bees living in my house!

[harrietlichman]

Over the last few weeks I've noticed we seem to be bucking the trend of a reducing bee population and have had more than the odd bee in our living room. Then, when I was sitting in the garden yesterday, I noticed them coming in and out of a vent which is near the ground and the outside of our living room wall. My husband thinks they must have a nest (hive!?!) under our living room floor, based on the position of this air vent, which means potentially they could be under most of the downstairs flooring as the joists run the length of the house. Has any one got any idea of what (if anything) we should do about this? The bees themselves don't bother me but I'm not sure if they might be doing any structural damage or anything - any one experienced this??

they are masonry bees and go about their business without much damage. Only problem is if you have old and crumbling mortar where they are getting into. Drones will all die off in the winter and the queen will look for a new gaff in spring. I have lived with them for 12 years and their activity seems to tail off in august time. If it bothers you then you can fit gauze over the air vent after queen has gone but please don't poison them; they are great little chaps

Many thanks for your reply - I wouldn't dream of hurting them - I wondered if I ought to get someone to try and move them on but if you say then have been in your house for so long then I will leave well alone - they don't bother us (and infact it's lovely to see so many bees in our garden) and as long as they aren't going to cause any structural damage I am happy to share my home!

Masonary bees are fine. We have some living in holes in our walls and they don't cause any problems. I love seeing them