A look at why honeybees live in properties, what problems they can cause and what can be done about them
How it all starts
Honeybees are important and need somewhere to live – so what’s wrong with them sharing your home? Honeybees usually swarm from spring until the end of summer and go in search of a new home. The process of swarming is when a queen leaves a colony along with a proportion of the bees, leaving behind some eggs and brood (including developing queens) stores (honey, pollen) and bees. The remaining colony will begin to build up again once a new queen has emerged and mated. Meanwhile the swarm which has left the colony will leave in search of its new home. The swarm will settle somewhere for a period between a few hours and a few days, often on a tree branch or in a hedge, whilst they wait to move on. Scout bees are sent out to look for suitable locations and they will report back with their findings. Desirable locations are usually well off the ground, sheltered from wind and rain, with a small entrance so that the bees can defend themselves from attack.
Historically, large veteran trees such as oaks, elms and ash would have provided the best option with their cavities but, in recent years, houses often provide better options. Most houses have at least one chimney, cavities in the walls and a roof space – all of which can tick all of the boxes for an ideal bee home. Chimneys which are no longer in use and have been capped with a ‘pepper pot’ type cover are perfect for bees and we find more colonies beneath these than in any other location. If you were able to observe the location for a few days prior to a swarm arriving, you would see a gradually increasing stream of scout bees visiting the location. First one, then a handful, then bigger groups and then finally a whole swarm of several thousand strong. Once the bees are in they soon start to build honeycomb and fill it with brood and stores and start preparing for the forthcoming winter.
So what next?
In some circumstances, bees can live in a chimney, roof or cavity wall for several years without causing any problems. They build up their honeycomb starting from the top and working downwards, often filling the top few feet of a chimney or an area the size of a small kitchen cupboard. In a cavity wall the area tends to be more spread out due to the available area being quite narrow. The bees will go about their normal business of collecting stores, raising new bees, swarming in the spring/summer etc for several years.
What problems can occur?
Whilst the idea of providing a home for honeybees is an attractive one, the reality can often be quite different. The problems that usually arise are:
1) Leaking honey. This can happen for a number of reasons such as when a colony becomes diseased or reduces in numbers. The wax which makes up honeycomb becomes brittle over time and, without the necessary maintenance being carried out by bees, the weight of honey stored within the cells can cause sections break off. This can be small quantities or, sometimes, the majority of the nest. This leads to one of a couple of scenarios; either there is now an unknown quantity of honeycomb and bees in a fireplace behind a stud wall, with bees coming into the house through light fittings etc or; no bees can be heard but honey has started to leak through a wall or ceiling. A honey leak is not always very obvious as it happens much more slowly than a water leak and, by the time the honey has filtered through plaster, mortar etc, it doesn’t seem much like honey any more and so can be quite difficult to identify. In the event that a colony of bees in a property dies, often honey will be left behind and, without bees to maintain the honeycomb, this will almost certainly be breaking away and leaking out at some point – sometimes years down the line.
2) Stinging. Honeybee colonies vary in temperament from very gentle to very defensive. This can be affected by an environmental change such as weather, heat, noise or disturbance and also by genetics. A colony that is gentle one day can become quite unpleasant when anything changes (this isn’t always a bad thing – sometimes a grumpy colony can improve!) Whilst bees at the top of the house are not likely to have much interaction with the people below, there can sometimes be wandering of bees into open windows. Whilst for most people stings are just painful, itchy and unpleasant, some people can have severe allergic reactions to bee stings which can be fatal.
3) Building works being undertaken. If bees are present in a building, it makes building maintenance or alteration in their area very difficult/dangerous. Bees generally react very poorly to excessive noise and vibration and this usually prevents tradespeople from either starting or finishing their jobs. The presence of honeybees would generally prevent a working environment from being considered a safe one.
4) Fire hazard. Bees in a chimney or flue, or between chimney brickwork and a flue liner present a considerable fire hazard. Wax is very flammable when melted. If a chimney is in regular use it would be unusual for bees to select it as a home but we have moved bees from chimneys that have been unused for a few months. Once bees have moved into the chimney it is very dangerous to light a fire underneath them. The possible result is that the bees will leave. The more likely result is that the wax start to melt and the whole colony will fall into the fireplace. The possibility of a chimney fire accompanied by several thousand angry bees in the living room is simply not worth the risk.
Our solution
Our recommendation is, in most cases, to remove colonies from buildings so that they can be relocated. There are exceptions, usually where the risk to the building and people in and around it is low. Our removals usually involve the removal of some bricks, tiles or other building material to access the colony. We then humanely remove the honeycomb and bees and relocate them to a hive in an apiary where they will not cause any damage or inconvenience. After all, bees are wonderful and important little things, but they are best in the right place! We will carry out a survey to ascertain the location of the bees and give an idea of access requirements etc. The survey can be carried out any time although removals are best carried out in the spring. We do undertake emergency removals during the winter (to facilitate emergency building repairs etc) but these are not ideal. The removal itself usually takes one day to complete and remedial work (replacing bricks/tiles etc which have been removed) can begin the following day. In most cases, we recommend fitting mesh or filling holes in masonry to prevent future scout bees from finding the location and a new swarm moving in!
We usually move the bees to one of our apiaries although we have relocated bees for beekeepers who have then kept the bees in one of their hives.
We can also fit mesh to redundant chimneys on properties to deter bee swarms from moving in. Some properties are more prone to bee investigation than others and this partly due to local amenities such as pollen/nectar supplies and water, and also to do with how bees navigate and whether your house happens to be on a ‘bee line’ If you have had a swarm in your garden or nearby at some point there is a good chance that bees will investigate your chimneys and some homeowners do prefer to take the preventative approach.
Listed Buildings
We regularly undertake work on listed buildings and buildings in conservation areas and can submit application to the relevant authority before undertaking work, where required.
If you have bees in your property or are concerned about it becoming a problem, feel free to get in touch today!
