Did I do right or wrong?

[Ruben]

So I have spent the last week ordering in a hive and assembling and painting it and making my best version of a cone trap I can. I got a call last week about this hive that is in the house, the hive entrance is 3 ft off of the ground going into the false wall of the fireplace. The owner is certain the bees were not there 5 weeks ago and this is a weekend home so I don't have to worry about making people nervous about bees being in an uproar. So I figure there could not be a better circumstances to attempt my first removal of any kind. The house sets of 50 acres with nothing else around. I went to my hives and pulled a good frame of brood and eggs and went to set everything up. Much to my suprise after driving 30 miles to get there I find someone had already set a hive body there. I was furious being that I took two trips to check it out, spent $100 in hive, frames, bottom board, cover and screen to do this and made arrangments with the owner that I would be doing it today. Not to mention that I took a few hours off of work to do it. So I called the owner who is in another state and he had not given anyone but me permission to go on his land and remove the bees. He then called his cousin who lives near by to see if he told anyone to do it and the cousin had not. He called me back and said someone must have heard his cousing talking about the bees being there and they must have taken it upon themselves to go set a hive at the entrance, without blocking the bees entrance into the house the hive setting there was just an obsticle to fly over. The home owner told me to remove the hive body and install my set up which I did. I put the other persons hive about 20 feet away, they just put 10 frames of foundation in and expected the bees to take it up as home. I felt guilty moving it but I had invested a lot of time and money with authorization to do so, and the home owner made it clear that he wanted me to do it. So I set it up and put the cone trap on at 1pm today, I went back at 6pm to check it and it looks like the bees have not found another way to get in and I can see them going in and out of my hive. There were some small clusters setting on the side of the house like they did'nt know what to do. I am going to go back on Sunday and check it's progress. What do you all think did I do the right or wrong thing by moving the unidentified/unauthorized hive? I was going to put a note on it when I went back at 6 explaining everthing and leave my phone# but it was gone, and the cousin said it was not there when he mowed the grass yesterday afternoon so who ever put it there did so either at dark yesterday or first thing this morning.

[peggjam]

I think you did the right thing by contacting the owner and asking before removing the other hivebody. However, you might have made someone mad by doing so, not that that matters much. I would keep a close eye on your setup so it doesn't go for an unauthorized walk. You might want to see if you can find out whose hive it was you moved, so you know where to find your stuff in a few weeks. Also, it is a good idea to mark your name on all of your equipment, every frame, top, inner cover, bottom board. You did the right thing, in the right way.

[Budster]

I think you did ok. The note probably would have been a plus... I would also mark my equipment, because I wouldn't be a bit suprised if this hive grows some legs and wonders off...

[Michael Bush]

I'd definitely put my name on the boxes and frames with an indelible marker. A brand, or course, would be even better. Someone who would trespass to put their box there, might take yours.