Our swarming season has just started, a bit earlier than usual, and I
have two separate cases of bees in chimneys to sort out this weekend.
One of them is in my own house!  (No, it's not a swarm from my own
beehives - they're kept elsewhere.)
 
In one case the fireplace has been removed, although there is a tiny
ventilation grill there.  In this case I'll have to kill the bees.
Getting on the roof would require scaffolding.  For this purpose I
normally use greenhouse whitefly smokes - things like small fireworks
that produce insecticidal smoke.
 
In the other case I'm going to try to drive the bees out and catch them.
The fireplace still exists so I'll light a small fire and then cover it
with grass clippings or similar material to produce lots of smoke.  If
it fails I'll have to use another whitefly smoke.
 
After removing bees from people's chimneys I'm often asked how to stop
it happening again.  I don't have a satisfactory answer.  The problem
is that once it's happened the smell of bees lingers in the chimney
and acts as a magnet in future years.  I've had several swarms in my
chimneys in the past.  I suspect they're first attracted to my house by
the piles of supers there.  I've seen a number of bees investigating
them over the past few weeks.  Once they find they can't get in they
are, maybe, attracted to the nearby chimneys.
 
--
Malcolm Roe                                Phone  :  +44 1442 345104
Crosfield Electronics Ltd                  Fax    :  +44 1442 343000
Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK        E-mail :  [log in to unmask]
------------------------------------------------------------------------