Have the bees gone?!

[MissTiggywinkles]

We had what (I think) was a swarm of honeybees living in a rockery area at the back of the garden. They were black and pale yellow, long-bodied with fluffy bums and spent all day going to and from the nest. They never really bothered us (even when we had a BBQ right in front of them) so pretty sure they weren’t wasps or anything nasty!
I’ve left them be all summer as they seemed harmless, however I really want to dig up the rockery area and put some turf down in its place.
The bees look like they’ve now gone - I can’t see any more flying in/out the nest. Have they moved on elsewhere (where do bees go anyway in the winter?!) or am I going to dig up a swarm of angry, sleeping bees when I delve in there? Help!

They'll be hibernating.

Inside the nest? How can I get rid of it without harming them?

Call a local beekeeper to have a look and advise

If they're honey bees they can survive the winter, I think a combination of dormancy and getting by on the honey stores, the nests can survive in the same location for several years. Though they can succumb to disease, starvation or other things. Although IANABK.

Thanks all - have a local beekeeper coming over this week.

The beekeeper should be able to advise the best course of action.

Bee's will hibernate over winter and even nestle into tubular flowers to sleep, as well as other nooks and crannies.

Bee hotels are a good thing to have around the garden too. Most people should have these in order to help give the bee population a chance at survival over the winter months.

If they’re black and yellow, they’re not honey bees.

Among other social bees, the only hibernating is done by the queens, all the other bees die. The purpose of the nest is to produce 2 or 3 queens to survive the winter and set up new nests

learnbees.com/do-bees-hibernate/

They look like this.
will they politely be moved so I can turf my lawn?!

I'm following just out of curiosity. We had a swarm adopt our garden for the first time this year. We were really chuffed, the garden is totally designed to attract bees, insects and birds. But the beehive was new. Discovered it when OH was stung doing some gardening nearby, i thought that was odd bee-haviour so had a look and sure enough found a nest. I would love to know whats going on in the nest!

I have lived with bees IN this house and my previous house (they make good neighbors) for a decade. No one ever gets stung. DH is less keen but they are very difficult to move without dismantling quite a large section of the house or killing them. Our hives are probably in the 10s of 1000s.

In my old house, one year a bit of comb must have broken, as we had honey pouring down the chimney, through the door jambs, upstairs ceilings and running down the stairs. Their hives expand into the space available.

This year we also have a nest of European hornets that try to pick the bees off as they come back to the hive. Up to 4 will hover about 30 cm from the entrance. But they only take them as they fly. Despite a hundred or so on the wall waiting to go in.

It's fascinating watching it all.

We have bees. They don’t all die over the winter. Some will die, the others buzz about trying to keep warm and keep the swarm alive until spring.

@MissTiggywinkles yes, those look like honeybees. Sorry, I don’t think of that as black and yellow, more shades of brown. But that’s not your actual bee, is it? That’s the first hit in a google image search for honeybee, isn’t it?

Honeybees do have a reduced colony surviving over the winter, so beekeeper is the best idea.

@MereDintofPandiculation yes, that’s the actual bee. I asked him to hold still for a while and pose whilst I took his pic 😁

I shall report back on beekeeper findings tomorrow!

@MissTiggywinkles