Bees in a birdbox?

Look up yor local apiarist society, they will help.

What's that in Dutch? Should have mentioned I'm near Amsterdam at the moment and this has been unearthed while clearing the garden for DS & DiL

Beekeepers in English! Posh name for them like campanologists for bell ringers!

Alison try this link for bee keepers in Holland may get some help there.

www.michiganbeekeepers.com/beekeeping-clubs

I would probably just leave them there. Are they honeybees? We had a colony in one ofnour chimneys last year. They won't do any harm (in fact they'll do a lot of good) if you leave their hive alone.

Failing that, ask a beekeeper as others have suggested.

alison sorry I clicked the wrong link

hollandbees.wordpress.com/

glass I probably wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't said as I just rush in to GN everytime I need a glass of water to cool me down as it is so hot here in Ouderkerk. I'll try the link soon.

Bags my son wants everything that was here when they moved in to go, including bees. From a very overcrowded garden with lots of lovely bushes and a pretty path, we now have a lot of soil and sand, absolutely nothing else except one honeysuckle I talked him into. Oh, and a full skip!

Glass don't know which Holland that is but its not this one!

Have a careful look to see if they are honey bees or bumble bees. I had bumble bees nesting in a small bird box last year, and was chuffed about this, but they were invaded by wax moths, that attacked the colony and build their own "comb" made of really tough silk. If bumbles just be happy.

Ummm what is the difference Jess? They do look like bumbles I think so does that mean a beekeeper won't want them? If not, how do we get rid of them?

How sad.

AlisonMA..I beg you not to destroy them.

I contacted a beekeeper who lives nearby when I had a swarm of bees in one of my raised beds last year and he identified that they weren't honeybees and advised me to just leave them and remove anything that's left at the end of the season - they haven't returned. If they are honeybees, a beekeeper will often come round and collect them for you. I found the local beekeeper via Google.

Sorry

Honey bees are brownish and a bit stripey. Their abdomens are about the same size as the other half of their body - think an elongated, slender figure eight outline.
Bumble bees are much rounder and fluffier and come in various colour schemes, some stripy and yellow. some black. They still have the waist but it is less obvious and the general outline is round. Honey bee swarm would have a LOT of insects, where as bumbles have much smaller colonies. Bumblebees are definitely not to be got rid of. They are essential pollinators and do no harm. (they do possess a sting but they use it only to attack insect intruders into their nests)
Beekeeper would definitely not be interested in bumbles.
This site has a pic of honey and bumble.

www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/bumblebees_id.htm

DO NOT HURT BUMBLE BEES. People will ostracise you if you do!

I think they must be bumbles. I'll show all your messages to my son when he comes in from work but he is determined to get rid of them! I don't think any of us can tell our 34 year old sons what to do!

Men like pesticides.
I think just occasionally one can threaten one's 34 year old son with the dire threat of unleashing the wrath of grans upon them. As in, "You touch those friendly and beautiful pollinators and I will send the grans round to sort you out son!"
But seriously - they don't sting people and they do need protecting.

Next years food depends on them.