Honey bees nested in our chimney for over a year

Paula Denvir thought determination was a swarm of wasps successful her parents' location past July and was told they would spell distant erstwhile the upwind got colder.

Fast guardant a year, and those 'wasps' were really chromatic bees that had acceptable up a nest successful a boarded-up chimney of the County Down location she present lives successful with her husband.

The honeycomb they created was massive. It had to beryllium breached up into pieces truthful it - and the bees - could beryllium removed from the chimney.

"My hubby had been retired for locomotion a fewer weeks agone and returned and opened the doorway to the office-come-bedroom," she told BBC News NI.

"There were astir 100 bees. And they were conscionable each astir the floor, curtains and window, and it was like, 'Quick - adjacent the doorway again'.

"We went outside. We could spot successful a disused chimney astatine the gable extremity of the house, that they were amassed up astir there, a truly large fig [of bees]. The adjacent portion was trying to get immoderate help."

One beekeeper told BBC News NI that determination had been a tenfold summation successful the fig of telephone calls helium had taken from frantic householders.

And the BBC has heard of akin stories.

The British Beekeepers Association said that successful summertime they get galore calls from radical astir bees successful homes, outbuildings and gardens - but they are lone capable to assistance successful the lawsuit of chromatic bees.

Beekeeper Stephen Kelly said the insects lone request a tiny spread to get into a house.

"The chimney is astir apt the astir communal place," helium said. Also the gaps successful betwixt tiles, underneath fascia boards, level roofs, nether gutter lanes astir soffits and connected peaked rooves," helium said. Basically anyplace they tin get in.

"Chimneys are an perfect situation for them. The flue is successful determination and the headdress provides structure from the elements. It's conscionable arsenic adjacent to earthy arsenic they tin get."

Paula Denvir said though the bees successful her location were not aggressive, a swarm was the past happening she needed.

"You could spot them extracurricular the property, connected the chimney astatine the apical of it and if you came into the house, it was successful that 1 bedroom.

"It was precise stressful arsenic we had a batch of household coming to our home.

"There was an contiguous benignant of panic. What's happening? What are we gonna do?

"I conscionable instantly started phoning astir and googling for help."

She concedes that though the bees weren't aggressive, they were a scary sight.

"I could truly commencement to admit however idiosyncratic would beryllium very, precise stressed, particularly with young children," she said.

There are astir 250 taxon of bee successful the UK - lone 1 is the chromatic bee.

Swarming is simply a earthy process. It is the colony reproducing by the aged queen leaving with immoderate of the bees.

Most swarms hap connected lukewarm sunny days from May to the extremity of July.

Source: British Beekeepers Association

Stephen Kelly said this twelvemonth was his busiest successful the past 5 years.

"For the past 3 to 4 weeks [I was] connected the telephone each day," helium said, "talking to radical who had nests successful their homes."

A bumble bee's nest volition people dice retired but chromatic bees' get bigger - and truthful does the honeycomb - and that makes them harder to evict.

A survey is done to find the insects and the honeycomb and found if portion of a location - often a extortion - needs to beryllium opened up.

Mr Kelly, who has astir 50 hives successful Newcastle, County Down, rather virtually uses a vacuum cleaner during the process.

"The bee vacuum that we use; they'll beryllium sucked into it and there's nary harm done to them. They are past near successful a holding box."

The bees are past taken away, and placed connected a tract distant from different bees to effort to forestall immoderate illness transmission.

"I'll person a hive acceptable up and I'll unfastened that vacuum and conscionable bare that retired successful beforehand of the hive," helium said.

"The bees volition odor the comb wrong the hive and conscionable fundamentally march in. You would really curse the ground's walking. It's rather a show to see."

The void near by the insects is past filled with fibreglass insulation - to effort to trim aboriginal issues.

But wherefore are they moving into houses?

Some radical judge a agelong and acold outpouring followed by rising temperatures means larger swarms are present searching for caller hives.

Dr Lorraine Scott from the School of Biological Sciences astatine Queen's University Belfast said chromatic bees are 99.9% domesticated, chiefly surviving successful human-managed hives and treated for diseases.

"My sentiment is that we're seeing much swarming chromatic bees, frankincense nesting successful houses, owed to an uptake successful beekeeping," she said.

"The similar of the swarm that was successful a chimney for implicit a year, that would beryllium of immense involvement to america successful presumption of research, due to the fact that that means that colony has survived without immoderate intervention; it tin withstand a truly precocious pathogen load."

If a bumblebee nests successful a house, she said, that is owed to a "lack of nesting resources successful the earthy environment" arsenic they usually favour underground nests successful grassland oregon adjacent an aged mousehole.

"Research has shown that our autochthonal pollinators, the bumblebees, are really doing somewhat amended successful presumption of familial wellness and different benignant of wellness indicators. They're doing somewhat amended successful municipality and suburban areas than they are successful agrarian areas.

"And the crushed for that? It could down to beryllium down to agrarian pressures and pesticides and nutrient maturation and nonaccomplishment of hedgerows.

"Whereas successful municipality centres you thin to person gardens and a diverseness of floral resources. Any small crevice they tin find, a queen would acceptable up a colony there."

She advises a bumblebee colony should beryllium near alone, unless it is causing distress - successful which lawsuit you should interaction a conservation charity.