 Breckland Council does not treat for bees, but you may find the following information useful.
Bees Generally
There are over 250 kinds of bees in Britain, and unlike wasps, bees are not deemed to be a nuisance and will rarely sting unless threatened. The most familiar bumble bees and honey bees live in colonies and belong to a group known as the social bees. The majority of other species do not live in colonies and are solitary bees.
A honey bees’ colony survives the winter whereas a bumble bee colony only lasts for a single season. This means that all the workers die in the autumn and only a few young mated queens survive and hibernate through winter. Bumble bees seen in March flying low over the ground are usually these young queens, searching for suitable places in which to establish new colonies. Once the queen has selected the site she starts to build her nest out of dry plants, moss and hair up to about the size of a clenched fist. Later on in the summer a bumble bee nest is well established with larvae, cells and stores along side each other. It is not as large as a honey bee colony and does not have the same neat arrangement and regular cells.
Bees are valuable pollinators and destruction of their nests is not desirable unless there is an imminent risk of injury to people in the vicinity. Bees are generally not aggressive unless handled or their nests are disturbed. The advice of the Environmental Health Service is that in most circumstances bees can be left well alone and do not need to be destroyed.
Solitary bees
These are to be found in many gardens during Spring and Summer but go largely unobserved. Common species include the masonry, mining and leaf cutter bees. Solitary bees do not swarm and are unlikely to sting unless they are handled or their nest disturbed.
Masonry bees
The female is often seen constructing a tiny tunnel in a wall normally in the pointing between the bricks where she lays a single egg. There is no treatment, the only answer is to repoint the area after the new adult bee emerges.
Honeybees
They are brown and yellow in colour and smaller than the bumble bee. They are the species kept by man in hives from which honey and wax are made. The numbers can vary in a colony from 40 – 50,000 at the height of the season in July. Those born at the end of summer however survive the winter living on stored honey.
Bumble bees
Larger and rounder than honey bees and often they produce a deep buzzing sound. Bumble bees build small round grass nests, often under buildings or in holes in the ground. They do not swarm nor do they sting unless the nest is disturbed. If at all possible, bumble bee nests should be left undisturbed for at the end of the Summer all bees except the queen will die and the nest is abandoned.
Swarms
If a hive is overcrowded, bees may emerge in a dense cloud and headed by the queen, settle on a branch or tree. If left, scout bees will eventually find a sheltered situation and start a new colony
If you are having severe problems with bees
You can contact Trevor Nash on 01362 696737 who can offer advice, or contact the British Beekeepers Association at www.britishbee.org.uk/.
Occasionally, Mr Cram, a beekeeper on 01603 880062, can collect bees if they are causing a nuisance.
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