The neighbours have been doing some landscaping in their back garden for the past couple of weeks. When they started digging out the garden they disturbed a bee hive that was underground, behind their garden wall.

 

They weren't very pleased but seemed to move on without a lot of fuss.

 

Guess where they've found a new home.......

In my fookin chimney FFS :headvswal

 

Noticed a couple of bees drop down over the past few days but thought no more of it. Got a call at work today, saying I'd better get myself home, as half a dozen had just dropped in to the living room from the chimney.

 

What do I do?

 

I put the gas fire on full tits, to see if the heat would chase them. After a couple of hours I turned it off.

Half an hour later, they started dropping again.

Not huge numbers, maybe about another half dozen.

Fookin big ba^tards as well mind you, they look even bigger when bees aren't you favourite insect. :D

 

Just a bit of a pain when you have two small children in the house.

leave te fire onlonger, maybe the carbon monoxide will kill them, not really sure bud

I'm no beekeeper but I do a good google:

 

Q I have just bought an old period house, I am horrified, I have just come home from work to find bees in the bedrooms and dining room. They are crawling all over the floor, up the curtains and at the windows please help me.

 

A It sounds as if a swarm has gone into the chimney to form it's nest (Combs) as the flues are dusty and there is no comb to hold onto a lot of young bees have fallen down both the flue to be occupied and the adjacent flues. (Flues are the voids from fireplace to the top of the chimneystack.) They cannot take off vertically like a helicopter although they seem to hover like a jump jet. The flue is 9" square (225mm) once at the bottom they are like trapped potholes and must either climb back or feel air coming in from the fireplace or ventilator, they do the latter and emerge into the room. You have a simple solution, either open the windows and let them out or vacuum them up. Lay in a fire as soon as and fuel with as much grass cuttings as possible to create smoke this will drive the bees out. Where no fireplace exists remove the ventilator and pump in smoke with a beekeepers smoker to drive out the bees, this can take up to three hours and is best done on the day the bees go in, after the third day of occupation it is almost impossible to get the bees out, they have to be lifted out together with their comb from the chimney top thereafter.

 

 

My own personal tip for the day is don't eat them...

 

Jonno.

I'm no beekeeper but I do a good google:

 

Q I have just bought an old period house, I am horrified, I have just come home from work to find bees in the bedrooms and dining room. They are crawling all over the floor, up the curtains and at the windows please help me.

 

A It sounds as if a swarm has gone into the chimney to form it's nest (Combs) as the flues are dusty and there is no comb to hold onto a lot of young bees have fallen down both the flue to be occupied and the adjacent flues. (Flues are the voids from fireplace to the top of the chimneystack.) They cannot take off vertically like a helicopter although they seem to hover like a jump jet. The flue is 9" square (225mm) once at the bottom they are like trapped potholes and must either climb back or feel air coming in from the fireplace or ventilator, they do the latter and emerge into the room. You have a simple solution, either open the windows and let them out or vacuum them up. Lay in a fire as soon as and fuel with as much grass cuttings as possible to create smoke this will drive the bees out. Where no fireplace exists remove the ventilator and pump in smoke with a beekeepers smoker to drive out the bees, this can take up to three hours and is best done on the day the bees go in, after the third day of occupation it is almost impossible to get the bees out, they have to be lifted out together with their comb from the chimney top thereafter.

 

 

My own personal tip for the day is don't eat them...

 

Jonno.

 

 

Fookin' ell...it's been more than three days, sounds like I'm fooked :headvswal :headvswal

Fookin' ell...it's been more than three days, sounds like I'm fooked :headvswal :headvswal

iff you lived any closer steve ide rip the basteeds out for you (being a roofer)

a couple of smoking pieces of wood under the fire and makes them want to eat all the honey and break camp,its all this frantic eating that makes them dozy and docile then up there with a garden rake and "ooooffffaaaa" rip the fvkers out and job done :D

you need to put a dust sheet down,get the kids out for an hour and have a couple of lads down stairs with a couple of kids fishing nets. killing these fvkers all year throu the summer as we allways find bees and wasps in attics

you do realise though if they are honey bees they are protected and it is illeagle to destroy them and their hive, most pest control people try to move them to an established bee keepers hive, this i know as a mate does pest control

you do realise though if they are honey bees they are protected and it is illeagle to destroy them and their hive, most pest control people try to move them to an established bee keepers hive, this i know as a mate does pest control

chances are mate iff they where nesting at ground level they will be bumble bees and anyway i dont care how protected they are iff theres kids about they have to go :(

chances are mate iff they where nesting at ground level they will be bumble bees and anyway i dont care how protected they are iff theres kids about they have to go :(

 

i agree but rather than destroy them why not get a professional in to try and remove them?

i agree but rather than destroy them why not get a professional in to try and remove them?

its up to steve bud but with the height issues and health and safety its gunna get expensive :( ime just saying what ide do

its up to steve bud but with the height issues and health and safety its gunna get expensive :( ime just saying what ide do

Brian, what do I look for in the yellow pages. I've been told to stay clear of Rentakil and other national companies, as they'll take my fookin eyes out.

Will it be under pest control?

 

ATM I've got the fireplace blocked off with newspaper and tape.

 

If they are camped out in the chimney and I've got the fireplace blocked, is there any other way they could enter the house from the chimney.

 

It's a newish type house, so no upstairs fireplaces or anything like that.

if its a gas fire you have, it will have copex lining the chimney, it goes from your fire to the coweling on toop of the chimney, its about 4 inch round flexi pipe, at worst yuo could block both ends and remove and replace the copex, will cost a few quid though, there shouldnt be any other way to get into the house via the chimney

will cost a fortune to have it done professionally! why don't you block the stack, and leave it a week - the bees in there'll be dead, and the ones which were 'out' will have given up trying to get in...

Brian, what do I look for in the yellow pages. I've been told to stay clear of Rentakil and other national companies, as they'll take my fookin eyes out.

Will it be under pest control?

 

ATM I've got the fireplace blocked off with newspaper and tape.

 

If they are camped out in the chimney and I've got the fireplace blocked, is there any other way they could enter the house from the chimney.

 

It's a newish type house, so no upstairs fireplaces or anything like that.

the best bet would be to call a roofer with a bit of balls steve,you got to get it now before it gets any bigger as it could block up your flu mate which iff you have a gas fire is not good mate,iff its earlly it wont be that big and a garden vacume could suck em out in one go, get the roofer up there and just take the ladder away untill he moves the fvker :rofl: iff you do go for "pest controll" yellow pages and just pick a guy working from home and you,ll pay a lot lot less than the rip off big companys iff you lived within half an hour or so bud it would have been out now bud :confused:

ps no with a moden chimney they cant get into the house as the mid-feathers are still intact mate

will cost a fortune to have it done professionally! why don't you block the stack, and leave it a week - the bees in there'll be dead, and the ones which were 'out' will have given up trying to get in...

they wont go away mate as they have just 1 mission in life "the queens survival"

Call a beekeeper! No, seriously http://www.bbka.org.uk/articles/swarm_help.php

IN SUMMARY, WHAT DO I DO?

 

Honeybees

A beekeeper will be glad to collect swarms or advise on removing honeybees from structures. In general, pest controllers will not destroy honey bee colonies until a local beekeeper has confirmed to them that there is no other reasonable course of action. This is not a legal requirement, but is good practice – pest controllers like honey too!

 

Your local police and town hall Environmental Health Officers know how to contact beekeepers in your immediate area – they get lots of calls about this.

 

Failing that, this external website UK - National Swarm Coordinators National Swarm Coordinators has a list of beekeepers in most counties of the UK who may be able to help.

 

Do not destroy the colony yourself.

I thought bee keepers always wanted swarms and would come and collect them for nothing when they were found.

 

 

I'm not sure if they'd get them out of your chimney though or if it's a proper swarm or something else.

 

Edit - Gio beat me to it!

thats a point, DO NOT put your gas fire on, if the flu is blocked it will cause your room to fill up with carbon monoxide IT COULD KILL YOU

Yeah my mates dad is an entomologist (insect expert ;) ) and keeps bees.

He goes out and collects them for nowt but you're a bit too far for him I reckon.

Maybe you can bring them to him Steve? :D

 

Seriously though he might be able to help, he's a leading guy in the UK on bugs of all sorts.

as stella has said the hive has made you fire an "unsafe appliance" as it could affect the flue flow dont use it, if you have taken the fire out get a corgi guy to check it out as when it goes back in it will need a spillage and soundness test

will cost a fortune to have it done professionally! why don't you block the stack, and leave it a week - the bees in there'll be dead, and the ones which were 'out' will have given up trying to get in...

 

my mate does it for about 30 quid i think to remove the hive

my mate does it for about 30 quid i think to remove the hive

not on a roof and down a chimney he wont,iff he will then send him up to here as i can give him a full time job :D

not on a roof and down a chimney he wont,iff he will then send him up to here as i can give him a full time job :D

 

yeah he does, but put it this way his boss dont know lol he charged a guy i put him in touch with 30 quid to remove a wasp nest out his eve's

have a look for a local bee keeper here http://www.bbka.org.uk/

might be of intrest

http://www.bbka.org.uk/articles/collecting_swarms.php

Good news on the Bee front:

 

Got a pest controller out yesterday and he reckoned the Bees were Bumble Bees and not Honey Bees.

He said if they were Honey Bees, I'd be lloking at between 30 and 50 thousand, whereas Bumble Bees live in very small colonies, more like 100 ~ 200.

He sprayed a shit load of powder down the chimney and told me to keep the fireplace sealed up for 3-4 days.

Only charged me £20 as well, so that could have been worse also.

Suppose all I can do now is wait and see what happens.

sorry did i read that right, £30-£50 THOUSAND :shock: