Thoughts on bumblebee in owl box

[Deb Insel]

Good morning and Happy New Year!

We have a barn owl box on our property where several clutches of barn owls have been hatched and fledged from.  We know this because of the camera we have in there to enjoy the show.  The owls are great at rodent control.

We cleaned out the box about a month ago and added the usual inch or so of pine shavings in preparation for the owls to come back and start another family.  A couple of times we've seen an owl in there.  But much more consistently there is a single loudly buzzing bumblebee that flies in walks around over the pine shavings and then burrows down into them, day or night.

Has anyone heard of anything like this?  I thought queen bumbles usually go into the ground in winter.  Maybe this one prefers the nice, dry pine shavings?  

I kind of don't want to disturb her, but I also value the owls that need to be in there undisturbed for a few months for the whole mating, brooding, hatching, fledging cycle.  I guess we'll just let nature take it's course,. whatever that may be.  But has anyone any experience like this or have thoughts or suggestions?

(Meanwhile, our bee hives are doing great.)

Thanks!

Deb

[Paula Breen]

I would put up a second owl box, lol.

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[Gerald Przybylski]

The swarm hotline gets a few calls every year about bumblebees in
bird-houses.
Usually it's about an established bumblebee colony that needs to be
relocated.
I recall our being asked to relocate a colony in a cabinet or shelf on
someone's porch.
There are 30 or 40 species of bumblebee in the US. Territories overlap
in our region, and
others have different ranges.
The "farmed" bumblebees, when taken to other regions can disrupt the
success of the indigenous populations.
(why would someone manage bumblebees? They are a terrific pollinator of
(hothouse) tomatoes for instance.

The queen may have already started building cells. Can you set up a box
at that location just for the bumblebees,
and carefully move that nesting material into it?  - and move the owl
box a couple of feet away?
One presumes the bumblebee queen navigates to a home location like honey
bees do... by landmarks to within a few inches of the entrance.

that's my 2¢

The hotline had a caller a month or two ago that had a bumblebee colony
in a particular birdhouse they
expected to be reoccupied by a pair of birds that visits the porch year
after year.
I suggested providing a second birdhouse the birds could use, so the
bumbles could finish their brood cycle.
Once the bumbles finish, that birdhouse can be cleaned out.