We’ve bees in the top of a compost heap (heap has been untouched for the past year) - is it too late in the year (in the UK) to buy a hive and get started? If I tried to move them into a new Flow Hive would the colony have time to establish themselves to survive the winter?
I doubt that you have honey bees there. It could be bumble bees or wasps, both or which can nest in the ground, solitary bees, or maybe general insect activity linked to the compost.
If they were honey bees, it’s not too late to hive them. Indeed they should be hived because a colony in the open like that would have little chance of surviving the winter. And it would be best to hive them in a small insulated hive called a nucleus.
If you want to get into beekeeping you would be strongly advised to do a course first, there are lots of bee associations in the UK and you could do a course over the winter and be ready to start next season.
2 Likes
Send some pictures of what you are referring too, would be good to see, if they are inside the actual compost, then It wouldnt be honey bees as they are not subterranean, but a compost bin is a pretty common place to get bees building comb if there is space.