world culling one hive of honey bees.

It isn't illegal to kill honey bees what horse shit.

They also are poor pollinators and ruin biodiversity. Please Google the people who cannot tell bee species apart. They are domestic hybrid bees, they are not wild bees and not the same. It's like comparing diary cows and deer.

It isn't illegal here in the UK, I checked. I'm just not comfortable with it but I am running out of other options.

@Gotabadfeelingaboutthis I would do a bit of research on how honey bees affect native wildlife.

Contact all local beekeepers - one of them will know someone

Can you not smoke them out yourself?

That’s so annoying for you. There must be some way of getting this done cheaply. Do you live in a city or town. Maybe you can look at the Facebook pages of your surrounding area, type a post and see who responds.

I would try them a few more times, because if they will do it voluntarily that is a win-win. I'd also post on any local groups you are on as you might find a beekeeper locally who will help you.

Yes do this, they (nearly) all know each other!

Yes put a post out for local beekeepers. There's one at our allotment and one hive kept swarming as apparently they can try and move homes this time of year. He was desperate to get them back. It's expensive to lose your hive!

Gosh, that must be scary (we had a wasps' nest in the house/roof once and they were getting into the house).

A bee swarm landed in a low bush in my front garden a couple of years ago. It was amazing and fascinating. Because it was low down and on the boundary to the road on a school route, I was worried about someone getting hurt (or teenagers kicking the swarm)! I managed to find someone to take them away. That was also a fascinating process...

Hope you get it sorted.

Honey bees are really expensive to buy. I'm amazed no one has offered to come and remove them for free.
Try putting it on Facebook again.

Talk to a local bee keeping group, they will probably collect the swarm for free.

Are you certain they’re not mortar bees? Very similar in appearance to honey bees but like brickwork. They tend to hang around for 5/6 weeks.

the problem that you have is that in order to remove a swarm intact you need to get the queen. They then put the queen in a little box with grid sides and put that in a new hive, the whole swarm will just walk into the box after the queen.
But yours is in a chimney. That is inaccessible, so the cost is how ot get too the swarm inside the chimney. They cannot just find the queen and remove her.

I think in your circumstances killing the swarm is not unreasonable. You can't always save everything.

they are in a chimney. You will need ladders/scaffolding and then how do you get down the chimney to get them?

OK slightly off base suggestion but if the chimney is functional can you light small fires (like with paper that won't burn long or hot) and slowly smoke them out to make them leave again through top of chimney? And do a better job of covering the holes whilst they're gone and keep looking online for help.

I'm very surprised you haven't found anyone online. Please keep trying! Have you tried Googling "County insect / bee recorder" for your council area? These people are often retired volunteers with a lot of local knowledge and experience so may help point you in right direction without expecting loads of money. What about local vets or wildlife rescue with contacts to bee collectors? Ecology is such a small world - everyone involved knows everyone around where I live.

Mumsnet is very anti insect so not surprised people are calling for extermination. Imagine if your home and existence was an inconvenience to someone so they just snuffed you out? :(

Nature needs all the help it can get. Humans with their gunho attitude to pesticides and habitat destruction have really messed up this planet - newsflash we need a habitable planet which includes bugs.