Bees in the roof.

If the bees were decimated by hornets, are you sure it's not hornets in your roof?

We had a feral swarm of bees settle in an un-used chimney some years back. Sadly they did not survive the winter. We heard a kerflump one night and presumed their hive had become unstuck from the chimney. Some time later a little sooty honey dripped onto our wood stove in the room below.

Find your local bee keepers association and ring them for advice. My partner has bees and is often xalked for advice or to collect a swarm.

They are definitely bees. I might ask on Nextdoor to see if there's a local beekeeper. We used to know one, but alas he is now dead.

www.bbka.org.uk/find-beekeeping-near-you?srsltid=afmboorpvo5suoocysms_e28xvgahrk0js3p-jgnl3lj2ppe1mruzcs4

From what I recall,if you can be patient and put an add in your local social message board and ask if any bee keeper wants to come and collect the hive for free.

Although if its a wasp nest/hornet nest get some professional advice,good luck.

Sillymoo

Find your local bee keepers association and ring them for advice. My partner has bees and is often xalked for advice or to collect a swarm.

Yes, do as Sillymoo suggests, a beekeeper will advise.

If honey bees then a beekeeper will be glad to collect them.

Not all bees are honey bees we had bees nesting just inside the attic space outside our bathroom one summer; we did have to keep the window shut which was a nuisance but a local beekeeper said they would probably just go of their own accord and they did.

Hornets are another matter altogether.

They are more likely to be masonry bees than honey bees.

I'm horrified to read the advice, when googling, is to use a pesticide spray!

If possible, please don't do that. Bees are a vital part of the eco system.

I believe masonry bees are solitary bees

One summer we had to contact a local beekeeper because bees were coming in and out of a tiny hole in the brickwork of a chimney. After a storm one night, there were numbers of bees in a ground floor bedroom and a puddle in the fireplace and under a bed. Lazy moi was simply too hot to mop it up and I assumed it would dry but after a few days the beekeeper arrived and pointed out that it was puddles of honey and not rainwater, where honeycomb had fallen down the chimney.

He had a superb little piece of metal which when placed at the entrance of hole stopped them from flying in and out - only out. They were encouraged to go into a small hive which he fastened to the side of the chimney and one morning he appeared with a new Queen Bee to encourage the workers to use the hive all the time. Eventually all bees had left the chimney and were no longer coming down into the house.

He left us with the hive through a good part of the summer, they were busy dawn to dusk but never bothered us, and when he eventually took it down and weighed the hive he estimated that he had 35,000 bees to add to his collection....and we had some nice pots of honey.

Do contact a beekeeper - we need every little bee to keep pollinating everything and to repopulate after hornet attacks.

My sister lives in a converted stable she’s had bees in a small space above a bedroom ceiling, they’re there buzzing in and out every year, for the past 20+ years never bothering anyone or causing any damage.
A local beekeeper removed them once but they returned or possibly not all were removed.
I don’t know how bees work. I know wasps don’t return to the same nest.

I would also recommend a beekeeper.
My husband has removed bees from chimneys and other tricky places.

Once they are out just make sure the hole is blocked!
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Several years ago bees made a nest in the wall of our garden shed. Unfortunately, for some reason, it contained some very aggressive bees, some of which chased me 40 or 50 feet down the garden and made it impossible for me to get to the garden shed or the veg patch around it.

I spoke to a pest controller, who under normal circumstances would not touch bees, but after he had visited my house and been unable to get within 30 foot of the nest because of the aggressive nature of some of the bees, he agreed that every rule has an exception and he destroyed the nest.

Thank you all for your input. I love the idea of the one way entrance and enticing them into a nearby hive_ I'll try to find a local beekeeper and see what can be done. The bees are totally inaccessible where they are but are not at all aggressive. I'm

You have more to worry about than honey, as some bees damage brickwork or woodwork, so do get in touch with a bee-keeper.

If a ladder cannot safely be put up indoors, then surely a tile or two could be removed from the roof to give access and put back once the bees have been removed.

If they enter the house, just block the hole at night and open windows to let any stragglers out. They will do no damage. You appear to have hive bees so they will not damage brickeork or any other part of the house (or garden).
Just leave them, they will help all your plants and those of your neighbours. We need all the bees we can find. Mine are great and they will work hard all spring & summer and into the autumn on warm days collecting pollen from any local ivy plants. They will not let honey escape - it is their winter food. People who kill bees are those that can have that problem as the stores are no longer monitored by the bees.

They will not easily be enticed to an empty nearby hive. Only the drones (males) can come and go freely to other colonies and they cannot sting and they die off in autumn anyway.

Please do not destroy their nest. We need all the bees we can support. Mine were all killed by a local farmer who used neonecotenoids so I am just jealous.

Please do not destroy their nest. We need all the bees we can support

Hear hear.

LJP1 I'm sorry to hear abut your bees; was the farmer using neonecotenoids illegally? I think they can be used in an emergency situation but I might be wrong.