Bee emergency in Aberystwyth - can anyone help?

Latest Articles

Bee emergency in Aberystwyth - can anyone help?
Page Previous 1, 2

Downsizer Forum Index -> The Apiary

Author

Message

Barefoot Andrew
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 09 5:58 pm Post subject:
Such a shame, especially considering the topic of tonight's BBC4 prog. A.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 09 7:04 pm Post subject:

Not easy.
The quick way is to remove some of the internal plasterboard & literally cut the comb out of the wall bees & all.
You then wire the combs into frames to use in a conventional hive.
Never done it as I've never been that desparate to get a swarm.
It's possible to smoke them out putting a nuc box very near the entrance (inches) & driving them off the comb with copious amounts of smoke into the awaiting nuc box. again never done it.
Whatever method of capture or destruction they should remove the comb & honey rather than just seal it up as the honey will ferment & grow moulds & bacteria & ciould cause rot to set into the wall. Also it will atract wasps & ants & maybe even another bee awarm if every crack isn't sealed.

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 09 7:38 pm Post subject:
It's possible to smoke them out putting a nuc box very near the entrance (inches) & driving them off the comb with copious amounts of smoke into the awaiting nuc box. again never done it. T.B.H. I know someone who tried something similar in an attic a couple of years ago---It was a dismal failure.

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 09 7:45 pm Post subject: Re: Bee emergency in Aberystwyth - can anyone help?

Mary-Jane wrote:

Our main teaching room in the Centre for Legal Practice at Aberystwyth University has a bees nest embedded in one of the external walls just by the main window. We've been asking Estates Management to do something about it for nearly three years now and at best, they have turned up, stared at it, scratched their heads, said "Ooooh - can't get access to that" and gone away again.

The problem is that the bees can get into the main classroom and our Resource Room, which causes problems for us and the students whilst we're teaching.

In exasperation today, I sent off a fairly stiff email to the Estates Management team pointing out that it probably wasn't a good idea to ignore a department of 6 qualified lawyers and a student body of 35 soon-to-be-lawyers where there was a very real chance of an 'avoidable incident' taking place which could put the university's duty of care towards their students and staff in question...

It seems to have done the trick and now they've stirred into action by trying to sort out the blocking up of the holes where the bees gain entry to our classroom. However - it doesn't solve the problem of the bees themselves - which are obviously honey bees.

We don't want the nest to be destroyed if at all possible - so I suggested they contact local bee keepers to see if anything can be done about removing the said bees to a hive.

So, does anyone know any local-ish bee keepers to Aber? Or has anyone else got any other ideas?

Just a thought but they are definitely honey bees and not masonary bees? 3 years is a long time for native/swarmed bees to be keeping healthy with varroa about.

Mary-Jane

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 09 9:11 pm Post subject: Re: Bee emergency in Aberystwyth - can anyone help?

lottie wrote:

Just a thought but they are definitely honey bees and not masonary bees? 3 years is a long time for native/swarmed bees to be keeping healthy with varroa about.

Defo honey bees Lottie.

Mary-Jane

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 09 9:12 pm Post subject:

lottie wrote:

It's possible to smoke them out putting a nuc box very near the entrance (inches) & driving them off the comb with copious amounts of smoke into the awaiting nuc box.

I should mention that we're 3 floors up and the bees' nest in inside an outside wall...if you see what I mean.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 09 9:26 pm Post subject:
The thing is, that after a couple of years in situ you can hardly class them as a swarm.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46381
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 09 10:43 pm Post subject:
live in harmony bees good or op toxins and some pointing

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 09 5:35 am Post subject: Re: Bee emergency in Aberystwyth - can anyone help?

lottie wrote:

Just a thought but they are definitely honey bees and not masonary bees? 3 years is a long time for native/swarmed bees to be keeping healthy with varroa about.

Good innit!!
Eventually nature always balances the odds if you allow it time.
I have a friend who has a WBC hive on a nursery that has never been treated for varroa & still survives.
(I now have a swarm from him).
Small nasty bad tempered little bas***ds they are but I love them.

lowri

Joined: 18 Oct 2006
Posts: 1322
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 09 7:24 am Post subject:

I had bees under the roof a few years ago, they got in through an ill-fitting window frame. Only a few actually appeared in the attic roof space. I could kneel on the landing and hear them through the wall. It would have been impossible for anyone to take the swarm without demolishing the back wall of the house!
I asked advice from various people, can't remember if I posted a thread, it may have been before I discovered you all.
In the end, after three days, I spoke to them and told them that although I was delighted with their presence, I felt it wasn't wise for them to stay as there weren't that many flowers around. I suggested that they should move on - and to my amazement they did!!

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 09 7:32 am Post subject:

Barefoot Andrew wrote:

Such a shame, especially considering the topic of tonight's BBC4 prog.
A.

I watched it until ten past midnight and fell a sleep twenty minutes from the end. Good programme but a shame that I missed the conclusion.

Mary-Jane

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 09 7:34 am Post subject:

bodger wrote:

Barefoot Andrew wrote:

Such a shame, especially considering the topic of tonight's BBC4 prog.
A.

I watched it until ten past midnight and fell a sleep twenty minutes from the end. Good programme but a shame that I missed the conclusion.

BBC iplayer?

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 09 7:35 am Post subject:
If they've been there 3 years and thriving with no help that's unusual nowadays--which is why there are far far fewer wild colonies about. Wish they were gettable ---sound like ideal bees to have

cassy

Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1047
Location: South West Scotland

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 09 10:46 am Post subject:

Could the University not make a big deal about 'it's' bee colony and take steps to protect it? It would be great publicity and help set an example for others.

Put mesh on the windows so that they can be opened without the bees coming in, seal up any other entrance into the classroom itself etc. Students would be informed so that those who were allergic could make sure they had their epipens.

Surely it's nothing that a robust risk assessment could not take care of.

A bee colony nowadays is something to be proud of and protected IMHO! Seems a shame that it has to go because it inconvenience people.

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 09 6:48 pm Post subject:
My thoughts too. A judicious piece in the Cambrian News could both save the bees and garner some good publicity for the university.

	Downsizer Forum Index -> The Apiary	All times are GMT Page Previous 1, 2
Page 2 of 2

View Latest Posts