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British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Help! Have a honey bees nest in chimney.....

  • REPORT A SWARM FOR LOCAL BEEKEEPERS.
REPORT A SWARM FOR LOCAL BEEKEEPERS.
 #637  by Islandgirl
 15 Sep 2018, 16:14
We have had bees coming and going to one of our chimney pots for over two years. Hence unable to light he wood burner for fear of fire. We are in Cobham Surrey. Anyone able to assist? It would be nice to be free of them and have a warmer ottage this winter! :) :)
 #639  by Nigel Pringle
 15 Sep 2018, 18:47
Suggest pest control to kill bees and possibly chimney sweep to destroy nest combs. Although a lot depends on whether you have a metal flue liner, then the nest may be outside of your main woodburner exhaust.
If they can't destroy it you'll need a builder to assess the situation and may need some major structural work doing depending on exactly where the nest is in your chimney
It's incredibly difficult to remove bees from inside chimneys and this time of year you are running out of time for a re-housing job.
This was a job better tackled in the early summer.
Sorry to be so pragmatic, but you don't have many choices, other than another cold winter.
 #641  by AdamD
 16 Sep 2018, 10:09
When inside a chimney it's almost impossible to get them out; scaffolding etc is probably going to be cost-prohibitive, as is taking down some of the chimney to get at them which might be the case. However you might be able to find someone at surrey beekeepers' who you could speak to.
http://www.surreybeekeepers.org.uk/about.html
 #1290  by Chris Bowyer
 07 Nov 2018, 15:14
Hi, I am a Pest Controller as well as a Bee Keeper. I have saved and relocated several Honey Bee Colonies over the past Two years as I have included this service as another tier to my business. I have Building experience which has helped greatly in removing colonies. There are regulations on Killing Honey Bee colonies set out by Defra, However pest control guidelines contradict DEFRA 's Process by stating that poisoned comb can be sealed in! This sealing in of poison can be all well and good short term, but what happens when this insecticide poison becomes exposed again by accident ? It then becomes a poison to local feral and beekeepers colonies. I have witnessed one such incident this summer 2018 by a national pest control company where they poisoned a colony in 2017 but didn't even seal the chimney. This year another swarm moved into the chimney and was killed off. The Regional Bee Inspector was informed and an investigation was initiated. I have a set fee for removing colonies, however travelling distance / time & Cherry picker hire / scafolding prices are on top of my fee. If you would like to discuss removal of your colony please don't hesitate to contact me at https://www.facebook.com/Honey-Bee-Remo ... 391617063/ Always remember its always better and easier to remove a colony as soon as you realise that you have one rather than leaving it and hoping that it will move on !