Re: Bird Box and Bees.
Originally Posted by
Percy Vere
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I thought bumble bees were solitary insects?
Are they bumbles or honey bees Swimmy? If they're honey bees, best get them collected because there's a countrywide shortage of these wonderful pollinators.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_lucorum
Bombus lucorum is one of the first species of bumblebees to emerge from hibernation. The hibernating queen emerges as early as February,[7] but in southern Britain, they usually emerge in March.[8] They usually can be found flying near the ground, looking for holes that are suitable for their new nests. They will also forage on flowers to create reserves for their new nests. They will have pollen loads on their hindlegs when they are ready to establish a colony. The workers start to emerge sometime between late March and mid May. A colony can have as many as 400 workers.[7] The males emerge later, starting in August.[9] As in many other bumblebee species, the males fly in a low patrolling circuit, depositing pheromones on grass to attract young queens.[8] The new queens mate with these males, and when the old queen and the males die in Autumn, they hibernate to start the colony cycle again the next spring.
Taken from Wiki above.
The colony we had did nest in the ground the first year it was there, under the shed, then they decided the nest box was better & moved into that. Don't know if that was a new queen. I took pics but can't find them.