Cut out in Womans Sunday class.

[DJS]

A local church has found out that I am a beekeeper through a friend that attends their church, and they want me to remove a hive of bees that are in the celling of their womans sunday school class room(been there atleast a year). They are in the celling of the first floor, the outside of the building is mostely brick and can not get to them from there. The members of the church are willing to replace the sheet rock in the celling if I can get the bees out(at least it there will be ac in the building). I know where they are comming in from the outside, and know where they are in the celling(cut a small hole and the bees started coming out fast). I warn them that I am a new beekeeper and have not done this before but have read and talked to several people about it and that it would be messy.

My questions are.
1. What tools do I need? (going to borrow a bee vac or make one this week).
2. Do you suggest using a smoker? I told them that I might need to use one and they did not have a problem with it.
3. After getting bees and comb out and put in a box do I leave the box in the class room or take it ouside near the entrance so the rest of the bees can go in.
4. How long do I need to leave the bees there before moving them to my yard.

Thanks for any advise from me and I am sure the ladies in that class will thank you.

[Rader Sidetrack]

After getting bees and comb out and put in a box do I leave the box in the class room or take it ouside near the entrance so the rest of the bees can go in.

Take the box outside and put it close to the former entrance in the brick wall. You will need to seal the hole in the brick that the bees are using. The returning foragers should generally be attracted to the new box by pheromones from the bees in the box.

How long do I need to leave the bees there before moving them to my yard.

By dusk most of the bees should be in the new box. At that time you could screen them in and move the box to your yard. You might want to leave another empty box in its place at the church to see if any stragglers show up the next day or so.

[Intheswamp]

If they're in the ceiling of the first floor then it's a good chance they're in the floor of the 2nd floor. If there is a floor above them it would probably be easier on everybody if you went in from above.

A couple of positives of working from above: If there's carpeting you can pull the carpet back, cut the floor section out and when through put everything back down fairly easily and probably not much cost. You won't have to work from a ladder.

Bring plenty of empty buckets, a bucket of water, and towels.

Just a thought.

Ed

[BigGun]

You want to make a one way funnel to keep them from coming back in if they go out. Kind of like a minnow trap. I did one recently and I chased bees back and forth all afternoon trying to brush them into a bucket. I was afraid of using a smoker inside due to starting a fire. The bee vac would have been pure gold.

[Heath Ebert]

I just did my first cutout (a railroad tie retaining wall), and the bee vac was absolutely a necessity! Here was my list:

1. two 5 gallon buckets with lids- one for good honeycomb, the other for waste comb (trashbag works for this too)
2. bee vac
3. preferred method of attaching brood comb to frames (I use topbar, so banana clips and zipties)
4. good serrated edge knife for cutting down comb
5. smoker
6. bucket of soapy water for ongoing cleanup
7. several towel and washcloths'
8. bee brush
9. cutting tools for opening hive (for me it was a chainsaw)
10. plastic tarp to put everything on
11. powerful flashlight
12. a scope comes in handy for looking around without making a big opening.

I took some prybars that came in handy too.
Good luck!

[Mr.Beeman]

Heath has a pretty good list to follow.
For sure smoke the bees a little and give then at least 5 minutes before you open anything up.
Place the hive outside near their original entrance after you seal their original entrance.
Leave it there (secured well) for a couple of days to make sure you get them all and collect them at night.
Pics would be great of the cut out!

[Mr.Beeman]

Also, I good surface to work on such as a 6' resin (or similar) folding table will help a great deal.

[tsmullins]

Thanks for any advise from me and I am sure the ladies in that class will thank you.

Have you considered a trapout? It will take longer, and this time of year, even in Texas, you will have to feed. Just throwing out another option.

Shane

[Nantom670]

I always like to watch an example before I do something for the first time. If not in real time, I look for good videos and there are several on Utube. This pair does them all the time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eik02...hannel&list=UL and you can see they have several that you can watch. Also, JPthebeeman has over 200 videos where he does removals. Here's a good one and you can watch several of his to notice that he carrys some water to keep his hands from getting too sticky, rubber bands to place the comb into the frames and he is always watching to catch the queen and placing her into the box for removal which will draw the other bees to the box, hope this helps, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eik02...hannel&list=UL

[Paul McCarty]

Churches can be an issue - you must work around their schedule. I tried one once in the roof of the Sanctuary and after the initial trap-out failed, I could not do a cut-out as they had too many services too often and could not stop.

[DJS]

Thanks for the all suggestions, watch the videos Nantom670 you posted seen one of them. I built a bee vac this moring, seen one I liked on utube that uses deep boxes with a few other boxes with screens. Wish me luck will be doing the cut out Thur, one of the members of the church will be there to give me a hand.

[Paul McCarty]

Just go slowly and methodically, pull a comb, vac the bees, and strap the comb in a frame. One at a time. Can be quite a hand-full alone. Always check the pressure of your vac after you first start to make sure you are not killing bees.

[julysun]

One Beekeeper at my club always stuffs the area of the removed bees with insulation (Glass Wool) when finished. Insures some new swarm will not re-enter the space. Made sense to me.

[DJS]

Sounds good to me, I will suggest that they fill it wiht insulation after we get it clean out.

[DJS]

I forgot one question, is it better to seal up the hole the are coming in from before or after removing the hive.

[Paul McCarty]

After, definitely. Would not want to do a cut-out with a plugged up hole. Just remember to go back at night or very early in the morning and vacuum up the stragglers (very important as this is usually when you get the queen).

[DJS]

Completed cut out yesterday, there was a lot more honey dripping out of the hive then I thought there would be. Had 2 1/2 gallons after filtering it. The shop vac I made worked better the I thought it would and did not seem to the bees much damage. Did have to cut 3 different holes in celling to get all of the hive and seal up all the holes.
The bad part of the job is I never found the queen and did not see any larva or eggs. Some capped brood but not much for the size of the hive. Found 1 queen cell open. I dont know if they had swarmed and the new queen has not started laying yet if there is one. The comb that I moved into the hive was in small pices and not much capped brood.
Does anyone have an opion if I should move some frames with eggs from another box and see if they will make a new queen or wait to see sign of the existing queen?
Still have boxes on Robo vacume system how long should I wait to put them on a bottom board and top on it?

[Paul McCarty]

Not uncommon to find a queenless feral hive. I have run across them before.