Bees!

[NinjaOfEnnui]

(I'm going to try and do this with NO bee puns. I will find this very difficult....)

I'm executor of my parents estate, and while we're waiting for probate (confirmation actually, as in Scotland) I'm trying to stop their house from falling down before we can sell it. There now seems to be a honeybee nest somewhere in it...the bees are entering via some wood panelling on the side, but having spoken to some bee people, the nest could actually be in the ceiling cavity of the room (cupboard) behind, or possibly in the wall behind the panelling.

I understand the colony will get less active over the winter but will still be there, so I don't want to just block up the holes and hope for the best, as they'd just find another way in/out. I have no idea how long they have bee(n) there (sorry) - I wasn't aware of them last year and my parents didn't mention them, but also I am not very observant. I noticed them first in about June and they are still very active, even now it is flipping freezing...They aren't especially grumpy - but were buzzing round some workmen repairing the render earlier in the week, which wasn't too helpful.

Now, I like bees, but I'm not sure I want them in the house. I need to get the panelling repainted, and the painter would be mobbed at the moment (though maybe wouldn't be too bad in a few weeks?). Plus I'm a bit worried about the honey attracting other critters into the house. Removing the nest is going to be £££, plus a load of hassle repairing the bits they have to remove (doesn't help that we don't yet know the extent of that - could be the ceiling of the cupboard, the wood panelling on the side, or possibly some of the roof 😨) I'm not going to poison them. If I do anything, the bees are coming out alive and going to a lovely new bee home somewhere else.

Basically, would you buy a house with a bees nest? I assume it is something I would need to declare during the sale...and I'd want to make any buyer aware anyway. But (allergies notwithstanding) I don't know if most people would be absolutely fine coexisting with the bees and I'm being too paranoid?

You just need to get the local beekeeping association to come and extract them, they will re-establish them somewhere, often just in another one of their own hives after a quarantine period.

No I wouldn't and I don't particularly mind bees in themselves.

However, I would worry about the extent of the damage and the potential cost to put it right, exactly what you say you are worried about. However, as the seller, you are in the position to do investigations that I as buyer would not be able to do

Are they definitely honeybees? Could you get a local group out to collect and move them for you?

I love bees but wouldn't want to buy a house with tenants in situ. 😉

I'm afraid you're going to have to suck up the cost and get them professionally removed, nobody will be wanting to deal with that themselves anyway.

Thanks all! Yes, unfortunately the local bee associations only deal with swarms, or "easy" nests in bird boxes or similar. They don't do anything involving taking bits off houses, particularly at height, as this is. I think getting a bit more info on their location is a first step. Good to know I'm not being too precautionary. They are definitely honeybees - confirmed by a general pest controller (when the render man swore blind they were wasps) and a bee specialist at work! (Niche...)

No I wouldn't touch the property with a barge pole. It's not just the living bees, they will also be creating waste, wax and honey. Honey can leak out and get into the walls, plaster etc. Bloody nightmare. You need to get them professionally removed and deal with any damage. Sorry

It won't be possible to remove them without hugely damaging the house. It wouldn't put me off buying it but I used to be a beekeeper. They will probably die off after a few years because there are so many bee diseases around now that wild honey bees don't really exist any more with the exception of a few isolated places and a woods somewhere near London.

You can block up the ways they are getting into the rooms by filling cracks and they should just go in and out of the hole in the external wall quite happily. Wasps would make more holes but I don't think bees will although I could be wrong.

Haha! No, thanks for your honesty! I had a feeling that would be the response. I have been in touch with some removers who have been really helpful, and they are "in the area" in a bit and are coming to do a survey. (There seem to be very few companies who actually do anything at all complex bee-wise - bit of a gap in the market?!) I'm almost certain we will have to go ahead, and their base cost assuming everything takes a day isn't toooooo bad. But of course there are uncertainties, and extra costs of eg scaffolding, repairs and redecoration. Plus as I'm not living in the house, the faff of arranging everything at a time I can be there... At some point I was thinking the cost/ hassle may outweigh the benefit of a bee free home. But maybe not.

Yes, the good thing is they aren't actually really getting into the house, apart from the odd dead one I've found on windowsills (which I'd assumed was them getting in when the window was open - but possibly not). It really is just outside. That's interesting about the bee diseases. I assume they came from a swarm from a beekeepers hive rather than being "wild" as such, but didn't know if that means they would die off sooner? I kind of hoped they'd realize what a good deal they had in the hive and would buzz off back there....but that is me assigning a bit too much sense to the bees maybe!! I believe they can just swarm off after a few years - but it all seems a bit uncertain, and I don't want to be held at the whim of bees! 🐝🐝🐝

I'm also not convinced there aren't other holes in the roof/ walls they could be using if the 2 main ones are filled! It is not the world's best-maintained house.

OP, I keep bees.

They won't hurt you unless feeling their hive is v threatened. They poop outside, not in the hive, and will remove their dead from the hive. They won't nibble on your house. And there's a parasite (varroa) which will usually kill untreated colonies within a couple years, as well as being a reservoir for disease to spread.to nearby treated colonies (most people treat every year).

However, I would be concerned about the damage wax and honey will cause.

Could you get someone with a camera to poke it into the hole to investigate? Hire a camera like that?

Thanks for all your responses! I think the removals people will use one of those pokey bendy camera things as a first attempt. I wouldn't want to try it without protection 🤣. Would imagine that would be seen as threatening their hive!! Just for interest, how big would a nest be likely to get in a couple of years? (Assuming they only moved in this summer) Presumably I won't be able to start a candle/ honey business - but how much damage are we talking?!

How big the colony gets is a bit unpredictable. I am guessing the cold spring wasn't great for bees this year so it might not be too big? If you imagine a big bee hive, so something the size of a dishwasher. I would say a colony could get to that size in a year. But then they can die off or lose a lot over the winter.