Honey Bees in Roof

Honey bees in roof spaces.

Honey bees in roof spaces are not nearly as common as you might expect, in fact we don’t come across honey bees in roof spaces that often. Generally honey bees don’t colonise roofs as such, when they are flying in beneath tiles they more often than not are colonising a cavity wall or an old dismantled chimney stack that is hidden beneath the tiles or possibly a soffit.

How to remove honey bees in the roof space

When removing honey bees in roof spaces there are two main options, we can either get to the honey bee nest from the outside thru the roof, or from the inside thru the ceiling. Obviously where practical it is better to access from the outside by removing slates or tiles and cutting through the membrane (which is often in poor condition in these scenarios). Reinstatement of this is usually a lot more straight forward and less intrusive than if one has to access thru the ceiling plasterboard.

But there are always exceptions to the rule.

Where possible this is our preferred method, temporarily removing the roof tiles allowing us to reach in and remove all of the wax and honey stores to relocate the honey bees. It’s usually far easier and certainly a lot more comfortable doing a removal this way, as opposed to working inside a hot enclosed space, reaching into a hole, constantly working with your hands above your head, with wet sticky honey ready to fall, along with thousands off peed of bees. 

Post removal of honey bees in a roof

Before reinstating the slates or tiles we will clean up the area scraping of the honey and wax residue as much as possible. We can if appropriate use something to mask the residue and if appropriate fill the space so that it cannot be reoccupied by another swarm.

We will discuss these options with you especially in reference to causing any breaches in the insulation gap and the consequences of bridging any air gaps.

We recommend against doing anything that could create additional damp problems in the future: we are not experts on this subject and always recommend discussing it with professionals, but we do have some unusual solutions that we have developed over the time we have been carrying out bee removal & relocations. 

We regularly come across people that have damp problems as a result of carrying out proofing work against pests, we also see it in chimneys when they have been filled with insulation material or that are no longer in use and have not been correctly ventilated. A common problem with cavity wall insulation. So filling that void and preventing air movement may not be the best solution.

Re colonisation prevention Guarantees for slated or tiled spaces

Nobody can offer a proper guarantee that additional swarms won’t in the future recolonise the roof space, if anyone is suggesting that they do then please read the guarantee carefully and look at all the get out clauses that are included – you will find it’s not quite the guarantee you expect.

For further reading on guarantees please see our separate post about proofing & guarantees.

A slated or tiled roof has a couple of lines of defence against a honey bee infestation, the first being the slates or tiles. Some slated tiled roofs are very sound and provide secure prevention against honey bee ingress, others can be not so sound offering ample opportunity to a honey bee infestation.
The second line of defence will be whatever is under the roof slating/tiling, it may be that there are sarking boards, old horse hair felt, a bitumen membrane, a more modern breathable membrane or a combination of some sort. The condition and construction detail of this second line of defence will have a bearing on how well a roof can be proofed against a re infestation of the honey bees.
Dormer roofs in sloping roofs, tend to have a space where the two roofs match up, that allows for honey bees to easily enter the roof space, and if honey bees are seen entering this area, more commonly than not the bees will be occupying the dormer roof space.
Fortunately there are a few things that can be done that will go a long way towards the prevention of the honey bees returning to the dormer roof once the colony has been removed and relocated.

Other areas of concern will be how the roof slates/tiles sit on the outer edges, ie just above the gutter line or on the gable ends.

Re colonisation prevention Guarantees for dormer roofs

Dormer roofs in sloping roofs, tend to have a space where the two roofs match up, that allows for honey bees to easily enter the roof space, and if honey bees are seen entering this area, more commonly than not the bees will be occupying the dormer roof space.
The good news is that there are a few things that can be done that will go a long way towards the prevention of the honey bees returning to the dormer roof once the colony has been removed and relocated.

Re colonisation prevention Guarantees for flat roofs

Flat roofs are usually fairly easy providing they are accessible, to prevent a re infestation of honey bees into the same space, and even the whole roof, as more often than not the bees occupy the space between the rafters. But similar to the other scenarios everything is specific to build & construction design.

Re colonisation prevention Guarantees for flat roof Soffits & overhangs

If the bees are entering low down the roof line near to the gutter soffit then more than likely the honey bees will be occupying the roof soffit space or overhang. Usually we will access these bees from above through the roof if that’s the most practical method. This in turn makes it relatively easy to proof the specific area that the bees had been occupying. But not the remainder of the space around the complete roof which again will depend upon accessibility and how the bees were able to enter the space.

Awareness of damp and water condensation

When proofing a roof space its very important that full consideration is given to the possibility that stuffing a roof space with insulation as we are seeing being done more often, is probably not a sensible solution.
The spaces that the bees had been occupying will need freedom of air movement to prevent condensation & moisture build up. The roofs & soffits have been designed & constructed in a certain manner and filling these spaces densely with a material is probably not going to be healthy for the building in the long-term and may lead to wood rot for example.
This is something we have looked into and can discuss with you onsite.

Similarly air vents, weep holes and air gaps are all items that should not be sealed or blocked over, they are usually there for good reason.
We can discuss appropriate solutions with you when on site, once we have seen more.