People around Weyburn have been reporting seeing an unusual number of bumblebees and wasps in their yards or around the city.
Cory Sheffield, curator of invertebrate zoology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, says it seems like there are more, because there are more. He accredits the increase in population to the time of year.
“This time of year, actually a little bit earlier than this, those colonies shift from, say, colony growth to producing the reproductive stages so the males and what will potentially become next year's queens. This time of year is when they really amp up the production of males and queens. Right now, most of the bumblebees that you are seeing on plants are actually these males that are being produced.”
There is an increasing emphasis on protecting pollinators, so relocation of these colonies is encouraged. However, bumblebees differ from honeybees when it comes to their relocation, as honeybees are far less domesticated and don’t live in hives.
“Most bumblebees are going to nest in the ground or in some cases, other types of cavities. So, it's not uncommon to find a bumblebee colony in, say, the pink fiberglass insulation in the side of a house or something like that.”
This means relocation is more difficult, because when a nest is exposed, the colony will not survive if not covered up.
“It's possible that the colony could be picked up and put into a nesting box, but my understanding is that it's usually unlikely for that colony to continue living. The disruption is so much, but some people have been able to do it. If you get the queens early enough, you can actually start the colony. So, you can actually put out nesting boxes, for instance, for bumblebees, which they will establish nests in.”
With the challenges of relocating a bumblebee colony, Sheffield recommends simply leaving the nests be if possible.
“What I normally recommend to people, if you have a bumblebee nest or a wasp nest, if it's in an area that you can basically not encounter it that often, then I would just leave it. Because once the cold weather comes, frost will usually kill off that colony.”
“If you have bees and wasp nests that are in an area that is very inconvenient, like in a doorway or something like that, then I don't recommend people try to take care of it themselves unless they have an entomologist friend or there's pest management companies that are willing or able to come and remove them.”
While most people are more willing to save a bee colony than a wasp colony, Sheffield says wasps can provide unique benefits to a property.
“Wasps help clean up a lot, for instance, if there's, this might sound kind of morbid, but if there's like a dead mouse or something around your property, wasps are part of the cleanup crew that might take some of that protein back to their nest. But also I see different types [of wasps] which are actively hunting for other insects and stuff on my property.
“In general, we have to maybe think of them instead of being pests, maybe just beneficial insects that are a little bit cranky when it comes to disturbing their nest.”
Whether you remove the nest now or let it be, Sheffield says the winter provides an opportunity to keep them away next year.
“Once the cold weather comes, frost will usually kill off that colony. And then if it's a wasp nest or a bumblebee nest that's in a cavity in your house, once the activity stops, if you just fill that with spray foam or try to seal up that cavity, you won't get the bees or wasps in there next year.”