Now thats an impressive hive, good luck taking them down. Great pics also, take pleanty of pics and post ........ Thanks
King of all Swarms
2
Got a swarm call today. Well got 4 of them. But, this was the last one of the evening. Guy called me this afternoon and said that he had talked with another swarm guy that would not come out because he had yellow jackets and not honey bee's. He was so thankful that I was willing to come out. Well when I got there at 9 he showed me the hole they went in.
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Then he took us into his basement to see the rest of the hive. Apparently 5 years ago he saw a cartoon like swarm fly by into the hole. He said it was just like watching a cartoon. Don't quite understand why he did not contact someone 5 years ago but, that is good for me. He said they came shooting out the hole and hit him in the year after year while he was cutting the lawn. He did not mind they never stung him. Odd gentleman.
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I left it at his house. All my Bee vacuum boxes were full from the other swarms. So we are going back tomorrow. I am going to put a tube covering the hole on the outside to catch the ones that deciede to run. Then we will vac up and remove the inside ones layer by layer and put the comb with brood in them into frames and a deep. I figure this will be a 2-3 deep project. Will probably get a bit of honey also.
Then he took us into his basement to see the rest of the hive. Apparently 5 years ago he saw a cartoon like swarm fly by into the hole. He said it was just like watching a cartoon. Don't quite understand why he did not contact someone 5 years ago but, that is good for me. He said they came shooting out the hole and hit him in the year after year while he was cutting the lawn. He did not mind they never stung him. Odd gentleman.
I left it at his house. All my Bee vacuum boxes were full from the other swarms. So we are going back tomorrow. I am going to put a tube covering the hole on the outside to catch the ones that deciede to run. Then we will vac up and remove the inside ones layer by layer and put the comb with brood in them into frames and a deep. I figure this will be a 2-3 deep project. Will probably get a bit of honey also.
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best bunch of yellow jackets I have ever seen .
That will be a dandy cut out for sure.
G3
.That will be a dandy cut out for sure.
G3
Nice looking colony, should be fairly easy since all the comb is completely exposed I love cut-outs like this.
I love cut-outs like this.
4
I did not plan to charge anything. But, the guy insisted on giving us some money. He gave us a Benjamin. I will give it to my son that worked with me as my helper all day. Do others charge for this.? I think if I need to cut wood and siding Sheetrock and stuff there should be a charge. This was just such a cool hive I was glad to do it.
Took 6 hours to cut out this monster hive. Filled 4 deeps with comb 8 frames each with stuff cut out. Got 3 gallons or so of honey. I think there were 3-4 packages worth of Bee's that I vacuumed up safety and transplanted into my apiary. I think we are up to 33 now. This week should add a few more swarms.
So we were running late and did not get to the hive before they went out for the day. They shot out like rockets out the hole. Got hit a few times in the head. They are pretty nice bee's.
So we put a box with a tube to catch the bee's as they left. This was a bad plan.
3
Found several queen cells so this might have been getting ready to swarm. Never found the queen. Hope she survives.
Cut layer by layer of comb and vacuumed up the bee's on each layer.
Vacuumed up over a dozen pounds of bee's. These bee's were very gentle. Did not get stung one time. They did not even get mad that I was pealing there hive away and vacuuming up there sisters. Nicest hive I have ever seen. I hope that the queen lives. If she does not I am going to let them make a new queen with the brood that I saved so it is this hives genetics.
2
Pretty much done sticky mess on the ceiling still. Owner is going to clean that part up.
So as the sun set all the girls were vacuumed up. We put the vacuum spout below the hole and one by one they got sucked down the tube. LEft the vac running for 30 minutes or so as we cleaned up and put everything back in the truck.
We left and went home put the last box of bee's into an existing small hive I had as a newspaper combine. It was easily 2 pounds of bee that I added so that hive will get a jump start.
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