This page contains information to help those who find themselves with a honey bee colony which has set up home within the fabric of a building.

It is important to firstly identify if the bees in question are indeed honey bees by looking at our identification page.

Bumblebees can set up home in the soffits and gutters of houses and other buildings. They are larger and hairier than honey bees and can be identified by their silhouette easily. These have a relatively short lifecycle and in most cases they will die out at the end of the summer and will cause no further problems. Beekeepers are not able to deal with bumblebees.

The treatment of wasps is a specialised activity to be undertaken by someone licensed to use appropriate treatments. Wasps too have a short life cycle but this can continue into the autumn. Once wasps and bumblebees have finished their life cycle the hole which they have used to gain access can be sealed up. There is nothing inside a bumblebee or wasp nest that remains at the end of the season to cause damage to the property.  Beekeepers are not able to deal with wasps.

Beekeepers are only insured to remove swarms of honey bees, not established colonies within buildings.

If you have an established honey bee colony within a building you should contact a reputable company which specialises in the removal of such colonies. You need to ensure that any person employed is working safely and has experience of ‘cut outs’ and, most importantly, carries adequate public liability insurance. This might be a specialist bee removal operative, an experienced pest control operative or a builder with experience of working with honey bees. Ensuring the comb, honey and all of the bees are removed from the property is important to ensure no damage is caused by wax or honey remaining.

Your building insurance might provide cover for the removal of a honey bee colony that has set up home within the fabric of your building, but this is not standard.

Please find below details of some organisations and companies who may be able to help with established honey bee colony removals from buildings.

NB: These are commercial companies who will charge for the work which may be expensive depending on the location of the honey bee colony. This is not a recommendation; we suggest you discuss the situation with the individual contractor and assure yourself that they are reputable and are insured specifically for the type of work they are proposing to undertake.  You should agree a price for the job before commencing work and ask for references from previous customers.