Found out (the hard way) there is a bumblebee nest under a pallet. It’s right next to a space under the barn wall so they are flying in and out and don’t “really” bother much except soon I’ll be getting more hay etc. I’m able to stay away from them otherwise. I don’t want to kill pollinators. But this is going on a month and I’m very wary of that end of the barn, constantly keeping my dog who loves to bite flying insects away etc. Anyone know how long this will go on or a safe way to make them move? I’ve googled and gotten mixed results. Thanks!
I had bumblebees under the edge of my raised tack room in the barn one year. They came and went at a pretty steady pace, but never seemed threatened by my presence. I left them alone, and they weren’t there the next year. I don’t remember exactly, but I’m guessing they’re active until it gets cool in the fall.
Last summer I disturbed a nest near an irrigation valve and got chased down and stung by a bumblebee. Man, that hurt! I felt very guilty killing pollinators, but I ended up spraying the nest with wasp spray.
I expect they are wasps, not bees at all. We’re you able to ID them specifically as bees when you looked? Bees get a bad name when wasps are the actual culprits. Is the nest papery looking egg cells? Not all wasps build the rounded paper ball nests. Again if paper like nest, papery cells, they are wasps, not bees.
You might try blocking the nest with a tarp covering, so they do not get agitated by not seeing you when using the door. Do it at night, they don’t find you easily in the dark. Lure in a Possum, they LOVE wasp nests, clean them right out despite stings. They helped clean out 2 BIG nests for us after we opened nests by turning over a log. I RAN a long way to escape! Glad to ONLY have 5 stings, which I iced. Came back the next day, nest was shredded, no wasps at all!
Sorry, I can’t tolerate wasps in the barn, pollenators or not. Wasps don’t sting once, get you multiple times. We have had local people die after getting stung badly by wasps.
That one in the hay may be much bigger than what is visible. They had hollowed out a bale here, it was FULL of wasps. We sprayed it down after dark, threw that hay away. Which ever they are, should be gone by fall as it gets colder, even if you don’t do anything. Never heard of honeybees nesting in hay, only wasps.
They are definitely bumblebees. I did have to kill one today because it came to the front of the barn and stung my horse on the nose while I was untacking and then Came after me. Umm NO! We are doing our best to leave them to their thing as long as possible and will attempt to cover that pallet at night so at least they can only go outside and would have to come back IN the barn through the door to get after us.
thanks for the replies
Our farrier missed a few appointments about 10 years ago when she got stung by something in her truck. She wasn’t allergic to bees until the moment the anaphylactic shock started to overcome her. She pulled over to the side of the road and managed to get out of the truck. Someone found her and they got her to hospital, She is pretty sure she wouldn’t have made it if she wasn’t lying on the shoulder next to the truck on a road with little traffic.
They are ground bees and usually are pretty avoidant. They will be gone soon.
Round here, if they truly are bumble bees, services will rush to come take them away for free. They add them to their hives and are incredibly gentle getting them “rounded up”
I was just browsing through North American bee identifications, to differentiate between carpenter bees and bumble bees.
