Wild Bees need to be moved

**Strawhouse** · 08-20-2012, 07:31 PM

Need some input on this situation, My brother works for a large construction company that is always buying up farmland to build subdivisions

The foreman in the company just recently went into an old farmhouse and found what he thinks is 2 beehives. My brother went in a said that they think that there is a hive in the chimney and another in the attic. The house is going to be pushed over in the next few weeks, bees inside or not.
What I want to do is go in a try to get them out.... but how? I know I run a really good chance of destroying the hives but they are going to get destroyed anyways. How should I go about this... should I grab a couple of brood boxes and fill them up with as much comb and bees as I can?
Really need some input!!!

**franktrujillo** · 08-20-2012, 07:39 PM

hey strAW I HAVE DON REMOVALS SEVERAL TIMES ILL PM YOU

**jadell** · 08-20-2012, 07:40 PM

Only thing I can tell you is to search "cut out" on this forum.

**delber** · 08-20-2012, 08:25 PM

One thing I've learned this year is bring a bee vac with you. If you aren't able to work it out to get help then you can look on youtube for cut-outs. I think if you search "JP The bee man" that will bring up some that may help.

**Tom Brueggen** · 08-20-2012, 08:28 PM

It's easier than you might think. The chimney might be tough. But you've got t easy since you don't had to worry about destroying anything or having to fix it. Make sure to bring a container with a lid to put harvested honey in, otherwise you'll get a real mess with robbers. Also bring a bucket of water for washing your hands/tools as needed. It's going to be a big sticky mess.
The primary goal is catching and caging the queen. I get my queen cars from Mann Lake Ltd, but you may have a better source.
I highly advise you get on YouTube and look up "jpthebeeman". He does cutouts in Souther Lousianna (U.S.), and has almost 300 videos. All very helpful.
One key tip is to remove comb one piece at a time, always looking for the queen. If you find her like that, cage her, and place the cage in the brood box. Work carefully and avoid driving the bees deeper into a wall or crevice. The queen will try and slip in a crack, and may not come back out. He sure the last section of comb you leave is a brood comb. If when you get to this piece you have not found the queen, leave it, and walk away for a while. The queen should tend to migrate back to that comb.
A bee vac is a HUGE help! I didn't have it on my first job, but I got lucky and found the queen early. My second job was a disaster in the first attempt, without the vac, so I built

**Tom Brueggen** · 08-20-2012, 08:29 PM

So I built one and returned. In a matter of minutes I had collected almost all the bees, and was able to pack up and go home.
Best of luck. Cutouts are a blast! I've put mine on hold for the birth of my first child, but I have jobs piling up when I'm ready to come back.

**dixiebooks** · 08-21-2012, 07:35 AM

I second (or is it "third") the idea of watching the jpthebeeman vids. Make sure you have a bucket of water for washing the sticky off your hands and tools, a bucket for scrap comb, rubber bands and empty frames for saving brood comb, and a queen catcher. The biggie is catching that queen. -james

**johng** · 08-21-2012, 01:55 PM

You can also go to youtube and watch some videos of cut outs. It will give you an idea of how to do it. Each one is a little different but, in general they are also the same. If that makes any sense. What the bees are in is what makes them different. Once you get to them it is the same process. Search outofbluesky on youtube he has some good videos on cut outs.