I got Bumbles

BlueBee · May 25, 2012, 11:17:42 PM

Just getting around to tilling up the garden for beans and veggies. I had a pile of last years stems and stalks in the garden and as I started to rototill over it, I saw a few smaller sized bumbles flying in and out of the pile. A bit unusual so I stopped and watched them. I do believe there is a bumble bee nest in the pile.

So I have some questions:

1.) When is the best time to move a colony of bumble bees? Day or night? Hot or not so hot?
2.) What would be a good bee home for them? Would they do OK in a small nuc or mating nuc?
3.) Do Bumble bees orientate to the hive position like honeybees? Can I move the bumbles some distance between 2 feet and 2 miles without problems?
4.) How painful is a bumble sting in comparison to a honey bee? I've never been stung by a bumble?
5.) Do I need full armor around bumble bees?

I tried to raise bumbles from spring queens before but failed miserably, so I would like a chance to redeem myself and observe a colony of bumble bees this summer.

forrestcav · May 25, 2012, 11:41:59 PM

I didn't think bumbles made colonies. I thought they were solitaries.

Keskin · May 26, 2012, 02:45:36 AM

Some photographs for nest ideas: http://aricilik.gen.tr/index.php?topic=3550.0

They choose nests themselves. You can move nests if it chosen by queen, ideally at autumn.
They oriented to the position.
They can sting twice or more if you make pressure to body or nest.
Pain changes depending to the species and their forage sources but generally they're not enjoy to use their stings.
Comparison of pain is very hard.
Generally less than honeybee. Wood bombus could be painful than terrestris. Forage source for example anis foraging can make sting more than you can imagine. So it's more safe to be full armor.

An English source about DIY basic nest idea: http://www.renewablesathome.com/ecology/how-to-build-a-bumblebee-nest

yockey5 · May 26, 2012, 11:07:04 AM

BlueBee, I have seen them under trailers, in the ground, in oats bins, and in dog houses. I want nothing to do with any of those vicious lil critters. When they pop you, you will know it!

BlueBee · May 26, 2012, 11:43:36 AM

I've heard their stings are worse than a honey bee, but I'm a bee keeper so I'm naturally curious and stubborn :-D

I thought it would be cool to collect them and put them into an observation hive to see what really goes on in there. We're still on the cool side of the warm front so maybe today would be a good day to collect them. I might wonder out there with my bee suit and try to move them into a hive. Don't want to be in the bee suit when the 90F temps push through here tomorrow :(

Keskin · May 26, 2012, 12:23:51 PM

If we're talking about bombus terrestris (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_terrestris ), we are using in Turkey for pollination at covered plant areas and they are not use their stings.

If you want to collect, you have to catch newborn queen. Newborned queens fly about 20 - 30 cm height from ground to seek and find new nest. Others are forager and couldn't raise new colony.

BlueBee · May 26, 2012, 12:33:15 PM

Thanks for the info Keskin. I have caught spring queens before and tried to get them to create a colony in one of my foam boxes. I wasn't successful at my first attempt, but that isn't too unusual. The most common bumble bee in my area is Bombus Impatiens which supposedly tends to live underground in old mice nests and similar locals. Sounds similar to Europe's Bombus Terrestris.

I believe the indoor tomato growers in the eastern USA use the Bombus Impatiens to pollinate their tomatoes, but it's been a while since I researched bumble bees....

OK, I'm going to take the camera out and investigate now :-D

yockey5 · May 26, 2012, 01:02:34 PM

BlueBee wrote: OK, I'm going to take the camera out and investigate now. grin

Where do we send the flowers! :lau:

CapnChkn · May 26, 2012, 02:28:32 PM

BlueBee, I have yet to try for Bumbles. The only real experience I have with a nest is one that was under some lumber in the barn. I moved a lawn tractor in there and would hear keening when I stepped on it. I found the nest later on, left them alone, but starting the mower irritated them to the point they left somewhere. At least that's what I think happened, it was the middle of summer and months away from cool weather.

BlueBee · May 26, 2012, 04:51:55 PM

What a nice bunch of bees :) Didn't even try to sting me, but they sure made a loud buzz as I picked up their nest. I skipped the bee suit this time and wore long pants since we're only about 70F here today.

Interesting, I'm not sure how they are programmed to find their nest when it has been moved. They aren't scenting the entrance like honeybees do. They just seem to fly around in circles looking for their nest. There must be some scent they eventually pick up since they do eventually figure out their nest is now in a box.

So I have them in a box now but the box is in the garden. What is the recommended procedure for moving the box to its final resting spot? 2 feet a day? Move 100' and cover the entrance with grass?

These look like common eastern USA native Bombus Impatiens to me. Interestingly, as I was digging through my honeybee stuff to find this box, I saw a couple of huge bumble bees around my honeybee hives (no they weren't carpenter bees). My understanding is we have a half dozen or more different species of Bumble bees in the Mid-West and different species (queens) emerge at different points in the spring/summer. The 2 big bumbles I saw surely had to be queens; they were huge.

yockey5 · May 27, 2012, 09:12:41 AM

you survived, so I will cancel the flowers order. :)

LoriMNnice · May 28, 2012, 12:38:04 AM

I had a bumble bee sting me right on the butt! I was 7mo pregnant ended up in the hospital for 1.5 days!!

BlueBee · May 28, 2012, 01:16:01 AM

Ouch! Sorry to hear of your pain and suffering Lori.

I got the bumbles moved to their new location and it seems to have worked. I moved them about 100' away at night and didn't see any bumble bees back in the compost pile today. In fact I rototilled the pile into the garden and planted beans today. I really expected problems with the workers not re-orientating to their new location, but that didn't seem to happen.

The box I have them is has a plexiglass cover so I intend to pull back their nest material over time so I can observe what is going on in there. Curious minds want to know ;)

AndrewT · May 28, 2012, 02:06:24 PM

Keep us posted Blue, I've always wondered what goes on in a bumblebee colony. I've found a couple of old one's before, but I've never been able to check out an active one. I'm a little jealous.

windfall · May 28, 2012, 11:02:49 PM

I knew you wanted an observation hive too! Curiosity is wonderful thing.

Bumble bees are so neat, far fewer this year for us, and they didn't appear until later than normal.

AndrewT · May 29, 2012, 12:30:22 PM

Each year, I grow half-runner green beans on 6-foot trellises and the bumblebees love the blossoms. When it's time to start picking, the bumblebees happily go from blossom to blossom, sometimes bouncing off my head as I pick. They're like old friends that I get to see for a few weeks each year.