Honey bees in house nesting box

Neilsmith1982

Hi all, we have for many a year now had a concrete swift box built into the wall of our extension, just below the eaves. This weekend we heard bees and noticed them using the box. We don’t mind, but just wanted to check that we should leave them and not be concerned? They are making a bit of a mess of the entrance to it (it was pointed white so think it may just be pollen?!) and believe them to be honey bees as I know mason bees are solitary and they are definitely not wasps or hornets. Any thoughts or experience welcome! Thanks.

Neilsmith1982

*painted white sorry

nutcutlet

the most likely is Tree Bumblebees, it's what they do. It will all be over in a few weeks if you can live with them a while. Honeybees are a longer term project

wild edges

Tree bumblebees are pretty distinctive if you can get a good look at them. They're a small bumblebee with markings like the pic below. My parents' house usually has 2 or 3 nests in the roof and my nest boxes are regularly used by them after the birds have finished nesting. They cause no harm and you barely know they're there.

If they are honey bees though then maybe you could contact your local bee keeping society as they're always on the look out for free colonies. Assuming the box has a maintenance hatch to get them out that is, if not then just leave them be.

Dovefromabove

We get a lot of Tree bees in our garden as they seem to like nesting in our neighbours roof. They're marvellous pollinators for our fruit and veg