BTW, I would have never thought of it much less designing and building it.
Thinking outside of the box
2
I got a call last year from a gentleman who had bees in between the stucco on his house and chimney and the house itself. Looked at it but his wife got sick so it was put on the back burner. He said at the time that he would like to get the bees out and keep them as he wanted to try beekeeping.
Well, this year he contacted me again. I built him a swarm box but he didn't like it so I sold him a 10-frame setup with some brood comb and gave him some swabs with LGO and a vial of swarm attractant.
Nothing happened. In fact, swarming in general was almost zero this year and the nectar flow was huge. He decided to do a cutout himself without any help. He modified his shopvac with a bag inside to collect the bees and put on a switch do slow down the fan speed.
He did this twice. Both times he lost a lot of bees and he could not establish a hive. Will not go into any of the details as he was trying this on his own and made some mistakes.
Anyway, he still has a huge amount of bees. It is a very large colony. Most of the colony is below where he did the several cutouts.
Now this is where it gets interesting. The gap between the stucco and the house is at least 4". He built 2 units that hold "brood" frames. One unit holds 6 frames (3 down and 2 across). The other unit holds 2 frames.
He put the larger unit up top in the gap and bolted it in place. He then took the 2nd smaller unit and did the same thing below the first unit.
Basically he has 8 removal frames in the outside wall of his house that he can unbolt and pull out of the wall. :thumbsup:
I went over to his house last Sunday evening and looked at it. It's amazing. He picked my brain about bees and we discussed what he should do. At first I said he could take them out after the 2nd week of August and put them in a hive. He should have eggs in the frames and if he's lucky, the queen. But after a while I thought better of it and told him to just leave them alone for this year. Wait till next spring and then remove them as a split from the colony.
Roger is in his mid 70's and has never had bees before. But he is determined and had already ordered 6 packages for delivery next year. I believe he ordered Buckfast from Weaver. So next spring he is going to be a very busy man. He purchased equipment from me, another beek and also purchased a large smoker and 2 suits from Dadant.
Here are pics of the 6 frame larger unit before being put in the wall:
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Well, this year he contacted me again. I built him a swarm box but he didn't like it so I sold him a 10-frame setup with some brood comb and gave him some swabs with LGO and a vial of swarm attractant.
Nothing happened. In fact, swarming in general was almost zero this year and the nectar flow was huge. He decided to do a cutout himself without any help. He modified his shopvac with a bag inside to collect the bees and put on a switch do slow down the fan speed.
He did this twice. Both times he lost a lot of bees and he could not establish a hive. Will not go into any of the details as he was trying this on his own and made some mistakes.
Anyway, he still has a huge amount of bees. It is a very large colony. Most of the colony is below where he did the several cutouts.
Now this is where it gets interesting. The gap between the stucco and the house is at least 4". He built 2 units that hold "brood" frames. One unit holds 6 frames (3 down and 2 across). The other unit holds 2 frames.
He put the larger unit up top in the gap and bolted it in place. He then took the 2nd smaller unit and did the same thing below the first unit.
Basically he has 8 removal frames in the outside wall of his house that he can unbolt and pull out of the wall. :thumbsup:
I went over to his house last Sunday evening and looked at it. It's amazing. He picked my brain about bees and we discussed what he should do. At first I said he could take them out after the 2nd week of August and put them in a hive. He should have eggs in the frames and if he's lucky, the queen. But after a while I thought better of it and told him to just leave them alone for this year. Wait till next spring and then remove them as a split from the colony.
Roger is in his mid 70's and has never had bees before. But he is determined and had already ordered 6 packages for delivery next year. I believe he ordered Buckfast from Weaver. So next spring he is going to be a very busy man. He purchased equipment from me, another beek and also purchased a large smoker and 2 suits from Dadant.
Here are pics of the 6 frame larger unit before being put in the wall:
