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Could do with a bit of advice from Chris on this subject.

Our neighbour's house is a residence secondaire and we became aware of a lot of flying activity around one of the upstairs (closed) shutters. I've just been inside the house for a recce and found the nest between the outside of the window and the shutter: an enormous inverted cone, about 30cms in depth, probably 20cms in diameter.  Hundreds of hornets or wasps (pretty sure they aren't bees).

Obviously this needs to be removed and I've had a look under Apiculture in the Yellow Pages - plenty of people around.  I've also heard that the Sapeurs Pompiers take care of this, or is this an urban myth? 

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[quote user="Gardian"]... this needs to be removed...  I've also heard that the Sapeurs Pompiers take care of this, or is this an urban myth? [/quote]

They used to remove them FOC, but this is no longer the case.

if they do remove them, the householder is likely to be presented with a bill for the service.

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Chris .................

Thanks very much for advice.  I'll get on to one of the people in the phone book tomorrow - there are several quite closeby.  Will let you know the outcome.

I must admit that taking that photo was quite unnerving, even though there was glass between us!

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You need to be fairly on your toes with it, they won't hang around and may move into the roof and then you can never get them out. In theory they can stay in that temporary ball for a week but in practice it's no more than three days.Evening is the best time to take them followed by early morning.

Chris

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[quote user="Gardian"]  Thanks very much for advice.  I'll get on to one of the people in the phone book tomorrow - there are several quite closeby.  Will let you know the outcome. [/quote]

Hi Gardian,

If the phone book doesn't work, there's a list of people who can help here (S.O.S. Essaim d'abeilles) -  hopefully there'll be someone near you:

http://abeille.gudule.org/

(How do I know?  We had a swarm on a lamp-post here in Montpellier over the week-end.  Right in the middle of town, 15 metres off the ground, bees dropping onto the pavement, getting crushed.  Unfortunately, no-one could help, it being where it was; and the swarm, getting smaller all the time, finally disappeared after a couple of days.  Shame ...)

Amicalement

Craig

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Many thanks to all for the help & advice. 

As a matter of courtesy, I checked with our other (French) neighbour before acting. She's on her own this week while Michel is away on business. It was he who spotted the bees first and was going to do something when he gets back, but when we talked with her last night, we thought we'd better get on.

Anyway, she then showed me a big pile of earth in her garden (say 1m high x 4m2) which has multiple pencil-size holes in it. She said that about a week ago, she needed a bit of soil for something or other and started poking the pile around. Bees emerging everywhere!  She demonstrated it again tonight.  loads more. Was that the start of it?

So .............. rang the closest Apiculture man.  "Errr, non .......... mais mon collegue, etc."  Rang the suggested M. Dupre. Wife answered: explained the situation & she yelled out at the top of her voice "Dupreeeeeh".  I just had the feeling that he was otherwise engaged on the loo or something like that!!! Anyway, he rang back 20 mins later and he'll be round "Demaing" sometime-ish. It's a bit like that round here. If I'm unsure about whether he knows what he's doing, then I'll politely send him away.

We'll see what tomorrow brings: never a dull moment.  By the way, the bees have been there since at least last Friday.

Watch this space.

     

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Well, Monsieur Dupre dropped by this afternoon for a recce.  His comment when he saw the swarm was unrepeatable in polite company, but along the lines of "Oh my goodness me"!!!

He's about 60, 5'5" and with the sort of paunch that can only have been acquired through a life of good and prodigeous eating. Lovely man, with a local accent that you could cut with a knife.  He's an enthusiastic amateur with his own hives and keen to have the bees.  He knows one of the people on the link that you gave us Craig (next village in fact).  Said that he'll be round tomorrow morning to do the deed. No charge involved, but I'll 'see him alright for a drink'.

I asked how he was going to unhook the shutters, given that he had to do that from the inside:  "Doucement, tres tres doucement", he said.

Re the Miner Bees in our other neighbour's garden, you were of course absolutely right Chris.  M. Dupre called  them abeilles de terruaire, but I think that they may also be known as abeilles des sables. Best left alone he said.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's action: will try to get some pics (from a distance!)

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Well, it was all very low key in the event.

M. Dupre turned up just after 10.00, said leave it to me and got on with it. Basically, he removed the nest from the brickwork and placed it in to a hive that he's left on the windowsill.  The bees were a bit excited, but he said that they'd soon realise that the queen was in the hive and that this was their new home. He's coming back after dark, when he said that they'll have gone to bed and he'll take the hive away.

I asked him how many bees.  "20k - 30k".  Hmmmmm !!

Never a dull moment.  

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All done Chris.

Mr & Mrs D duly turned up at 21.00 and the hive was in the back of their Transit before you could blink. He's left another hive at ground floor level, because there were quite a few bees 'interested' in one of the other volets.  He'll be back next week to collect it and to give us a pot of his honey.

Amazing experience: thanks again for your advice. 

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