Bee rescue mission
Having made their home within the roof of Chase Lodge, over the years, the bee colony grew and began to be problematic for the tenants. Rather than spraying the bees, the team mounted a rescue mission with a local beekeeper, of epic proportions.
The Buccleuch Building Services team erected scaffolding to allow access to the lodge’s roof and, donning beekeeping suits, began to strip back the slates. They removed 3m of roof area to expose the hive. The local beekeeper then joined the team and vacuumed up the bees and removed the honeycombs. It is important to remove as much of the hive as possible to stop other bees building a new nest. With their amazing sense of smell, other bees would know that the roof space had been a great home for others, so a deterrent is sprayed.
Bee-autiful ending
Taking the bees down from the roof, the beekeeper put them, and some of the combs, into a hive onsite, for 48 hours, to let any bees who had been out and about to come home. The hive was then taken to a new home in the local area. The colony is thriving, which means that not only the worker bees, but even the queen was saved.
Thanks to the work of the Boughton team, this colony has not only survived but can go on to thrive and pollinate for years to come.
