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Bulldozer bees

3K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Cleo C. Hogan Jr 
#1 ·
A friend has a bulldozer in a field. He said it has had bees in it for over ten years and I am welcome to get them out if possible. The bees are somewhere under the floor pans and above the belly of the dozer. I have only seen the bees using one entrance but I would not think that the area is sealed in any way. So I am not sure if all exits could feasibly be sealed off. The bees are going in through the treads into a hole but dont really know how many other holes there are.

I would love to have these survivors...any suggestions.
 
#2 ·
In my opinion. I'd leave them alone and setup a bunch of swarm traps. If they've been there for 10 years, they must be throwing some really nice swarms. Unless you have access to some very heavy tools and the knowledge to dismantle a rusty dozer.
Better to catch some of there swarms than risk tearing them up.
 
#3 ·
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?263022-How-to-remove-a-hive-from-inside-a-D8
Here's an old thread same subject- I posted there how to get down a D8 belly pan if that's the way you want to go. If you can't start the machine raising the blade is going to be a job unless you have a backhoe or something to lift it with. Look in this forum for posts concerning CC Hogans trapping method, you could potentially get three or four starts per year by this method without hurting the donor hive.
Bill
 
#5 ·
I have swarm traps around but no luck so far. I would not mind the starts, but I would like to raise bees from that queen. I guess I can try a trap out, but it seems that there would really have to be more than one entrance...Don't know for sure.
I read about 11 pages of post trying to find the exact mechanics or the Hogan trap out... Does anyone have a specific link?
 
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