Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Yesterday was my first time trying to get a colony out of a wall in a garage. Only my second time messing with bees ( jump right in !). I had ordered the master pollinator kit from Dadants and it came last week. I already had permission to get this colony out. I called the local Guru for help and we set out at 9am to get'er done. The bees had settled in the wall right in the corner and I had to remove one sheet of OSB interior plywood. They had brood and honey from the top to about two feet from the ground. We carried a deep hive body and wood frames with plastic cell foundation which we removed. We cut out the brood and honey and used rubberbands to put it in the frames and searched for the queen as we went. We could not find her and after brushing as much bees in the hive as possible, we left the hive body at the base of the wall. This was at 12 noon. He told me to go back late in the afternoon and see where the bees were. If in the box, great, if on the wall, not so great. They were in the top corner. I then brushed bees in a bucket and poured on the inner top of the hive body and went home at 8pm. I will go back and check on them this morning. I guess a bee-vac would have been very nice to have. What else could we have done to make this better? There were at least enough bees to fill a five gallon bucket. We think the queen crawled up in the corner of the ceiling as that is where the cluster was, right at the entrance.

>>>>I guess a bee-vac would have been very nice to have.<<<<

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j226/Iddee/BEE%20VAC/

>>>>What else could we have done to make this better?<<<<

When removing a colony, I try to cut the comb from the outside in, leaving 2 or 3 frames of brood in the center. If the queen isn't gotten, she will migrate to this brood comb, making her easy to find.


I would brush the bees into the hive once more, than place a rag soaked with bee-quick in the corner to make the remaining bees move. Ad-lib from there. Watch for the queen as you go. Watch for a gathering in another area, etc.

I don't have any bee quick, what is the redneck home version? I can make some bee-b-gone( for good). 3 parts gas, one part soapy water. I would hate to have to use it.

The only substitute is a brush.

The redneck version is "catch the drones and go fishing."

Good news, I went back this morning to check things out. I was anticipating finding the bees still in the corner or maybe gone. They were in the box! They were still coming in at the top of the wall and alot had figured out how to use the big open garage door, but they were climbing down the wall and into the box! There were a small cluster right in the corner of the wall at floor level, but this was only maybe 6 inches away from the front of the hive. I did loose hundreds of bees by the closed window in the shop. I guess they wanted to go out but was trapped by the window. There was a mound of dead bees there under the window. I raised the window and they were escaping like mad! Live and learn ! note to self; raise all windows if cutting out a colony from inside a building! I put the outer cover on and left them alone until tonight when I will go back and take them to their new home. I did not look for the queen, should I have? I would assume she is in there, but I want to get them home before stirring them up and chancing loosing alot more now.
WOW my first hive!

And they all lived happily ever after...

Congrats. That is the ending we are all waiting for.

Take them home and leave them alone until next Sunday or Monday. Too much disturbance now can cause them to abscond. By Sunday, you should either have eggs, "you got the queen", or you will have queen cells. "You didn't get the queen".

Either way, you will have a hive. If neither, purchase a queen and introduce her to the hive.

I went back just at sunset and the bees were coming in for the night. There was still a double handfull down in the corner of the wall just in front of the hive. I lit the smoker and smoked them and waited, smoked and waited, each time a few more bees would go inside and the roar would get loud for a minute or two, then after a minute or so I would smoke again. After about 30 minutes it was getting dark and there were only maybe 10 straglers left walking around, so i put the entrance reducer in with a screen wire to keep them inside, and loaded up the hive in the truck. I only live 4 miles away so it was a quick ride. Interestingly, when I unloaded the hive, there was no sound coming from the box as before, and when I took out the reducer, only about 10 or so bees came outside. I put in a boardman and called it a night (weekend). Missed the amatuer radio feild day exercises, but I was glad to get the bees home!

Congratulations. Your a new papa. Sounds like you did a great job. Now you have the experience and that is the valuable thing that will make you a good beekeeper. Keep us posted on your new hive turns out.

I opened the hive back up today. What a mess! All the rubberbanded frames all stuck together. Two of the frames were old wood and a plastic and they had broken bottom bars from the rubberbands which then let the bottom bar bend towards the center of the frame. This in turn put a bow in the comb which the bees tried to adhere to the next frame. There was alot of bees in that box! I did not see the queen, but I did see a frame with tiny white eggs barely visible in some of the holes. I assume she had been at work there. I removed the broken frames and replaced with crimped wire foundation. I then put another deep on and put the broken frames in the new deep( brood and honey I think) . The bees then bearded on front for several more hours. I was real slow and careful about moving the frames and I hope I didn't kill the queen. There were bees dropping on the ground out front of the hive and appeared to not be able to fly. I watched for a while and they could fly, but I don't know why they were on the ground crawling around like that. I saw one carrying a white baby bee. I guess they were cleaning out the hive. Maybe they were full of honey and were too heavy to fly? There had been lots of bees doing oreintation flights all week, spiral and circle flights.

Sounds like the perfect scenario. A tear out is never pretty, but yours seems to have been successful. I would leave them as is for 12 days or more. Then they should have capped brood on more than one frame, along with white larva of all sizes.

I will be sitting on pins and needles waiting for the next report.