I plan on removing some bees from a building and wanted to get started this Thursday 3/3/05. I planned on using the cone method to start but do not have any brood comb to put into a hive box to attract the bees as they come out. Is there something else I can put into a hive box that might attract them? I have some empty comb and comb with honey that I could use. To get brood comb would require removing boxes off an existing hive in cold weather ( nights down to teens and daytime highs in low to mid 30's)and I prefer not to expose a good hive to these conditions right now. Any suggestions? Also, the building owner wants the bees out soon as he plans on remodeling the area where the bees are.
If he plans on remodeling it, can you tear into the wall?
You can't do much until the bees are flying.
In my opinion the cone method is mostly useful to depopulate the hive. You seal it up with the cone and brush the beard of bees off each evening into a box and take it back home and dump them into a box there. When there are hardly any bees on the cone anymore, it's time to tear into the wall and get them out, or bring a strong hive back and try to set it off robbing out the weak hive in the wall.
The only people I know of, who have claimed to actually get all the bees to leave the house, had open brood and bees and drawn comb in an old box to lure them out with.
IMHO: Ask him if he can wait till the weather is warmer and the bees are flying. If he is going to remodel, like Mike suggested, try to talk him into allowing you to remove just what you need to and remove them that way. I had to turn down an extraction and reschudle it till next month, they called around the first of this month, just to cold and wet. If possiable to ensure the survivableity of the colony wait till it is warmer and necture is on. Next month would be better for all concerned, and the results will be more satifiying.
Forgot something, leaving the honey comb and any honey in the walls will attract pests; roaches, mice, rats, ants and a wide viriety of other vermin; plus when it gets hot, and I know of Ill. summers (lived in Dubuque for awhile) the wax will melt and seep thru the walls, and into the foundatation.
The building with the bees is 350 miles South from my home. It belongs to my brother and I was planning on visiting him this week anyway. He said the bees were flying until today when it got cooler there ( Southern Missouri). I was thinking since I was going there anyway I would install a cone and install a hive w/o any bees or brood comb. I was planning on going down again in about 3-5 weeks to remove the hive - hopefully with lots of bees in it - and tear open the wall (scheduled for remodel anyway) and remove the remaining bees.
Well, I was going to offer the use of my bee-vac which is specifically designed for things like this, but then I mapquested Pawnee I found out just how far south of Peoria it is!
Your best bet is to do it all at once, that way the brood will continue and eggs will be laid, causeing a stronger colony and better sucess rate. By using a cone you'll weaken the coliny and possiably ruin the brood thus lowering your chances of the colony surviveing. That is MHO.
If you're willing to drive up here to get it and bring it back when you're done (or just buy it from me), you're welcome to use the bee-vac I have. It's built out of scrap chipboard, so it's a bit heavier, but design works just the same.
Thanks east_stingray...I will keep that in mind. Actually, my daughter is working at the hospital in Peoria for the next five weeks and always comes hom on the weekends. Maybe...
I can get back in touch with you.
OK, on 3/3/05 I placed a medium super with comb beside the entrance to the building and blocked their entrance with a wire mesh cone. My brother advised this morning the bees are going into my box at night. I am concerned the box may not be large enough to hold them all. I am planning to go back to get the box and cut open the wall to remove the remaining bees and comb in about 10 days. Do you think I need to go earlier? Will the bees in my box swarm if they do not have a queen or get too crowded? How soon do I need to get a queen with them to start a colony? They are carring in pollen now and I put a plastic bag with suger water on top of the bars. This will not last long I'm sure. Any and all suggestions appreciated.
<<Will the bees in my box swarm if they do not have a queen or get too crowded? >>
They won't swarm without a queen, but if they have brood they'll start to make one. I don't think crowding will be an issue yet, unless this hive is HUGE.
<<How soon do I need to get a queen with them to start a colony?>>
If you're going to cut it out of the wall, there's a good chance you'll get the queen then.
If you want to wait and let the cone completely remove the bees from the wall, I'd put a caged queen in the medium next time you go.
There was no brood in the super. Just comb and two of the combs had honey in them on one side. i would assume they will carry in pollen ans store it in the comb? How soon do i need to finish the job? I have a pictue of the swarm that went into the building last summer. It was huge. I will try to scan it in...
I don't have a web address to post the picture. Can anyone advised how I can post this picture? Sorry, guess I'm not up-to-speed on all the internet stuff yet.
<<i would assume they will carry in pollen ans store it in the comb? >>
I'm not sure, there won't be any brood for them to feed, but I would assume they would store the pollen.
<<How soon do i need to finish the job?>>
The problem is that there's nothing to "hold" them in the super. No brood, no queen. Without those, they're just workers waiting to die. They'll probably keep trying to get back in the wall by day, and go into the medium at night. They might drift away entirely if there's another hive nearby.
The sooner you can get a queen or brood in the medium, the better.
<<By a caged queen do you mean a queen in a cage like they ship in a package? Problem is I do not have an extra queen right now.>>
If it's not the queen from in the wall, you would want to cage her just like in a package.
But if you're going to be cutting them out of the wall in a week or so, and they haven't found a new way back into the wall, then I'd wait, they should be fine until then.
I plan on cutting the wall this Thursday, March 10. I am making some hinged frames to enclose any brood comb I can save. I am also taking a bee vac I made in case I can't brush them into a box.
It is done. The removal of the bees from the wall of the building went pretty much as planned. When i removed the exterior sheeting on the wall I was amazed at the comb they had built. It hung from the top plate of the four foot wall between two studs in sheets with honey on both sides and brood comb in the middle. I saved some honey comb in wire, hinged frames and also some brood comb. The brood cells were spotty and only a few remained.
I could not find the queen and am unsure of her fait. She either did not exist, was killed in the extraction or survived with the other bees I sucked up.
My bee vac worked perfectly with only about a dozen bees killed in the box. There had to be at least five lbs of bees in that box when I was finished.
I have them set up at home now in a hive box with their home comb (brood and honey) in the lower box and a hive body with foundation on top. I also gave them sugar water.
I plan on leaving them to settle in for about 10 days and then see if I can find a queen in the box. If not, will they make a queen from existing brood?
Any comments or recommended actions would be appreciated. thanks
If there are eggs three days old they will try to make a queen from them. But there may not be enough drones around this time of year. You're near Springfield IL? I wouldn't expect any drones fying this early there.
I would suspect the eggs to be more than three days old. The temps are unseasonably cold here now. I have a queen on order to be shipped 4/21 that I planned on using on a split. Would I be able to hold off for that queen and introduce her to this queenless colony - if it is queenless.
It's hard to say. The bees will lose morale and dwindel without a queen, but if it's the best you can do, then you do what you can. Do you have a hive you can combine them with if they turn out to be queenless? You can wait and see if there is any brood in a couple of weeks.
I have one strong colony now that was a #3 starter package last year and they have done great, except they still have mites. i treated them last fall with Apistan but still have mites on a drop board. i will watch this new colony and check it in about 10 days for new brood. If no brood then I can combine the two colonies. That would be one large colony.
If the colony is queenless, you might want to try Drapers bees in PA: www.draperbee.com
They were kind enough to send me an EMERGENCY queen for a queenless situation I had about two years ago. I got the queen the next day! Some of the Hawaii queeners (like Kona) may be able to help too.
Thanks also to M. Bush and all the others for all your advice and information. This has been a great learning experience for me and the feedback from all of you who contributed was an inspiration and good help.
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