Bumble Bee Nest in stable

siennamum

siennamum

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Hi, has anyone experience of a bumble bee nest? its in the eaves of the stable and bees can fly in and out uninterrupted, horse is indifferent to them, but I am still pretty worried.
I am really reluctant to do anything which will disturb the nest or kill the bees, but horse will need a stable this Summer.

Any suggestions welcome - I cant find anyone charities which will move the nest unless its a honey bee nest.

might have to get my YO to get the professionals in but its a shame as think that will be detrimental to the bees.
 
I’ve had bumble bees nesting behind the boards of a stable. They just did their thing and flew in and out. Bees weren’t bothered, pony wasn’t bothered I wasn’t bothered but vet was a little alarmed when he visited!
It never caused me any problems but my pony isn’t one for sticking her nose in to investigate stuff. I nosy pony might cause more of a problem.
 
I am not sure they will move on. We have had bumble bees nesting either behind or under our garden shed for years. They are no trouble. We also get honey bees though the only known bee keepers are a mile away.

Our London garden is tiny but we have many different types of flowers which self seed. And lots of insects which I didnt notice till the BBC Chelsea coverage mentioned polinators.
 
Beekeepers won’t remove bumblebees. They normally stay the season then move on as it is only the queen that over winters. Generally bumblebees are not a problem but if you really want to get rid then contact a pest control company
 
We have had this in our barn and our feed shed. Feed shed they had found a hole in the floor right in the middle so it was a bit disconcerting having bees flying round you but they didn't bother us. Once Autumn came and they had gone we covered the hole, problem solved. Those in the barn were unfortunately in an area where we had to get rid because we had a contractor coming in to dig out the muck. Felt very sad about those. Last year we had a small wasp nest and we used spray on that and got rid of the wasps.
 
I agree with other posts, if theyre bumblebees they just get on with doing their own thing and generally dont bother us living beings. I am surrounded by them in my open ended polytunnel at this time of year, they fly around around me fixated on flowers, and fly somewhere else when i move into their space - theyre very courteous!
As yours are in the eaves and horse not bothered, i wouldnt worry.

But wasps - they can perceive us as threat to their nest if we hang around long enough nearby, and send the gang out to run us off!
 
The day we arrived back from Ireland a bee keeper/expert was collecting a nest of bees that had 'appeared' over the garage block. I gather a 'cry for help' had been put on the local village FB and they got removed safely. Maybe try this approach?
 
Please don’t kill them. I’m truly appalled anyone would even consider killing something so endangered.
I had buff tailed bumblebees in my field shelter and they were no trouble at all, I just didn’t muck out the bank they were using. I had young, sticky beak horses but everyone left everyone alone.
If you are really scared of them just groom etc outside.
 
nagblagger said:
The day we arrived back from Ireland a bee keeper/expert was collecting a nest of bees that had 'appeared' over the garage block. I gather a 'cry for help' had been put on the local village FB and they got removed safely. Maybe try this approach?
Click to expand...
That would be swarming honey bees.
 
I had some bumble bees residing in the field shelter a couple of years ago. They didn't seem to bother the horses and vice versa - moved on quite suddenly in July as far as I remember. I rather missed them when they'd gone!
 
Over the last 10 yrs we've had various times when Bumble bees have decided to nest in our stables. I've felt very privileged. They have never stung anyone. (I have one livery that is possibly allergic but they haven't stung her either!!!) All joking aside ours are not in anyway aggressive and I would hate to have them removed. I've had to remove various wasp nests - either personally with basic stuff I can buy or by a professional - they have been aggressive.
 
siennamum said:
Hi, has anyone experience of a bumble bee nest? its in the eaves of the stable and bees can fly in and out uninterrupted, horse is indifferent to them, but I am still pretty worried.
I am really reluctant to do anything which will disturb the nest or kill the bees, but horse will need a stable this Summer.

Any suggestions welcome - I cant find anyone charities which will move the nest unless its a honey bee nest.

might have to get my YO to get the professionals in but its a shame as think that will be detrimental to the bees.
Click to expand...
I had one in the wooden wall of my stable, you could hear them buzzing but they went in from the outside so was ok.
 
I’ve had them at somewhere I worked before. They are protected so you can’t kill them. You could contact a bee keeper and see if they could remove them but as they are bumble bees they probably won’t do any harm if left alone. Ours completely ignored the horses and all of us, we just had to watch out for them flying in and out when in the doorway!
 
They won't hurt you. During my childhood we had my Grandad's garden shed at the bottom of our garden which my Dad used after Grandad had gone. We as kids would be in and out of the shed to see what Dad was making or repairing. Under the shed was a Bumble bees nest. It was there when I was a kid back in the 1960's and it was still there when I left the house in 2016, we had to walk past it to go in the shed, never got stung or worried by them in all those years. Just leave them alone and you'll be fine
 
I love bumblebees and am always rescuing them. I sometimes find them floating on top of the water buckets, to soggy to fly. I hook them out, give them some sugar water and leave them in the sun for a few minutes to dry off and off they go. They seem very placid and just want to 'do their thing'....I'm sure they won't hurt you or your horse, and we need all the pollinators we can get!
 
Just to add to what the others have said, Bumblebees are the most easy going of the bees, if the space is small and causing an issue, you could try creating a better flight path for them if possible, by removing something higher up so they don't need to use the doorway to come and go?
 
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