[Calbears94]

I did my first cutout this past Friday for a swarm that took up in the balcony of a second story condo. The owner wanted to exterminate them but Terminex would not do it so he called me to remove for free... The bees had moved into the area between his grill cover and his grill and had built 7 rows of comb with 4 containing brood. I cut out the comb and scooped uP the bees along with queen and transported to my yard in a box. When I got home I moved them into a 5 frame nuc and rubber banded the comb to 3 frames and dumped the bees in.. I did a hive check today so 2 days later to peek on them and they were infested with ants plus they had abandoned all the brood I rubber banded and all the bees where huddled in the corner and a side of the nuc with the queen. Not sure what to do or if I did something wrong? Any ideas???

 

[Gilligan]

Maybe, rubber band the comb in place on location, keep it all a hive essentially.

I don't know.

So he was willing to pay terminex to kill them but not you for removing them?!

 

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

Break it down so there is a bee covering all the brood you gave them. If there is excess, give it to another hive, or discard it. Reduce entrance so they can guard what you leave them.

It is possible that you disrupted them too much, too often. ( cutout into a box, then into a nuc, then hive check). Perhaps would have been better to cutout into your hive, put bees on banded brood, move and leave for a few days. If you can clean up the area of the cutout, (remove all comb and wood that has honey or comb on it), you could leave the hive overnight. Any bees you did not get will join those in the hive.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

cchoganjr

 

[Calbears94]

I didn't charge because I wanted the bees so I figured it was wash because it saved me money too.... I did rubber band to empty frames they just didn't go back to it...

 

[Calbears94]

Break it down so there is a bee covering all the brood you gave them. If there is excess, give it to another hive, or discard it. Reduce entrance so they can guard what you leave them.

It is possible that you disrupted them too much, too often. ( cutout into a box, then into a nuc, then hive check). Perhaps would have been better to cutout into your hive, put bees on banded brood, move and leave for a few days. If you can clean up the area of the cutout, (remove all comb and wood that has honey or comb on it), you could leave the hive overnight. Any bees you did not get will join those in the hive.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

cchoganjr

Thanks Cleo I had the nuc with me but was worried about time so decided to move to nuc at home... In hindsight your right it was too much probably and now worried if they will stay because they abandoned the brood so at this point it's all dead correct?

 

[Mr.Beeman]

Brood salvage is temperature dependent. Ca must be pretty warm I'm guessing... even overnight. By all means, get rid of the ants. That's their biggest problem right now.
As stated before, you are providing a specialized service just like the extermination company. I ask the potential customer (who wants it done free) if they would accept not getting paid for working four hours. Once you put it in terms they can relate to, it's a different story alltogether.

 

[Michael Bush]

I think one of the common mistakes with cutouts is not being ruthless enough in throwing away comb. The bees need to have no more comb than they can cover.

 

[Calbears94]

I think one of the common mistakes with cutouts is not being ruthless enough in throwing away comb. The bees need to have no more comb than they can cover.

That make sense but they seemed to have forgotton all the brood... They are all crowded on the 2 frames with foundation I included...

 

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

If they are ignoring the brood, it likely means that the brood is no longer viable. I would get it out of there so they don't have to spend a lot of time and effort cleaning it out.

If you have another good brood comb you could give it to them so they would not have to draw comb out before the queen can start laying.

cchoganjr

 

[Calbears94]

If they are ignoring the brood, it likely means that the brood is no longer viable. I would get it out of there so they don't have to spend a lot of time and effort cleaning it out.

If you have another good brood comb you could give it to them so they would not have to draw comb out before the queen can start laying.

cchoganjr

That makes sense and I will pull out the dead brood.... I gave sugar blocks so hopefully they start building soon again because I don't have any extra brood frames....