Bees in cracks of patio

patrickspicture

Hi. I know nothing about bees.
There are a handfull of bees outside our back door poking at at the dirt in between cement tiles of our patio. They have been there for a week or 2 and worse today cause sun came out. They are strange, don't seem to have any interest in the flowers just the dirt.
I would like to get rid of them cause they are only like 2ft from the back door but if they are honey bees I would not want to kill them

wexfordman2

patrickspicture wrote: »

Hi. I know nothing about bees.
There are a handfull of bees outside our back door poking at at the dirt in between cement tiles of our patio. They have been there for a week or 2 and worse today cause sun came out. They are strange, don't seem to have any interest in the flowers just the dirt.
I would like to get rid of them cause they are only like 2ft from the back door but if they are honey bees I would not want to kill them

Snap a photo and upload it

patrickspicture

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Snap a photo and upload it

Don't know if you can make anything out cause the dirt and bees blend in and they move around allot

thelord

Hello patrickspicture

They do indeed appear to be honey bees. I speculate they may be gathering water from damp between the stone.

patrickspicture

Thank you. Now the question is how do I get them to go somewhere else.

wexfordman2

patrickspicture wrote: »

Thank you. Now the question is how do I get them to go somewhere else.

A shallow dish with some rocks in it, or something like that so they can get water elsewhere and not drown ?

patrickspicture

Thank you. I will try it.

thelord

A container with damp peat would also be suited to the task. They specifically seem to favour the moist dark compost soil.

patrickspicture

Thanks. I have a pot that has damp soil in it next to the area they have been at. It is under a window, but right now the bees are in the middle of the back door and you have to walk through them to g out back. I was going to cover the area with some mats hoping it would encourage them somewhere else.

Out of curiosity are there any wild honey bees or do most belong to someone.

thelord

They could be either though wild colonies are not as common these days. Provide another water source a few feet away and cover the area you want clear with a mat.

Effects

Just so you are aware, they aren't really causing any harm, have zero interest in you and are quite unlikely to sting you.

wexfordman2

Effects wrote: »

Just so you are aware, they aren't really causing any harm, have zero interest in you and are quite unlikely to sting you.

yep, had a similar scenario outside my shed, where I had been doing a lot of timber cutting, and there was a load of sawdust in the gravel outside it. The bees were mad after it, and the only problem I had was making sure/trying not to step on any of em as I was going into the shed, they never paid any attnetion to me at all.