[nkhd1]

I said Owl house not Outhouse.
Buddy's neighbor has bees in his owl house 12x12x20tall and 20 feet in a tree. He lives solid 2hr drive. says it is very full of bees that they are not all fitting in the box.
Should I go get the box late one evening and bring it back to my house and hang it up for a couple days then do a cutout?
Or just go on a day off and cut it out there in the morning and forget about the foragers?
I am a little afraid the comb might have a lot of honey and might fall off on the long drive back if I get the box.

Any advice?

 

[beedeetee]

I got a hive out of a wood duck house a few years ago. It was over a pond and was quite a story (almost disaster, but worked out fine), but I took the whole house home and set it on a stand until I had time to get them out.

I took a chair out and sat down by the wood duck house, took the side off and cut out comb. I rubberbanded the comb into empty frames and put them into a box. The bees were very calm and I probably only had 100 dead bees by the time I was done.

 

[bradkeskey]

.....12x12x20 The same dimensions of my owl house. Is it a Barred Owl? This is the first year of four my pair of Barred Owls didnt nest in there. Last few years I had a streaming webcam in there, lots of fun!

Brad

 

[BEES4U]

The owl houses that I have looked at have a clean out door that can be removed. If the swarm has recently arrived just remove the floor and dump them into a brood chamber.
Good luck,
Ernie

 

[nkhd1]

brought them home still in the box without a hitch - or so I thought.
Hung them up in a tree that night and when I looked the next evening all the comb was in the bottom.
Bees were still there. Could not find a queen.
Got a Nuc box and put a frame of brood in it. Dumped the bees in.
They left by the time I got home the next day.

Apparently the colony was new to the owl house and the comb was not strong.
I was afraid this might happen but also expected that if I cut it out before transporting it would fall out of the frames.

Next time i will do the cutout first and then find a place nearby to leave the cut out hive for a month or so.

Oh well - they will do what they want to do and this time it wasn't what I wanted. The nuc picked up a few bees - I will see if they build up.