Bees in the garden

orlyice

Hi folks, quick question, we are renting a house at the moment. There is a tree out in the garden which seems to have a bee hive in it. Have noticed a lot of bees around it and the odd bee has been up around the back door. Afraid to open windows now at the back of the house in case they come in, have a baby in the house. Havent even cut the grass since discovering it, afraid if getting stung.

Contacted someone from beekeepers association website and he can organise it to be taken away, but will cost €40-60 depending on size. Havent contacted landlord yet about bees, just wondering if it is my responsibility or landlords to pay for this?

Michael D Not Higgins

Gardens tend to be within the remit of the landlord, although it depends on your lease. Personally, I would only expect it to be the landlord's responsibility if he installed a beehive there. I would suggest it to the landlord and see if they're willing to pay for it or at the very least contribute to the cost.

Estrellita

If you can't come to an agreement with the landlord you could always pin some mesh to your window while it's open. Something like this. Will keep pesky flies out too.

iainBB

I would post this in the bee keeping section . if they are honey bee you might get someone take them for free. I would love to if had any more space.

orlyice

Cant find the lease for the life of me, i know its in the house and OH had it a while ago so will have to keep looking. we maintain the garden ourselves and have been here 3 years, so am LL didnt install a beehive. I text the LL and he told me to spray wasp killer into the tree, well thats not going to happen!

Estrilleta, thanks for the suggestion. might be a good idea in the short-term. My little man loves being outside and would hate not to be able to bring him out if we got some nice weather again.

IainBB thanks for the suggestion. I will post over there now, on second look at them I am not even sure they are honeybees, I think they might be bumblebees, tried taking pics but not very clear. I have no knowledge of bees at all, other than my parents neighbour used to keep bees when we were kids and these bees are similar to the ones I used to see around when I was young.

MarkAnthony

I'll be setting up a hive eventually. I really wouldn't be too worried about bees OP.

iainBB

Bumblebee do live in a hive but would only be about 50 of them in total.

Thoie

Unless someone in the family is actually allergic to bee stings, I'd just go about life as normal, and ignore it. Half the country grew up surrounded by bees, and the chances of being stung are pretty slim to start with, and the chances of an allergic reaction are even smaller again.

Put a mesh over the baby's crib while she's sleeping if you're worried. While she's awake there'll be an adult with her who can woosh away a bee if it comes in.

Chris_5339762

Don't whatever you do destroy the hive.

Contact Beekeeping Ireland or have a look on here. Most beekeepers would be thrilled to try and take it away, its not that hard for them. Get the queen and the rest follow, very very basically.

Whoever quoted you a cost is chancing their arm. Many, many beekeepers would almost pay you for a hive.

CruelCoin

orlyice wrote: »

Contacted someone from beekeepers association website and he can organise it to be taken away, but will cost €40-60 depending on size. Havent contacted landlord yet about bees, just wondering if it is my responsibility or landlords to pay for this?

My brother is a beekeeper and he regularly sells hives for a couple of hundred a pop, more if it's native Irish bees.

Hive grows over a year or two, tries to split, and he captures the split and sells it.

Google for any beekeeping organisation in your area. As many have said above me, they'd be thrilled to take it away!

orlyice

hey all,

thanks for all the replies and advice. just to clarify i would never kill the bees, i was looking for someone to come and take away the hive. also the person i contacted was from the beekeepers association, he was listed as the chairperson of the local beekeepers association in my area. he lives about 10 minutes away from me and he was the one that wanted 40-60 to take them away. i agree he was chancing his arm. Also my son has an underlying medical condition and a very poor immune system, couldnt take the risk of him being stung and possibly becoming infected, we would have a very sick baba if that were to happen. if it was just myself and my husband here then i would leave them well enough alone.

But as luck would have it, i went out today and there are almost all gone. there are still a few around but maybe 40-50 around the tree, not even close to the numbers that were there yesterday. I was brave enough to move a good few branches and cant see any sign of a hive, so i reckon they were only temporarily visiting my garden. spoke to landlord today and told him that things have improved and going to wait and see. still didnt discuss who would pay for it if we had to pay to have them removed. thanks everyone for their advice.