jinglejoys
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Anyone know anything about Bumble Bees?I'm mucking out the barn for winter and there's a nest.
Luckily it will be in the last bit I have to shovel.It looks like they have made a nest under a false floor I am goimg to have to remove before I let the animals back in.
Does anyone know at what time of the year they will leave the nest?I don't want to disturb them but I must use the barn for winter.
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goosey
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Hello there 
Bumble bees will start dying off late summer, and the queen alone, will survive. She will leave that nest, and find somewhere else, suitable to sit out the winter.
I don't know the exact date this year, but about late Aug/Sept. In good time before the animals come back in.
We have a nest in a crack in the concrete of the shed floor, and another under the eaves somewhere.
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jinglejoys
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Thanks  Any suggestions how I can attract her back next year as I'll have to destroy her old nest?
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Jamanda
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I think they find a new place each year.
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sean
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If the badgers don't find them first.
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goosey
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her back ne | jinglejoys wrote: | | Thanks Any suggestions how I can attract xt year as I'll have to destroy her old nest? |
It sounds as though they like your place already.
So if , like me, you have a lot of native plants, not too tidy, with piles of compost, leaves, and wooden things around, she will find somewhere she likes. She might be somewhere in one of your barns over winter, and come out to somewhere nearby.
Watch out for the big bumbly girls about April, depending on the weather, looking for a site. The workers are smaller.
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toggle
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the big girls being the ones that sound like a not so small helicopter in the area?
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goosey
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 Yep, that's them
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toggle
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heads off to make some felt earrings with black and yellow beads in recognition of the wonderfulness of big helicopter girls
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goosey
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Sounds great, I also like the hornet queens who come out about the same time. (not everyone does  ) They are big and loud too, but they're just pussycats really. I could make me a pair of orange and brown clip earings.
Hope no-one slaps me round the head when I wear them!
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toggle
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thinks about orange and brown fiber
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goosey
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You sound as busy as a bee, toggle . Very creative
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toggle
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can'\t help it.
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oliver90owner
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To say 'the' queen survives is not strictly true. she does not.
The last batch of hatchlings will be reared as queens - sexually active females (unlike the workers).
These queens will mate and then hibernate in a (usually) north facing bank, or etc. (north facing so they are not awoken too early in the year by a few days of bright sunshine).
It is these queens which will build a new nest for the new season.
Queens will be the first bumbles you see in the spring - they will be searching out a suitable site for the nest ansd may be searching around the garden for days before settling on a suitable nest site.
Regards, RAB
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goosey
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I am obliged to you for your 'strictly true' information.
Is that an Oliver 90 tractor, by any chance? Does it have a Cockshutt engine?
If so, you are probably an engineer by inclination And have a lot of detailed information to hand.
I don't know anything about tractors. Welcome to Downsizer 
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