Bee Tree Adventure....

[Rod Weakley]

Well I got down to the guy's house about 9:15am this morning. It was still cool high 50s low 60s with fog in the air. The guy told me that the tree had fallen down on his dog kennel. I don't know what I expected to find, but it wasn't what I found. The tree had fallen right dab in the middle of a brand new chain link fence dog kennel. The part of the tree with the bees in it was smack dab in the middle of the dog kennel. First thing I did once I looked to make sure they were honey bees was to screen closed their hole. I stapled it around the hole. Then I just proceeded to cut the tree down to size. Making sure to check and see where the tree began to be come hollow. At one point I had to stop and take the kennel apart so that I wasn't chain sawing chainlink. I stopped about 4 foot above the bee hole and this is where it was starting to get hollow. Then about a foot below the hole, hollow there too. I screwed a piece of plywood on both sides, lifted it into my truck with some help and was on my way home (my wallet was a little heavier too). When I got home I dollyed the bees into the back yard, let them sit for a little while and smoked them, and then took the screen off. They didn't boil out, they just started coming out a few at a time and reorienting themselves. Almost a boring extracting. LOL Next time I'll probably get stung a hundred times.

[PA Pete]

Sounds like fun RW - glad it went so smoothly for you! How about posting some pix?

-Pete

[Robert Hawkins]

Way to go Rod,

We like to hear about the blood and guts but it gives us hope when there is none. Any dog bites, maybe?

Hawk

[Rod Weakley]

Nope the dog was friendly too. I don't have any pictures. If I can get a hold of a camera I'll take a picture of the log in my back yard. I'm thinking of putting a hive sized board on top of the log with a hole in the middle and putting a deep on top with drawn comb so they have some more room if they need it. Seems like an awefully small amount of space they are in.

[Robert Hawkins]

Hey Padwan, How long has MB been preachin not to give em more room than they can protect/warm? Think it through first. Without pics none of us can judge how much room they need. Especially in the log. If you said a two pound package in a double medium hive, that means something. But in a log, you're on your own.

Best of luck,

Hawk

[Rod Weakley]

From what the land owner said these bees(some bees) have been in this tree the entire time they have owned the property (long time) The activity at the 4 inch hole is strong. What I can see just in the hole is probably a lb of bees. I'm thinking they won't have any trouble utilizing some drawn comb. Besides I didn't ask you what I should do Robert I was telling you all WHAT I was going to do. smile.gif

[Robert Hawkins]

Any mistakes you post on BK101 need comments and warnings. I have no feelings left to bee hurt so don't even try.

Hawk

[honeyman46408]

Rod
I have section of a tree that I got about a month ago, I sat it on a pallet and will leave it closed (so they can do their own thing) and IF they survive the winter then I will put the board and hive body on in the spring to see if they will move up. I have another that I got last fall and have had a box on top all summer and they havent moved up, but did give me a nice swarm and the swarm moved into empty equpt. seting close by smile.gif
Good Luck

[Rod Weakley]

Well it looks like putting the board on the tree and putting the hive on top has worked to an extent. I screened off their regular opening forcing them to go through the hive body to get out. This was 2 weeks ago that I got all of this accomplished. When I checked today their was every stage of brood in the hive body. There were 3 partial frames of brood in the hive body. (I didn't see eggs but the sun was in a bad place)I didn't see the queen and trust me I looked really good, because I had the queen excluder at hand ready to put between the tree and the hive body if I did find her. My plan now is to find her in the hive body put the excluder on, wait 20 more days, then pull the log from underneath them and steal what's in there. smile.gif My only concern is if there are drones in the tree they will not be able to get out and will die and cause trouble.

[iddee]

Simply drill a hole into the side of the tree into the nest area and let the drones go in and out that way. The queen will not leave the box looking for a way back into the tree.