Bumble Bees

At the back of my wood shed in a hole on the ground is a bumble be hive. I am highly alergic to bee stings and am afraid to enter the shed. I researched and found out that their only natural enemy is the skunk who likes to eat them. We decided to leave them alone since they are supposed to fly off and abandon the nest in winter. The weather was pretty mild this winter though and the skunks found the dog but not the bees. I really need my shed back! Anyone have any ideas on a safe way to get them to move out? I really do not want to kill them since they are not aggressive out in the open garden. But Hubby is getting frustrated waiting and is threatening to pour poison down the hole.

Zanymuse,
The HGTV show "The Secret Life Of Gardens" did an excellent show on bumble bees a few weeks ago. Only the queen lives through the winter. All the workers bees die. In early spring the queen seeks out her nest spot and begins her new colony. Usually it's an abandoned mouse furrow. I don't recall them saying if they use the same nesting site. I would think she'd find a new one. Have you seen activity in the hole yet? If not maybe just filling it in would do the trick. If the bumble bees don't use it I wouldn't want something else like yellow jackets to move in. One thing about them is they have to be provoked - and I mean really provoked to sting. The guy stood there and actually stroked one to demonstrate how docile and gentle they are. The way he explained it was - They DON'T WANT TO STING and defending their nest is about the only time they will..

If they're using the nest I don't think there's much you can do other than spray them. The workers would never abandon the queen - and she's probably living a busy life of just laying eggs now.

I have a new fear of bees that I'm trying to get over. I had never been stung - even as a kid - but a couple of years ago I dug my digging fork right into a nest of yellow jackets when digging up a row of strawberries from the garden. Talk about run my a** off!! With in 5 minutes I started to break out in hives and swell up like a balloon. My husband had to go out at night to spray the nest and that took care of them. Now when ever I'm in the garden and I hear a bee buzzing around I get all jumpy and run away from it.

There's many links about the life of a bumble bee and how to control them on this page http://www.studyweb.com/links/3546.html
Good Luck!

Zanymuse...I'm glad you posted this thread. I've been told all my life that they wouldn't sting. My mom would let them land in her hand and was never stung. If you can't believe mom who can you believe? Anyway, I decided to check this out since I have never been stung before, and found that they will sting, but are usually nonaggressive. Here's a website that may help: www.mearns.org.uk/mrssmith/bees/faq.htm
Carol

They are very pleasant in the garden and I love to see them all heavy with pollen. Sometimes they gaters so much they act drunk on it! But they will aggresively protect their hive. They never seemed to abandon the hive all winter and that is not what the sites said would happen! Talked DH into stacking the firewood in the old garage and will try to leave them be for another year....next winter may be a colder one so we can close the hole then...at least they are not the yellow jackets that nested in a gopher hole in the iris beds....those we poisoned without a second thought! I didn't know they were there and got to close while weeding last summer....57 stings and went into shock within seconds...Thank goodness DH was outside with me and rushed me to the hospital! I was unconcious within a couple of minutes.

But I try not to feel afraid when I see the other bees out doing their job in the garden.

I have been stung once by a bumblebee. When I was 16 or 17 I was driving a pickup behind a combine that was traveling on a Nebraska road. I had the wing windows pushed all of the way around and my shirt unbuttoned.

I would stop at the top of a hill where oncoming traffic would have to slow to go around. Then as the combine neared the top of the next hill I would drive up to it and wait again.

At one point as I swooped down a hill it felt as though I had been stabbed in the back. I stopped the truck and got out. A crushed bumblebee was on the seat! I took off my shirt and looked in the mirror. There was a white spot the size of a quarter right next to my spine. A red ring was spreading.

So the bee stung only after the wing window caught it and it ended up behind me where I squashed it against the seat back.

Here in California I have both the yellow and black type but more commonly a solid black kind.

My family thinks I'm nuts, but I actually pet bumblebees! I love seeing them working so hard in my garden! I have messed with these gentle creatures a LOT and never been stung, however, have been stung numerous times by honey bees and yellowjackets, for just "doing nothing". I understand your fear of them Zanymuse, but I would be far more concerned about regular honeybees than these guys. Also, mason bees (which resemble bumbles very much), are just as gentle (except on wood houses!) :-) But they are SUCH an asset to us gardeners!

I aggressively kill every yellow jacket I can.......my son has been viciously stung by them just riding his bike down the street.......so I have no mercy for them. Honeybees I just leave alone, as they normally will do the same for me (have learned to wear shoes while in the garden though!!!), and the bumbles, I just love to pet and listen to them "purr"! :-) I know - -I Know -- I'm crazy!

The bees in the garden are welcome and they are not at all agressive but if you get near their hive they go ballistic! The gentle giants of the bee family have a very agressive attitude when the nest is threatened!

Sure fire way to kill any flying stingers,roach powder(Boric acid).On a cool night,when their metabolism is low,puff the powder on the hive or in the hole they use as an entrance.If there is an entrance hole,stuff it with a used up steel wool pad to seal them in.Boric acid is a dececant insecticide,which will put holes in their exoskeleton,causing their bodies to dehydrate.As they drag this powder all over the nest,they distribute it to every egg,larvae,and the queen.With carpenter bees,once the hole is stuffed with steel wool,cover with wood putty and paint.