[Drifter]

I have a spot they getting a tad nasty and folks want them out now .They have to mow upto that tree and entrance is about 3ft off the ground .

My main question is if I set a weak hive close to the tree and block entrance to a one way will they take over the weak hive and maybe kill the queen ?

Ever try this one Bullseye Bill ?

Drifter

 

[peggjam]

When you trap a swarm out of a building, tree, or whatever, you never get the queen. What your doing in essence is taking all the worker bees that go out to forage, the rest is left in the hole until their numbers dwindle down and they die out. So chances of them taking over your hive and killing the queen is nill. They will only suppliment your hive with more workers. Good luck.

peggjam

 

[The Honey House]

I have, on two different occasions, used the screen wire cone with adjacent nuc box to remove unwanted bees from houses.
On both occasions, the colony inside the house after a few weeks of having it’s field force depleted, absconded.
I captured one swarm as it settled in a nearby bush but the other came to rest in a tree thirty feet high which is too high for me. The swarm I caught had a mature queen.
The hive you leave must not be too weak. It needs enough bees to protect it's queen.
Field bees are old bees and you can't teach old bees new queens.

 

[BULLSEYE BILL]

>Ever try this one Bullseye Bill ?

I have two trap outs going on now. On one I set five medium frames in a deep nuc with two frames of bees and queen. It has sat about four weeks now and is really heavy. They have drawn the mediums out into deeps and the box is full. I still have lots of bees exiting the tree and plan to remove four frames this week, leaving one frame of bees and eggs for them to make a new queen.

The other I just set. I am using one frame of eggs and bees in the trap.

When I see very few bees exiting the tree I will pull the cone and seal up the tree.

The screen cone I use has one of the commercial exit cones used in excape boards taped onto the end. It has never been pluged up when I check the tree.

To answer your question, they may kill your queen but not always. A frame of eggs covered with bees is the safe bet. Be sure the bait hive is closer to the tree entrance than the exit end of the screen cone.

 

[nursebee]

I read somewhere that tree hives were difficult without cutting open the tree. What is left behind will attract a swarm. My sole attempt at this was a failure so now I tell people I have to cut the tree down.

I had someone call me about a month ago for such a tree. After I told her I'd have to cut, she confessed I was the 6th beekeeper she had talkedt o and all of us kept giving her the wrong answer...ticked me off.

 

[BULLSEYE BILL]

That is what I tell people too, but when they persist I shoot them a high number to "try". The ones I have going on now are not out of my way and after the initial setup only need checked once a week.

I am careful to pick my trees, if they have multipal entrances, forget it. After reducing the bees numbers, I screen and roof tar the opening shut, I don't want people calling me about robbers thinking I didn't do what we agreed to.

 

[Drifter]

What my gameplan is , screen and escape cone the tree so the openning to escape will be up . Place hive at the bottom edge of the screen on a barrel or stack of cement blocks . The entrance is about 3 foot off the ground and appears as the only one . That sound about right or can I fine tune it better ? My cone is a reworked Dadant escape cone . I put a flipper on it cause had some going back in on me once .

He saw the swarm in another tree about a month ago . Now it is in this tree that he has to mow up aginst .

Drifter

 

[BULLSEYE BILL]

With a little luck I think it will work. You will have to check it often the first couple of days to check your 'flipper'.

The toughest part is getting a good seal on the screen. The bees always seem to find a way around it. Duct tape and a staple gun are your friends.

 

[Henry]

I had a call from a logger that wanted bees from a tree he had cut down removed so he could cut it up. After arriving with high hopes the first thing I saw was about a dozen or more bees with chewed off wings crawling around on the ground.I figure a load of mites so forget about the bees ad go for the honey. After a lot of sawing and sweat got the honey home and strained it to find over 20% moisture. what a waste of time.

 

[honeyman46408]

"The toughest part is getting a good seal on the screen"

I have a screen that is glued to a piece of #8 (Liquid Nails) wire for a flat surface and then I make a (gasket) of carpet backing (foam) them screw strips of wood on the outside to seal the screen to the tree wall ect. but like Bill said you will have to check often because the girls WILL FIND A WAY in, I just put one on this morning bout time to go check

 

[Drifter]

Going to hit it this weekend . I will keep you posted . I have a new box of staples and a couple square yards of #8 cloth waiting along with a semi weak hive that need some more buzzy bodies .

Drifter

 

[naturebee]

> The toughest part is getting a good seal on the screen

Yes! Can be difficult to get a good seal on tree bark surfaces. I place steel wool under the screen when stapled, makes a great chew proof seal.

Had trouble getting a seal on the cone on my last job, so I used a variation of the cone method:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/naturebee/detail?.dir=d450&.dnm=dd98.jpg&.src=ph

Pipe with steel wool stuffed around:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/naturebee/detail?.dir=d450&.dnm=8281.jpg&.src=ph

The plan here is to drill a ¼ inch hole 5 feet or so above the entrance, and introduce a shot of honey robber. This should prompt the queen and young bees to exit real fast. A ¼ hole will easily heal up, and the tree will not be harmed by it.

 

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Nice photos Naturebee! Your the busy one

 

[peggjam]

That must have been a fun swarm to collect from the wall!!! Just took one out of an old schoolhouse, about half that size.

peggjam

 

[naturebee]

I'm in the middle of this removal

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/naturebee/detail?.dir=d450&.dnm=cb8b.jpg&.src=ph

But the guy shut off the power and will be tearing it down tomorrow, so I had to quit the job. The comb is full in the 6 inch deep walls, and the population of bees was quite large. The cone method didn’t work well because the nest was full and the bees weren’t foraging and would not leave the nest. He’s gonna destroy the house with a high lift and push the part with the bees in to the side for me to get later. Still need to locate the queen.

Interesting that this feral colony built vertical comb and betwixt comb, and very little horizontal comb. I have seen vertical comb before in feral colonies. It must be genetic, so I want to find this queen and try inserting foundation so the cells are vertical to see what happens. Vertical comb is said to suppress varroa, so perhaps this is why some of these ferals are surviving.

Here’s some stuff on vertical comb on this link:
http://www.beedata.com/apis-uk/newsletters04/apis-uk0204.htm

 

[peggjam]

The swarm I removed on Wed had veritcal comb as well, but I think it was built by the swarm that died out during the winter. It was built from the inside wall to the outside wall, and wouldn't let the bees easiy shift to new stores without going all the way to the top and then over and down onto new stores. Could be the reason they died out. I did find the queen and she is a nice big queen. The workers were dark, but she was more of a golden color. It's too bad you didn't get them out before the tore the building down.

peggjam

 

[Drifter]

Tree is about 14 to 16 in diameter . So far have found 4 more holes around the bottom . It is a wonder the tree is still standing it is so rotten . I think have them screened out now and will take a hive over tonight for them to take up housekeeping in .

Drifter

 

[Robert Hawkins]

Drifter, bee careful. In the Wildland Fire service we call those trees "Widowmakers" for obvious reasons.

Hawk

 

[Drifter]

Yepper can see why Robert . If a guy was trying to cut this begger would be real tough to figure which way it would drop or if even stayed in one piece in the process . Can also see why they go up in flames right quick too . Be like a built in chimmney .

So far the bee check valve is working real well . I will try to get some pictures to post of it in operation . They look like striped popcorn popping out .

Drifter

 

[Drifter]

Finally got back to get a picture , only one came out good enough to post . http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/Climber/varmints008.jpg

This is a Dadant escape cone I modified as had several could get right back in . After I got the other holes all blocked there were over 100 bees on the screen . I hope they will stay blocked , only time will tell .

Drifter