Bee's nesting in garden (1 Viewer)

[IanF]

Every year we have swarms of bees in our garden or in one of the neighbours gardens. This year it's our turn again and they have built quite a nest. It's about 18" deep and 16" across made up of six 'combs' if that's the correct word.
Are these Common Bee's ?

Bee's nest

A close up of the bees.
Bees

They don't appear to be aggressive as I've been within a few feet whilst sunbathing and of course a few inches to take photos.

 

[birdman]

Well, amongst all the other things I'm certainly not, I'm certainly no entomologist either. (Not even sure I can spell it!)

On the face of it, though, your bee does at least resemble Apis mellifera, or the Honey Bee.

Doubtless there are numerous subspecies of honey bee, but perhaps the most famous (in the bee-keeping world) is Apis mellifera carnica, the Carniolan bee - native of the Carniolan region of Northern Slovenia, and particularly noted for it's peaceful nature.

Even so... be careful, 'cos we can all get stroppy in this weather!

 

[smeltmill]

Dear Ian,

What a super picture. It is now wallpaper.

Definitely Apis Mellifera Mellifera the Honey Bee.
Do tread carefully - all UK races are docile while the have a good income.
Sadly they wont survive the winter unless they are protected from the elements.
The are classed as Advanced Social Insects and do not hibernate in the true sense. Their body temperature drops until they are torpid and they overwinter as a colony, workers (female) and a queen, feeding on the honey they have stored during the summer. In the spring the workers feed the queen heavily, steaming her up to lay 2000 eggs a day. Some of these eggs are destined to be males - drones - the rest, workers. The queen lays two distinct types of egg, infertile which become the males, and fertile, which become workers. The sole function of the drones is to mate with virgin queens - done on the wing. They offer no contribution to the economy of the colony. I'll leave you with this thought - because the male comes from an infertile egg it has no father. This is a consideration when attempting to line-breed, partly overcome by artificial insemination.

Gordon Borham-Styffe.

 

[IanF]

Thanks for the replies Birdman and Smeltmill. Honey Bee it is !

I doubt they would last the Winter as they have built their nest in a rather exposed part of the garden. Good choice of the Viburnum, but everything else around it suffers in the cold. Are they only likely to be around for a couple of weeks then or am I looking at a permanent fixture to the garden ? Whenever my neighbours have had them take up residence they have always had them forcibly removed. I'd rather let them live out their life cycle if possible. The number of birds visiting the garden has been reduced of late and it makes me wonder whether it's because of the bees or just the warm weather ? I don't know if anyone has any ideas on this ?

 

[birdman]

I'd plump for the weather... it's enough to keep anyone in the shade!

Don't s'pose there are any bee-eaters up your way this year?

I'd keep an eye on your nest!

 

[IanF]

I wish there were Bee-eaters around this year.

I made the same comment to my wife this afternoon. There must be thousands of bees now making it look a proper 'hive of activity'

 

[birdman]

Boom Boom!

 

[smeltmill]

Birdman

I am impressed by your comments about the Carniolans and indeed were considered a gentle race of bee but are a different colour to the bees depicted in Ian's excellent photograph. The segments of the abdomen are black and the abdomen is banded by a grayish rig covered with a whitish fuzz.
Looking at the picture you will see strong a yellow band adjacent to the thorax this indicates Italian blood.
To bore you a little further the British black bee succumbed to the Isle of White disease about 90 years ago so British beekeepers imported Italians to replace their losses. So considering this the bees mating habits, and the fact that no bees have been imported since the advent of the parasite Varoa Jacobsoni ( think I have spelt that correctly) the UK is blessed with mongrels/hybrids.
Perhaps if they survive to the next millennium we will end up with a strain suited the UK as the British Black undoubtedly was.

Gordon Boreham-Styffe.

 

[smeltmill]

Ian,

They will survive as long as they stay dry. They can cope with the winter temps experienced in your area.
So if you would like to keep them and become a beekeeper they need to be housed and fed soon. If not ring your local Bee man and he will be only to pleased to take them and look after them.
To find him or her - The British Bee Keeping Association will almost certainly have a web page. The local police usually have a tame beekeeper on their books for emergencies. There's also a local Bee Inspector (a government post) who will put you in touch with the nearest beekeeper. I should also add if you decide to have a go at keeping them the local apiarist will be only to pleased to take you under his wing. As a race they are like bird watchers , helpful and enthusiastic.

Your final comment, no it's not the bees reducing your bird population. Tits love bees and soon learn to knock on the front of a hive and eat the bees who come out to investigate.

Finally I was sure my remarks about artificial insemination or the drone having no father would induce a comment. As they haven't I will leave you with another.
The Queen indulges in partial parthenogenesis.

Gordon Boreham-Styffe.

 

[birdman]

smeltmill,

You seem to know your bees, so the following might not be news to you, but ALL of my knowledge comes from a visit to the Beekeeping Museum in Radovljica in Slovenia.

It's a small museum, but gives a very enjoyable presentation of the history of beekeeping in Slovenia.

Not all, but enough of the information is in English - and the setting is magnificent - so if you are ever in the area, it's certainly worth a morning's visit!

 

[pauco]

hi ianf
first may I say brave photo, and really good. its been a very
interesting thread. IT would seem its the weather thats keeping birds in the shade and who can blame them, I still have good
numbers of house sparrows & starlings useing the birdbaths
but food consumption is down, my wife is filling baths up about
3 times a day. I like the bit about blue tits knocking on the hive
for the bees!!! as I said great thread.
bert.
never say what time youll be home, then you cant be late.

 

[IanF]

Smeltmill,

Your words of wisdom piqued my interest and after getting out my dictionary I found a couple of websites that were most informative about bees and bee-keeping. You're right about them being a very interesting subject, but I don't think that I will be taking up bee-keeping just yet, though some of my work colleagues have.

Bert,

Thanks for that insight about the birds lack of feeding. The garden has been altogether very quiet bird wise apart from the obligatory Blackbirds and House Sparrows. The feeders only need filling once a week instead of daily. I really look forward to watching the Tits tackle the bees, so I guess I'll leave them a while longer.

 

[smeltmill]

Birdman,

Thank you for the information about the museum I will hunt for it on the net as have used up the holidays for this year. Slovenia is on the shopping list - perhaps the next time I go to Hungary.
____________________________

Ian,

I endorse Bert's comments about the lack of birds at the feeders. It is much the same here with birds spending much time frolicking in the pond.
_______________________

Bert,
Pleased you enjoyed the thread. If any one has any questions about the subject please ask.

Gordon Boreham-Styffe