Protection of Bees and What We Do About It

In Pests

The protection of bees is important to PESTUK. There are over 200 types of Bees alone in the UK, this includes 25 types of bumblebees. PESTUK will only apply an insecticide treatment if there is no other alternative available.

Protection of bees

We recommend that you do not attempt to treat a nest or block entrance to the nest yourself. The technician attending will identify the type of bee you have and will also attempt to relocate the bees swarm or nest where possible. By collecting the queen and allowing the swarm to follow the technician can take the bees to a safe location.

Types of bees

Most common bees seen are-

Bumblebees are the largest of the bees and usually nest in the ground or in places such as compost heaps. Recently they have begun using lofts. They are not aggressive though they can sting they can be aggressive around the nest entrance.

Honey bees nest will have thousands of bees they will swarm around the entrance of the nest, commonly in chimneys but will use any cavity. You may come into contact with a swarm. This is when part of a hive splits and a Queen accompanied by drones and several thousand workers will look for a new nest site. While scout bees are looking for a suitable site the swarm may hang for a few days in a tree or bush.

Treatment of bees

Where there is no other option left to us the the technician will conduct a residual insecticide treatment. The nest will be treated with one of the following insecticides: Ficam W which contains 80% Bendiocarb w/w, K-Othrine which contains Deltamethrin or a powder called Ficam D*. This contains an insecticide in a dust formulation @ 1% w/w Bendiocarb. All insecticide used are biodegradable, almost odourless, non tainting and do not corrode or stain. They are not highly toxic towards mammals but extremely so to all forms of crawling and flying public health pests.

PESTUK have technicians covering from Oxford, Reading, Guildford, Enfield, Shepperton and Salisbury.

PESTUK are full members of the BPCA the governing body for those interested in the management of public health pests.

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