[GrimSinner]

Hi! I have some bees that have decided live on the outside of my house, under the eves. Withing the last week, they have built quite a bit of comb hanging down and I would like to remove them from my house and put them into a beehive box. This will be my first time doing anything like this and I would like to know what is the best way to get the queen and bees into the box with all that comb on my house? Do I just cut down all the comb and drop the comb and swarm into the box and then try and brush off the bees and queen, and then the bees start over building in the new beehive?

Thanks for any help on this.
Grim

 

[JWPalmer]

Grimsinner, you came to the right place to pose your question, but before anyone can answer, we need to know approximately where you live. In most of the US for example, it is too late to move bees around. But there are options.

 

[GrimSinner]

South Texas farmland on the coast near Port Lavaca, TX.

 

[JWPalmer]

The best course of action is to contact a local beekeeper and explain what you would like to do. Texas Apiary Inspection Service lists 5 beekeepers that do cutouts in Calhoun County. Three of them have the right area code. The swarm looks large and has made good progress on building comb. Most if not all should be salvageable by an experience beek. However, Your climate, USDA zone 9b, is not that much warmer than mine,7a, and the prospects of this swarm actually making it through a cold winter are not really all that good, especially for a new beekeeper. But they will most likely perish exposed as they are so getting them into a hive at least gives them a chance at survival.

Calhoun	Agustin Molina (361) 389-5556
Calhoun	Benson Shaffer (361) 676-9365
Calhoun	Cary Voss (361) 648-8114
Calhoun	Glenn Kveton (210) 219-8896
Calhoun	Russ Schroeder (325) 386-5545

Watch 628 Dirt Rooster on Youtube to get an idea what all is involved in doing a cutout.

 

[G3farms]

If it gets too cold too quick to do a cut out, you can always wait until spring weather.
Out in the open to the elements, winter might freeze them out. You could take some thin plywood and build a box around them in place, and let them winter on the eve of the house

 

[JWPalmer]

G3farms, you think like I do. Building a box around the comb was the option I was thinking about in my first response.

 

[Oldtimer]

Hasn't got much honey and doesn't look like it will survive winter to me even if boxed.

Me, I would put them in a proper hive now, where they can be fed, treated for mites, all that stuff. If resources could be found, I would put them in a hive with a frame or two of brood and another couple of drawn combs, and discard most of the wild combs so the bees are straight into a viable hive.

No room for mistakes with winter approaching though, like the others I would recommend getting an experienced beekeeper to do it.

 

[GrimSinner]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to call a beekeeper from the above list on Monday and talk it over. Thanks!