bee hive - help ASAP

Femelade

please help !! - there seems to be a small bee hive in my daughters garden shed. We only noticed it earlier today , and inside i can make out what seems to be a bee and some eggs....
There are more eggs there now than there was earlier so i really need to know asap what to do with it..???

what should i do? Will i try and move it?

fits

Is it a real wooden hive? Or a natural one hanging from something? what does it look like? Is there just one bee in it? Are you sure it is a bee?

I'm just trying to figure out what it is, a beehive would have many thousands of bees in it by this time of year. I'm not sure if its anything you need to worry about, but if you give a better description, you may get better advice.

tabatha

well ive never had a bee hive, only wasp nests. one i had in a wall and we put a hose into it and flooded them out. the other time there was one in our shed and we set them on fire.

r3nu4l

How big is this? If it's very small you should be aware that if you destroy it without killing the queen, she will begin building another one nearby, possibly inside the shed once more.

Are you sure it is a bees nest and not a wasps nest? Have you seen the bee? I wouldn't attempt to move it yourself to be honest. If you really want it gone then call in a pest control company.

Given the state of bee populations worldwide and in our neighbour, Britain, I'd be inclined to leave it if possible although I realise that this may not be an option. Generally speaking bees are very good tempered and non-agressive but if they think the nest is under threat they will defend it. Wasps on the other hand can be quite aggressive although I once had a wasps nest bigger than a football in my shed (above the door!) and never noticed them at all until one tried to sting me as I came in late one August evening.

Roen

Collect the honey and flog it at an outrageous price.

Femelade

well i hit it down yesterdfay, i didnt want to leave it there for the night and have the shed full of bees/wasps when my daughter went in this morning. Now it miht have just been a wasps nest like someone said, because it was fairly small, about the size of a ping pong ball...i could see there was a bee/wasp in it, the opening at the bottom was fairly small so i couldnt be sure which it was.
My dad was out in the garden for a good while afterwards, and he said ther was a bee or wasp in and out of the shed buzzing like mad for ages after.
I threw the hive over our back wall into a field...

I went in this mornign and there doesnt seem to be a hive forming yet, but my daughter said she saw a bee in the shed again...

r3nu4l

Femmy, this nest is only small because it's in the early stages, both bee and wasp nests can be huge if they are left alone!

I suggest that you go down there each evening and look carefully for any traces of a new nest. If you are going to knock it again and the insect is still inside, be careful because she will not be happy and will want to sting the first person it comes across.

fits

Well were they bees or wasps? Bees are brown and black, wasps are bigger and they are yellow and black.
I hope they were wasps.
If you have a further problem, try and get in touch with a local beekeeper and he will sort it out. If its bees, they'll take away the hive for themselves, if its a wasp nest they'll know how to get rid of it for you.

It would be sad if it were a bee hive as their numbers are dwindling in the wild and it would be nice to be able to save them.

Femelade

fits wrote:

Well were they bees or wasps? Bees are brown and black, wasps are bigger and they are yellow and black.
I hope they were wasps.
If you have a further problem, try and get in touch with a local beekeeper and he will sort it out. If its bees, they'll take away the hive for themselves, if its a wasp nest they'll know how to get rid of it for you.

It would be sad if it were a bee hive as their numbers are dwindling in the wild and it would be nice to be able to save them.

Right, its a wasp
I just popped out and there she is , starting another hive right next to where the other one was. you can see right next to it where i knocked of the first one...the grey stuff on the left.
Wasp.jpg

I have to go out now and will be back in about 2 hours...so she will be well on her way to builing her hive then...

should i ring someone, should i kill her?
Bear in mind that i am petrified of wasps.it took alot to go and take that pic!!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

As it's only a wasp, just kill it if you want rid of it. There are wasp sprays available if you can't whack it.

fits

You should be able to kill it, before things get out of control. If you find they get too numerous a beekeeper can do it for you.

Femelade

Thanks for all the replies guys...
I think she may have decided not to make it again
well i closed the door to the shed before i left and she doesnt seem to have come back yet anyway..

King.Penguin

That's not a bee. It's a wasp (vespa). It's unlikely that it will make a new nest in the same place you just smashed up her previous one. But if she does, or it another queen makes her nest in your garden I'd recommend you leave it alone. But you probably won't. I think some of the best ways to get rid of a wasp nest is to soak a rag in parafin (or similar), the smell will drive them away. Then soak the nest in a flammable liquid and then burn it (take care not to burn your shed/house/garden/daughter down).

I'm frankly appaled you don't know the difference between a bumblebee and a wasp.

r3nu4l

King.Penguin wrote:

That's not a bee. It's a wasp (vespa). It's unlikely that it will make a new nest in the same place you just smashed up her previous one.

I'm frankly appaled you don't know the difference between a bumblebee and a wasp.

A queen will often start a new nest close to the one that was destroyed. It's not that unlikely.

Not everyone knows the difference between bees and wasps. Some people just view them as "Stingers". No need to be so appalled! I could easily say I'm appalled that people don't know the difference between hoverflies and wasps or the difference between monkeys and apes but I don't

Femelade

well tbh i didnt stick around long enough to seewhat it was. i am terrified of all wasps /bees.
When i took the picture, it was sort of a long shot as i just stuck my hand in and hoped for the best that the camera was aimed in the right direction.
When i got to look at the picture better , i could see it was a wasp. thats why i named the picture "wasp"
So no need to be so appalled.
I'm appalled that you are appalled tbh.

King.Penguin

Ah ok, I'll retract my appalations.

Femelade

ok , so will i.

anyway, Thanks again to everyone who help me!

fits

King.Penguin wrote:

I think some of the best ways to get rid of a wasp nest is to soak a rag in parafin (or similar), the smell will drive them away.

The fumes actually kill the wasps, if you get it right into the nest. Not recommended unless you have proper gear.
I was going to post the rag thing earlier only I thought 'some eejit will try that now and get stung to death or something'. No need to burn anything if this is done properly.

King.Penguin

Thanks for the clarification there.

artieanna

I have to add, its a pity the hive was being built in a used area.

I have seen some hives and just watched them as they were worked on and by golly there is some work involved by these little guys (bees + wasps) to build and finish their hives.....

Have an old unused hive hanging in the shed, layers and layers of paper like material and the middle filled with cells...

Nature is truly amazing!!!!

Femelade

r3nu4l wrote:

How big is this? If it's very small you should be aware that if you destroy it without killing the queen, she will begin building another one nearby, possibly inside the shed once more.
.

Just noticed another one the other day, only a few inches from the previous one...

r3nu4l

Yep, if you don't kill the queen she will rebuild. Once wasps have selected a nest site they are very persistent, you'd think that knocking the nest would make them think the site isn't so suitable after all...

On another note, I discovered a bumble bee nest in my garden at the weekend. We have a small Summerhouse halfway down the garden and at the base of that are lots of old leaves and twigs from the holly trees and conifers and they are nesting under the summerhouse. I watched them come and go for about half an hour on Saturday to be sure. Glad to have them there, bees I don't mind, wasps I dislike!

I'll try and get some photos over the next week but my (digital) camera may be too slow to capture them going in and out...

Femelade

Here's a pic of the nest.
I think i might just blast it with fly/wasp spray.



Wasp Nest.jpg

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Do just that Femmy before it gets out of hand, if it annoys you that much:rolleyes:

Femelade

Ahmed Ambitious Hose wrote:

Do just that Femmy before it gets out of hand, if it annoys you that much:rolleyes:

well it does annoy me seeing as its in my daughter's play shed....
I don't want her sharing it with a nest of wasps...:rolleyes:

r3nu4l

To be honest, I've seen the damage that a wasp attack can do to a child...it's not pretty. They won't attack unless they feel the nest is threatened but a child may not always realise when they are exhibiting threatening behaviour so in this instance I'd say it's a justifiable action...not that you need to justify yourself to me

---

I know a joke about wasps. The short version goes like this:

An old woman walks into a pet shop and asks the guy behind the counter: "How much are the wasps?".
To which he replies: "I'm sorry Madam, we don't sell wasps!"
She responds by saying: "Are ye sure? You've two in the window!"

---

Ba-dum-tish Seriously folks, ever noticed how...

King.Penguin

r3nu4l wrote:

Yep, if you don't kill the queen she will rebuild. Once wasps have selected a nest site they are very persistent, you'd think that knocking the nest would make them think the site isn't so suitable after all...
.

Do you best to get those photographs please, I'd highly appreciate it. Also, some photos of the nest in general would be sweet.

Femmy - worse case scenario contact one of those rent-a-kill type guys out of the golden pages to get rid of it.

r3nu4l

King.Penguin wrote:

Do you best to get those photographs please, I'd highly appreciate it. Also, some photos of the nest in general would be sweet.

I'll try and get some photos over the wekend, I just have too much on during the week to do anything other than water the peas, tomatos, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, lettuces, red onions... (we have a nice plot at the end of the garden!)

I will only be able to get photos of them entering and leaving the nest as the nest itself is underneath the floor of the summerhouse* and the entrance to the nest is outside the summerhouse.

*I'd better take a photo of the "summerhouse". It's more like a small shed but we have a proper shed so we call it a summerhouse

drdre

Roen wrote:

Collect the honey and flog it at an outrageous price.

MooseJam

my breezeblock shed is a favourite haunt of wasps, currently there are 5 nests in there, usually they crawl in any space in the cement and then build their nest in the space in the breezeblock so you can't see them, this year however one has decided to build a nest on the shed ceiling in plain view, it's very interesting watching it's progress, im just hoping no one spots it and destroys it. I've never found the wasps to be agressive in any way, they go about their business and let you go about yours.

Lillyella

Might be a foolish question, but does anyone know what materials the wasps use to build their nests?

Femmy, just to let you know, I would DIE if faced with that. As much as I love nature, I'm terrified of wasps.