Cut-Out Help

[snmyork]

A week ago I had been asked about taking bees out of a shed. They had been there for a couple of years and wanted to know if I would take them out. Well went and checked out the shed on Thursday and a good many bees were on the outside of the shed. With the studs being 16 inches apart I hoped the bees did not go on the other side of the stud. Well Saturday went and did the cutout. With ten foot walls the bees had built comb that filled almost the entire wall. I did not have a vac but did try to call around to get one but could not get in touch with people so. The problem I had was most of the cut out I had to do on the latter and did not find the queen. Took some the hive with a deep and medium full of brood to split the hive and filled another deep and medium for the other. Does anyone near Gastonia, NC have vac that I could use or even rent to finish making sure the bees are all cleaned out? I left a good mass on the building even though I tried to brush them into a box to put in the hive. JP your are the man when it comes to doing this. Any help is grateful. I did take some pictures and may post them later. I also took out about a hundred pounds of honey new and old.

[JP]

My guess is the queen is in the large cluster on the shed. Go back and lightly spray them with water, then shake them or brush them into a box. Look for the queen and cage her if you can and set the box on a ladder or the roof whatever to get the remaining bees to go to her.

Hope this helps.


...JP

[snmyork]

I left one hive right below the old hive but I will try.

Thanks JP

[JP]

Leaving a hive there is not enough, you need to physically get the queen into the box.

They may or may not go into your box and there's a decent chance they will reorganize in the same building you removed them from if you don't get the queen and most of the remaining bees.


...JP

[iddee]

A colony that large, you should be able to let them raise a queen from the eggs in the brood comb you have in the first box.
Now cover the wall back over and let them regroup for a week. Go back then to a smaller colony where the queen should be on the 3 or 4 combs they have started. It will be a simple cutout then for a second hive of bees.