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!

Vile 🙄

Did you read what the honey bees do to the native UK wildlife and native bees? They act like an invasive species, destroying the natural balance of native wildlife and driving down wild UK species.

It is fact. Pretending to be all fluffy about it is idiocy. Nobody in their right mind is going to pay two and a half grand to save a handful of domesticated bees, which in this situation are pests. You would have to be out of your mind and have no understanding of the real world at all.

You're probably one of those people who eats burgers but can't think about where they come from.

It's probably a lot easier to fog them than find and remove the queen, what with them being in a chimney.

I'd kill them, fuck having a house full of bees.

OP did you know that bees hate hairspray? When they are swarming if you spray hairspray they decide not to settle there. It happened in our garden. That was the advice of our local bee man. It worked!

If the bees are establishing themselves in your chimney then you might need to spray a good few big cans of hairspray up there. But it's worth trying.

When we had a swarm of bees in our bin a local bee keeper came and collected them. It was easy. He put a few drops of some magical liquid in a box with a small opening and they all flew in. It took a couple of hours but there were hardly any left in our bin. It didn't cost us anything and he kept the bees.

@Anotherparkingthread actually smart arse I'm vegan and have been for decades. Nice try at deflecting though eh.

Have you spoken to a chimney sweep? They have harmless smoke bombs that they use to test the integrity of chimneys which could make the bees head off? They are experts at reaching things in chimneys and may have come accross this situation before.

Could you temporarily open up the chimney at the bottom and do this?

Yes I did. Everyone including OP is assuming that they are "pesky" honey bees. But without an expert looking at the chimney they could be exterminating something ecologically important. I still suggest that an bee expert is found rather than an exterminator in the first instance.

Besides I stand by my point that just because several posters on this thread hate honey bees doesn't mean the bees in the chimney don't have a right to life. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Yes I'm one of those that values all lives of living things, not just humans who are similar to me. ☺

"Besides I stand by my point that just because several posters on this thread hate honey bees doesn't mean the bees in the chimney don't have a right to life. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Yes I'm one of those that values all lives of living things, not just humans who are similar to me. ☺"

I'm not necessarily saying these bees should or shouldn't be exterminated, but would you say the same about other dangerous invasive species that kill off our native wildlife and so on such as Asian hornets? Japanese knotweed?

Pepsipepsi · Yesterday 22:42
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.

IME this won't work - we had bees in our kitchen chimney when we moved here, we'd get dozens of bees falling down into the kitchen every day. We thought they were living on the exterior of the flue liner but it turns out there wasn't a liner all the way up in that chimney so we were actually smoking them every time we lit a fire. We had a local beekeeper remove them (and about 4 years worth of smoked honeycomb) when we were taking the chimney down to rebuild it and had a cherry picker on site. So our bees did survive but unless the OP is prepared to put up scaffold/hire a cherry picker and the bees are easily accessible from the top of the chimney and she can find a beekeeper who wants them then unfortunately, killing them is the only reasonable option.

Anotherparkingthread · Yesterday 19:03

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.

That's about as far wrong as you could possibly get it. Swarms are incredibly placid, their main aim is to keep the queen safe by surrounding her, until they establish some structural honeycomb. Hardly any leave the swarm and they aren't aggressive, as the colony is extremely vulnerable in the open.

My dad kept bees for 40 years and you can go and knock a swarm into a box and close the lid, wearing no protective gear at all.

Somebody said that it's illegal to kill bees, but sadly, that isn't the case.

You're still wrong on this issue. Just wrong from a high horse

Sanctimonious iow. And happy to spend other people's money.

Meet the bill or you're a hypocrite. Simple.🤓

Just get rid of them for £150. yeh it’s crap but oh well.

0 chance I would pay over 2 grand for something like that.

Are you able to open the fireplace up?
We get a swarm in our chimney every year and a bee keeper told us they wouldn’t be able to get them from that high up. He told us to start a small fire and put dry grass/moss on it to create smoke to get them to leave.
Sorry not much use if you can’t open it up.

We contacted the local bee group and someone came out within an hour, they put a box thing up and then swarm went in and off he took them - did take a few days.
Worth contacting them as they are all volunteers.

If you have a local area community facebook page, you could try asking in there. I have seen this posted in my own community group and they had some offers from beekeepers that were willing to come and move them on safely at no cost. Worth a shot. Sounds like my worst nightmare, hope you get it sorted!

Don’t ask here. Try to find out the number of a local beekeeper or society. They should come out for free and remove them (alive).

Have you also tried here?They should be able to give you local contacts too:

https://www.bbka.org.uk/Pages/Category/swarm-removal

I am a beekeeper. There are not many/any people who will collect a swarm from the top of a chimney. Working at heights with bees is dangerous and even more so if you cant access it with a ladder. You might get someone to take them if you are prepared to put scaffolding up but I am guessing the scaffolders won't be too happy about that?

There are a ew different people near us to do it for free- beekeepers. Have you posted on local FB group, see if anyone will come and do it?

We have a hive in our chimney and were told it's illegal to kill them. We did some work with expanding foam around the cracks that were letting them in the house, and have lived with them for a decade with no issues.

Well you have your choices. Kill them for £150 or move them for £2000.

How much is it costing you to stay away from the house ?

Have you got Household insurance there maybe a pest and vermin extension