[GRIMBEE]

Last fall I went into winter with 4 strong hives. They all went deadout during winter, numbers droppred bigtime in November for some unknown reason.

I did not order bees because I did not think I would need any, now its too late.
My hives also threw swarms in fall which made numbers drop, My question is I have 1 swarm that went behind the electric meter into the wall of the house and a cut out is not an option. I have access to the garage to smoke them so,

Do you think its possible to put a empty nuc with drawn frames and put it at the entrance, then smoke em all thru the garage side into the nuc, then close them up for a couple of days, and also seal behind the meter so they cant go in there again? I also learned that the honeybees are attracted and sensitive to electric fields and the meter stays warm.

 

[concrete-bees]

ive thought about this for a bit and thinking about placing a screen funnel on the entrance and if you can get above the hive a bit and pour in BEE GO - or BEE ROBBER with smoke

this would make the bees grab honey and propare to move out and the bee go would force them out - place a nuc or hive body outside to give them a new home ???

this might work but id wait at least till April - also order a queen - and try to force the bees out the day before the queen gets to you - that way they can be queenless for 24hrs - this might work - never tried it but if i had to that is what id try -

 

[Ben Brewcat]

You won't be able to smoke bees out of a colony. Some would certainly be driven out temporarily, but they won't abandon brood, stores, etc. Even if you trapped them out, the problem will get worse. Then you have melting wax, dripping honey ON your electrical junction . I would absolutely get them out of there... they won't chew through Romex, but having a colony on the box is a problem. Humidity, wax, bees... yikes.

Why is a cutout not an option? I did one exactly like you describe a couple years ago. I would think that removing the drywall would be straightforward, and then you can vacuum/brush the bees, cut out the comb into frames, and seal the entrance/repair the drywall. If you're not comfortable playing with electricity (I mean really comfortable, it'll be live at the meter even if you shut off your main breaker), get an electrician to turn it off for you. Then CAREFULLY start to work... don't just stab in with a recip saw, but pry off the drywall and cautiously do the removal, making sure not to nick or yank romex. Once you've got the colony out, have the electrician check that everything's OK and clean, and fire her up.

If a cutout isn't your cup of mead, find a local beek with experience and have them do it with or for you (be sure to watch and help, cutouts are an amazing learning experience). But the take-away message IMO is 1) you need those bees and the colony out of that meter cavity, 2) ground-level cutouts are not that big a deal, just don't pierce or pull any cables and have an electrician help you. Heck, give him a veil/gloves and he can walk you through it!

 

[GRIMBEE]

Its 53 degrees outside and I need to do this before they build up anymore.

 

[mike haney]

look at walter kelly's swarm trapper. it would appear to be what you need, but you will still need to remove the comb or another swarm/moths/mice will move in. good luck,mike

 

[Kieck]

I don't know how weather conditions or honey flows run in Connecticut at this time of year. I would suspect that the hive may be pretty low on stores at this time of year. If you plan to do a trap out, now may be the best time, then seal it up so nothing else can get it.

At least as far as I'm concerned, some wax in one of my walls wouldn't cause me the level of concern that stores of honey and pollen would cause me.

 

[USCBeeMan]

One of my trapouts last year was behind a huge electric box that had all of the meters for that building. Trapped out those girls.

 

[GRIMBEE]

How does the Walter Kelly bee trapout box work exactly?

 

[honeyman46408]

Therre is a thread going about the trap out box

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237649

 

[GRIMBEE]

the bees are still there and i need to kill them immediately

 

[bbbbeeman]

if you kell them and dont seal every crack and corner of the wall you will have ants roaches, wax mouths ,shbs to injoy the walls contents after the poisen is gone , but untell then the rotten smell ofthe dead bees will be with you. some people would no pay for trapout and called three weeks later for help, well you know I told them I only work with live bees .good luck rock.

 

[ssrt3]

if i was you i would cut out the drywall and save the bees drywall is cheap, suck it up and spend the 12 bucks for a sheet.

sorry for being so direct but its the truth.