To cut out, or not to cut out?

Posted by Jon on Aug 25, 2010 in Swarms & Nests | 0 comments

The evenings are drawing in now and our bees are making the most of the final pollen of the season to make honey and provide stores for the winter ahead. But I’m still getting bee calls – some saying that the swarm only descended a couple of weeks ago!

If the house owner is relaxed about the bees being there, then to me it’s simple, leave them to over-winter and hope that they make it through.

Bees by the front door

Posted by Jon on Aug 2, 2010 in Swarms & Nests | 0 comments

My third bee adventure last week found me heading out to Tom and Helen who had returned to their second home to find that bees had taken up residence close to their front door. They had been there for a few weeks, entering and leaving by a hole in the rendering.

This bee removal really bought home to me the beauty of my Heath Robinson beevac.

Under the eaves

Posted by Jon on Jul 30, 2010 in Swarms & Nests | 2 comments

Another popular place for bees was the site for bee adventure no. 2 this week. A young family had bees under the eaves, close to their bedroom window. With one 3 year old running around in the garden below, and no. 2 on the way, they needed to shift the bees nest. They had rung several beekeepers who weren’t able to help and they didn’t want to kill the bees, so I got in contact and offered to visit with my beevac.

How to get bees out of a chimney?

Posted by Jon on Jul 29, 2010 in Swarms & Nests | 2 comments

Wow – this is a bee week for me. I’ve tried to help out with a couple of bee problems already and have another one waiting in the wings. They’ve all been different with differing levels of success and lots of learning along the way. The great thing to hear is that there is a real desire to help the bees and not simply destroy them.

So, bee problem no. 1 this week was a really tricky one.

The trouble with waiting….

Posted by Jon on Jul 2, 2010 in Beekeeping, Swarms & Nests | 1 comment

I’ve been called out several times this year by families who have bees in their roof or chimney. These can be really tricky to remove and often involve getting in builders and scaffolding to reach the bees safely and repair the area afterwards, which can be costly here in France.  Amateur beekeepers like me can’t pull apart houses or clamber up steep roofs (we don’t carry the necessary professional insurances for France)  so all we can do is watch and give some advice, and come back later when the site is safe to enter.