Bees in stables WWYD?

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just-wait

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My stable block has been colonised by some lovely bumble bees. Not the really large ones, but the small ones. I think they have two nests behind the boards in two of the stables. It sounds like you are in a bee hive when in the stables. But the horses are not at all bothered and neither am I. I have a few liveries and a couple of them look really worried when in the stables although they haven't said anything negative about the bees, but it is clear they are frightened of them. I don't want to get pest control in to destroy the bees as I think they are essential for our ecosystem, and they are not in the slightest bit aggressive. The horses are totally chilled. I intend to wait until winter and then block up the holes, but would I be shutting them inside? Would they be hibernating in there? Just don't know what to do. If I didn't have liveries, I wouldn't do anything TBH. The horses are out 24/7 in the summer in any case, but when they came in the other night due to the awful rain, they were totally cool with the bees. WWYD? We are talking about a maximum of 3 bees flying around a stable at any one time.
 
Personally, I love bumblebees and I would be delighted to have them nesting in my stables. Due to their location, I don't think that they could be moved without killiing them. As long as they are not doing any harm I think that you should just leave them be for the time being and monitor the situation. As I'm sure you know bees won't sting unless they are provoked as they die after stinging. It is only the females that are able to sting. The very large bumblebees are the queens and you usually don't see them much after they come out of hibernation in the spring as they are busy laying eggs over the summer. You might find that the nest isn't used again after this year anyway.
 
Leave them alone. Bumblebees are not aggressive and they will all die out at the end of summer anyway, and they don't use the same next the following year so you won't see any more in that location.
It seems to be a good year for bees - our neighbour has a nest in the soffit of his house. We also do, plus we have a nest in both compost heaps and in two unused old bird boxes. It's fabulous.
You are very honoured that they have chosen your stables to nest in, just enjoy them.
 
StarcatcherWilliam said:
Personally, I love bumblebees and I would be delighted to have them nesting in my stables. Due to their location, I don't think that they could be moved without killiing them. As long as they are not doing any harm I think that you should just leave them be for the time being and monitor the situation. As I'm sure you know bees won't sting unless they are provoked as they die after stinging. It is only the females that are able to sting. The very large bumblebees are the queens and you usually don't see them much after they come out of hibernation in the spring as they are busy laying eggs over the summer. You might find that the nest isn't used again after this year anyway.
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chestnut cob said:
Leave them alone. Bumblebees are not aggressive and they will all die out at the end of summer anyway, and they don't use the same next the following year so you won't see any more in that location.
It seems to be a good year for bees - our neighbour has a nest in the soffit of his house. We also do, plus we have a nest in both compost heaps and in two unused old bird boxes. It's fabulous.
You are very honoured that they have chosen your stables to nest in, just enjoy them.
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Thank you! I do love them and would never kill them. I'll just have to reassure my liveries that they will not harm them or their horses. :)
 
chestnut cob said:
Leave them alone. Bumblebees are not aggressive and they will all die out at the end of summer anyway, and they don't use the same next the following year so you won't see any more in that location.
It seems to be a good year for bees - our neighbour has a nest in the soffit of his house. We also do, plus we have a nest in both compost heaps and in two unused old bird boxes. It's fabulous.
You are very honoured that they have chosen your stables to nest in, just enjoy them.
Click to expand...

Certainly not aggressive but as I found out at the weekend, they will still sting. I went out to clean out my chooks, came back indoors and bent over to stroke the cat and the bumble bee that had somehow sneaked down my shirt without my noticing, obligingly stung me - on my right boob!
 
fatpiggy said:
Certainly not aggressive but as I found out at the weekend, they will still sting. I went out to clean out my chooks, came back indoors and bent over to stroke the cat and the bumble bee that had somehow sneaked down my shirt without my noticing, obligingly stung me - on my right boob!
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Yowch!
 
As long as your liveries don't start being silly and trying to swat them or mess around with the nest, they should be fine.
Bees only sting when they are threatened. There will always be times when a bee will sting, but they only do it as a last resort.
 
fatpiggy said:
Certainly not aggressive but as I found out at the weekend, they will still sting. I went out to clean out my chooks, came back indoors and bent over to stroke the cat and the bumble bee that had somehow sneaked down my shirt without my noticing, obligingly stung me - on my right boob!
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No, they do hurt! I got stung on the hand as a teenager and my hand and arm swelled horribly!!

OP, more info here about relocating bumblebees - could moving the entrance to the nest be an option?

https://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/faqs/moving-bumblebee-nests/
 
I think they are tree bumble bees. This is what they look like:

p17v7c9obhnbk3kvg6t22mlj75.jpg
 
Oooo i have some of these at the moment nesting by my hay stack. I found them by dragging a pallet over them couple of days ago, they were not amused by my ride disturbance in the slightest!

I was a little worried by the relative closeness to one of the fields so have fenced the corner off. It has to be said I am probably over reacting but I did have a horse step on a nest once, he ultimately got stung and had an allergic reaction resulting in emergency vet call out. Poor old ginger horse has literally the worst luck in the world though, his vet bills in the last 6 months come to just over £12k!!!
 
I have a nest every year in the field shelter, the horses and the bees are quite unconcerned by each other.
 
I would be wary of them tbh. We have ground nesting bees and have always left them alone. However a coup!e of years ago, we had a horse who needed the vet for two beestings on her face and a sheep who we thought was going to die, she lay under a tree comatose for 12hours and she appears to have suffered brain damage from the swelling, she still has a lump on her nose. Fortunately the others look after her.

I am not sure that I would want to pay livery for a stable that had been invaded by bees.
 
I would be wary of them tbh. We have ground nesting bees and have always left them alone. However a coup!e of years ago, we had a horse who needed the vet for two beestings on her face and a sheep who we thought was going to die, she lay under a tree comatose for 12hours and she appears to have suffered brain damage from the swelling, she still has a lump on her nose. Fortunately the others look after her.

I am not sure that I would want to pay livery for a stable that had been invaded by bees.
 
I have no advice, but it's not always true that they don't sting without provocation. I was sitting on the lawn minding my own business when a bumble bee landed on my knee. I did nothing, just idly watched it and the little @$&?)! stung me!
 
Cowpony said:
I have no advice, but it's not always true that they don't sting without provocation. I was sitting on the lawn minding my own business when a bumble bee landed on my knee. I did nothing, just idly watched it and the little @$&?)! stung me!
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Hmph! Son has two hives of bees in my garden and I often stand at a 'safe' distance to watch him with them. Was sat last year with my lovely DiL, enjoying a cuppa as he arranged the hives etc. No problem until, out of the blue, a bee flew up my right nostril and stung me. Cue much embarrassing snorting and snotting to get it out and much laughter from son, who didn't realise what had happened. Then I realised the bee was out but I hadn't found the stinger.. so a trip to surgery to see the nurse. Once she had finished laughing she quickly removed the sting!
 
just-wait said:
My stable block has been colonised by some lovely bumble bees. Not the really large ones, but the small ones. I think they have two nests behind the boards in two of the stables. It sounds like you are in a bee hive when in the stables. But the horses are not at all bothered and neither am I. I have a few liveries and a couple of them look really worried when in the stables although they haven't said anything negative about the bees, but it is clear they are frightened of them. I don't want to get pest control in to destroy the bees as I think they are essential for our ecosystem, and they are not in the slightest bit aggressive. The horses are totally chilled. I intend to wait until winter and then block up the holes, but would I be shutting them inside? Would they be hibernating in there? Just don't know what to do. If I didn't have liveries, I wouldn't do anything TBH. The horses are out 24/7 in the summer in any case, but when they came in the other night due to the awful rain, they were totally cool with the bees. WWYD? We are talking about a maximum of 3 bees flying around a stable at any one time.
Click to expand...
We had a nest of feral bees discovered by our pest control man when he was re-baiting our rat boxes and he just quietly took them to a sheltered corner of a hedge in one of our fields with lots of plants around to re-site the nest. He likes bees and also said that they wouldn't harm anyone and that they would survive in this new sheltered location
 
I'm afraid I got the pest people to kill mine. I'm terrified and how can you be sure something won't upset them and they will start stinging the horse in the stable. There was a constant flow of bees in and out the nest through the stable wall. Had they been outside the stable I would have gritted my teeth and left them alone
 
mandyroberts said:
I'm afraid I got the pest people to kill mine. I'm terrified and how can you be sure something won't upset them and they will start stinging the horse in the stable. There was a constant flow of bees in and out the nest through the stable wall. Had they been outside the stable I would have gritted my teeth and left them alone
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You should never kill bees do you not know how important they are to,our planet ?

Get a bee keeper to remove them safely.
 
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