LATE trap-out

[DLMKA]

A picture was posted today on our bee club facebook page of a swarm that had moved into a crushed hot water heater earlier this summer and they wanted to know what to do to get the hive through the winter to relocate them into a hive in the spring. Given the size of the tank and location I don't think they'll survive the winter. I was thinking that I could do a trap-out now using one of my lighter, queenright hives as the catch hive then let them rob the hive out and build up some extra stores. I just am not sure that I have enough time to complete a trap-out and rob the parent hive out before it gets so cold the bees can't or won't fly. I'm in central IL, we can expect a killing frost anytime in the next 2 weeks. The other option is to just leave it alone and see what happens come spring.

[gkervitsky]

I would leave them where they are. A picture is worth 1000 words, approximate volume of the colony, information on how long they have been there, and quality of the nectar forage from the time they swarmed would be good info to have. aproximate wt of tank might be a good metric. In any case, I put their probability of survival as very low if you do anything other than leave them. Depending on the size of the colony and the estimate on their honey stores you could better decide what to do. Feeding them would probably be a good idea. Whether it is liquid or solid might be the question. Good luck.

[wildforager]

I would take that tank home to my bee yard and insulate it for winter. Then you can hope for the best and do the trapout in spring. If they're all dead in spring you have some free wax and some scrap metal to boot!