Honey bees found in bin

[RobinP]

My brother has found these bees in an old composting bin in his garden and is asking for advice as to what to do with them. I reckon just leave them where they are (they are hibernating) and get a proper beekeeper to remove them next Spring.

Other suggestions most welcome!



Robin

[Paul mabbott]

Great. Yes, get in touch with your local apiculturalists (or Bee Society) and someone will gladly take these off your hands. In the meantime, don't disturb, keep the lid on - I assume there has been some means of entry/exit? Good to see a thriving colony with all the problems bees have.

[JRsbugs]

Is there any reason to not leave them where they are? I would personally love to see a hive of bees living naturally, at least they will get to keep their honey. I'm not sure how most beekeepers feed their bees over winter, but I think some in the past have fed them a sugar solution which doesn't anywhere near replace the properties of the honey they need to remain healthy. Some interesting reading here.

Janet

[Africa]

That must have been a surprise! but, regarding Janet's comment, Honeybees are not native from the UK. They are as domesticated as sheep, bred for docility and production: we manage them and they give us something in return. I read somewhere that - unlike sheep, which manage to survive the weather on their own in St. Kilda - die out if left alone.

[stigofthedump]

Originally Posted by Africa

That must have been a surprise! but, regarding Janet's comment, Honeybees are not native from the UK. They are as domesticated as sheep, bred for docility and production: we manage them and they give us something in return. I read somewhere that - unlike sheep, which manage to survive the weather on their own in St. Kilda - die out if left alone.

We have no native Honeybees! I never knew that!
Oh hell I was off to bed, now I have to spend time with Google


Vince

[stigofthedump]

Ancient black honeybee? Just a quick Google.



Vince

[Hedera]

There definitely is a British honeybee - small, black and rather tetchy! My father often got called out to remove them from chimneys and roof spaces where they had settled after swarming. He kept some in hives from those.
As Paul suggested it would be best to contact the local beekeepers as if we had a very cold winter like last year they would be unlikely to survive in that compost bin unless it was wrapped around with some insulating material. They may have enough honey to survive, but the combs don't look very full. Supplementary feeding would be needed; this could be honey or the usual sugar syrup.

[JRsbugs]

Correct, we do have a native Honey Bee.

BRITISH NATIVE DARK HONEY BEES

Every year I see a couple of dark bees with no orange at all.

That bin is quite deep, it could have enough honey to keep the hive going, there doesn't look to be a huge number of bees. Placed in a sheltered spot they might well survive. I wonder how long it has been there, the combs look extensive as though they might have been there more than one season but I don't know how much comb a hive that size would produce in a season. I read that it takes 20 pounds of honey to make a pound of beeswax.

I had honey bees on Ivy into November, and they were feeding on crocus on March 16th this year which was surprising as it was still darned cold.

Bees need their honey, quoting from the site I linked to above:

Honey is a good source of food for bees for two reasons. First, its high sugar content provides the bees with lots of calories, which they burn warming the nest and caring for the queen. Second, its physical properties make it extremely resistant to bacteria:

•One of the enzymes that goes into honey during nectar processing is glucose oxidase. When bees dilute honey to feed it to their young, glucose oxidase breaks glucose down into hydrogen peroxide, which helps to kill germs.
•The pH of honey is between 3.5 and 4. In other words, it's slightly acidic - about as acidic as orange juice - which discourages the growth of bacteria.
•Honey is hygroscopic, meaning that it can draw moisture its surroundings, and it has a high osmotic pressure. Bacteria that come into contact with honey undergo plasmolysis. They lose their moisture content to the surrounding honey and die.

[Africa]

Currently there are two subspecies of Honeybee in the UK, the A.m. mellifera, originally found in the Iberian Peninsula and N. Europe and since less than a century ago, A. m. ligustica, originary from Italy and brought into the UK as purportedly yielding more honey. Both are hybridizing rampantly, as breeding is hard to control and they are interfertile. Still, I am unaware of truly 'wild' honeybees. When I said 'non-native', I should have clarified that I meant 'non-wild', as there are native - some even feral - and non-native sheep breeds as well. The swarms found by people, such as the one in the compost bin - come from man-kept hives nearby, and hives like to settle in chimneys, trees of under roofs. Sorry for the confusion created. I just think honeybees cannot be put in the same category as bumblebees and solitary bees. Many of these are in serious risk of extinction, whereas honeybees get a disproportionate amount lot of publicity -possibly because there are economic interests behind them. The Yorkshire Wildlife trust (of which I am a member!)recently placed a colony of the Italian bees in the wildlife meadow and I am truly enraged about it. I need a few weeks to calm down a bit and do some more research before I write a letter to them. In this wildlife garden there are well over 20 sp. of native and wild bees and bumblebee, and they have fenced over 20 sq m of lovely meadow to plant a hive of Italian bees! Sorry for the rant, I do in fact like honeybees, just I don't think the money is going in the right direction there. Sorry also for hijacking the post!
More info:
http://www.gbbg.net/pdf/ligustica_incursion.pdf