The Hole in the Wall Gang

[Columbarius]

Here are several thousand reasons why you should not have a hole in your external brickwork leading to the cavity:

Hole in the Wall Gang-2 by Russell Hunt, on Flickr

Hole in the Wall Gang by Russell Hunt, on Flickr

Regrettably, as it was the wall of a Hospital, and they were managing to get into the roof space & out onto the ward they had to be terminated. A real tragedy.

[Tigger]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

I know to you its a thing of beauty but to me I just want to run in the other direction

With the UK going on about saving bees I'm surprised they didn't get a local keeper in - odd

[Stan]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Shame about the bees - well captured

stan

[Columbarius]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Thanks Stan & Ian.

I'm surprised they didn't get a local keeper in

I am a local keeper (& my wife works in the Hospital) but in order to remove them you need to capture the queen. The choices are (1) Remove the roof or (2) take down the wall or (3) try to drive them out - which I did, but they had so much space in the roof void, and an old nest which was not accessible without removing internal partitioning - there was regrettably no choice.

[Bill53]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Well captured, brave too!

Bill.

[antoeknee]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Presume these were honey bees, in which case a shame that they couldn't be rescued.

We had a swarm take up residence in our roof but fortunately they moved on about 24 hours later, not uncommon I believe.

[tesarver]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Nicely captured Russell, sorry to hear that you had to resort to the final solution.

Tom

[Tigger]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Thanks Stan & Ian.



I am a local keeper (& my wife works in the Hospital) but in order to remove them you need to capture the queen. The choices are (1) Remove the roof or (2) take down the wall or (3) try to drive them out - which I did, but they had so much space in the roof void, and an old nest which was not accessible without removing internal partitioning - there was regrettably no choice.

least you tried

[Columbarius]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Thanks Bill, Tom, Antoeknee and Ian (again).

We had a swarm take up residence in our roof but fortunately they moved on about 24 hours later

It is of course possible that they would have moved on of their own volition in time, although given that there was an established nest there, unlikely. However the overriding consideration was the safety of vulnerable patients, and therefore and with great reluctance the decision was made.

[Parsen66]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Makes my skin crawl just looking at them. Great shot. Sorry you couldn't do your thing and save the poor things

[antoeknee]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

The swarm we had was also in a location that would have made removal impossible. We'd made the decision that if they decided to stay we'd live with them as numbers are so low.

Must have been difficult to destroy them but as you say there were other considerations.

[Columbarius]

Re: The Hole in the Wall Gang

Makes my skin crawl just looking at them

Don't worry Alan, when bees swarm they are usually quite docile. They've eaten as much as they can take on knowing that it will be several days before they can settle into their new home and start collecting nectar & pollen again. And when they're full they're a bit lazy & not in a mood to hurt anyone.