Little home for bees

paintingpreacher

Discussion Starter · #1 · May 11, 2014

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Was called by a farmer about bees in a five gallon metal bucket. The bucket was upside down in some low ground about half buried. It looked like it had been there several years. I was able to pull up the bucket and carry it home. It was filled with bullet holes so the bees had numerous entrances. These bees swarmed a couple days after I carried them home and I captured them in a nuc. Yesterday I had time so I decided to move what was left from the bucket into a nuc. I was amazed when I opened the bucket it was over half filled with dried up mud. These bees probably had about 2 gallons of space and looking at the old black comb had been there for some time. This tells me it does not take much space for bees to survive in my area. I once took a colony out of a small bird house that had been there for months. Anyone else find bees in a small home?

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green2btree

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Joined Sep 9, 2010

274 Posts

#2 · May 11, 2014 (Edited)

A friend had an old colony in a well pump housing. About the same size. This was near Cleveland, Ohio. I think the only way they made it through the winters, was that the water moving through the piping was a constant 52 degrees and so was moderating the winter temps. They had their own private geothermal heating system, probably just enough to keep them from freezing, but not enough for them to be active and use up their limited stores.

JC