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I had a tree trimmed that had a beehive in it. The bees are now laying outside the trunk of the tree (the hollow part was trimmed away) and I'm wondering if there's a way to entice them into a "box" to save them. Its cold today (in the low 40's) but in a day or two it will be back in the 70's. Any ideas?
Go a picture? The only thing I can think of is chuck all the bees you can in a bucket and see if you can find the queen. I guess the bees are cold stunned and still alive? If you have access to the comb break off a couple and put in a cardboard box. Take the bees and comb in to a dry warm place like a basement or work shed with a heater and see if they will "wake" up. IF they survive, on a warm day above 50 degrees take them back to the bee tree. Frame up the opening with fencing and dark plastic. If they're dead, they're dead, rob the honey before the skunks get into em. Sounds like no hope.
What part of the country are you in? I'm guess a warm part if you're expecting 70s soon and have 40s now. Usually to get them out of a tree you have to do a cutout and that is a rather complex undertaking and really only does well in the spring when they will have a chance to repair the damage and get food.
Hi Stacy, if you don't want people to know where you live, you could put you're USDA plant zone in you're signature file. A lot of beekeeping questions are dependent on climate.
According to the size of the tree, I once sat a whole section of a tree with the bees in it into 2 deeps and left them till spring and then I cut them out. I also threw landscape cloth over the top of an open tree once and put a cover over it so rain wouldnt run in and they made it till spring so I could cut them out.
Hello Stacey,
Like others have said, a picture would be very helpful. Perhaps you could "section" off the hollow part, and put some type of covering over any large openings. Then perhaps orient the section the same way it was on the tree. Then you could move them in the spring when they cold more easily recover.
Also, you might want to ask some other local beekeepers for some opinions and assistance. The other local beeks may have resources and experience with cutouts.
Shane