Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: LosAngelesBees on November 21, 2012, 07:13:31 pm

Title: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: LosAngelesBees on November 21, 2012, 07:13:31 pm
I live in Los Angeles and I have a large hive about 40 to 50 feet up in a tree---its been there for a few years.  The tree is a very tall, 100 year old beauty that has some issues that need to be examined by an arborist so the bees need to go.   He can't determine what to do with the tree until he climbs up and looks but the bees are in his way.

I have someone scheduled to spray them with soap while on a ladder which he says is very effective at killing them.  I'd really like to save them but the only person I've found that was willing to do a trap out that high up wanted me to invest in buying scaffolding for them -- too expensive.  

I looked into renting a bucket truck but the only company in the area has a two-day minimum on each rental which costs about $500.  

Can anyone think of any way to save them?   If they have to be killed on Saturday, is soap the quickest way for them to die?  

Too bad someone doesn't make a simple repellent spray that could be shot up there and give them a day or so to all leave and start a home elsewhere.  

I (and the bees) would appreciate any ideas on how they could be kept alive.  

Thank you.
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: AllenF on November 21, 2012, 07:26:03 pm
50 foot will cost you no matter how you do it, unless you hire monkeys to do a trap out for you.   If the tree has to go, you can cut a section of the trunk that has to bees and move them, assuming there's a crane/bucket truck to remove it. 
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: BlueBee on November 21, 2012, 07:37:14 pm
The problem is the bees are extremely reluctant to abandon their brood (baby bees).  So convincing them to up and leave on a days notice is probably not going to happen.   However I don’t remove bees for a living so maybe the real experts have some ideas.

A trap out takes weeks to get them out and if the tree is as high as you make it sound, that could be a safety hazard to the people below since the trap outs usually involve setting up a bait hive next to the original hive.

Could the limb be cut off where the bees are and lowered to the ground?  Could the arborist work around the bees?  If they’re that high up in the tree, they’re unlikely to bother people at ground level.

You could put an ad on Craigslist offering “free bees” for anybody willing to come get them!  You would be amazed what some people will do to get “free” bees!  Real bee keepers will avoid the job because it’s going to cost a lot more in time and effort than the bees are worth.  However there are plenty of hobbyists out there with time and money to try things like this.
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: edward on November 21, 2012, 07:47:34 pm
How about giving the arborist a bee suit to work in and the bees can stay where they are as long as they are not in his way of cutting ?

Or  :roll:

mvh edward  :-P
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: LosAngelesBees on November 21, 2012, 07:50:35 pm
Bluebee,  Thanks for the ideas.  I have contacted everyone I could find on Craigslist and have placed ads a few months ago.

One hobbyist came by some months back but it was too high for him---that's what everyone says.   The guy who plans on spraying them with soap is going to use a 30' or so tall ladder and spray from as high as he can get----that's easy but obviously doing a trap out wouldn't work that way as someone needs a stable area on which to work.  

The bees are not on a limb area.   They are is a hollow on the main trunk.  That hollow is what the arborist needs to examine.    So, can't remove anything without cutting the tree down.  

The bees have been there for at least three or four years, maybe much longer.   They don't bother anyone that high up but the arborist can't get near the hollow area with them there.  

I'll put another ad on Craigslist now just in case.
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: LosAngelesBees on November 21, 2012, 07:53:33 pm
edward,  the arborist is the one who is spraying them and he is going to use a bee suit (I didn't want to complicate my post so left that out).   I think his plan is to remove the combs after the bees are all dead so the honey won't leak down and soften the tissue of the tree.  

After the arborist is done with his study, a separate tree-trimming company will need to trim (and hopefully not remove) the tree, based upon the findings of the arborist.  The trimming company won't do anything with the bees there and I haven't found one that will. 


How about giving the arborist a bee suit to work in and the bees can stay where they are as long as they are not in his way of cutting ?

Or  :roll:

mvh edward  :-P
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: Robo on November 21, 2012, 08:34:58 pm
Have you considered looking for a different arborist?  Perhaps one that is bee friendly.   The bees are not doing any harm to the tree, in fact, they may be helping the tree as they are controlling the moisture in the hollow cavity.  I'd be interest to know what he is looking for to determine if the tree can be saved or not,  and how the bees are preventing him from that determination.
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: deknow on November 22, 2012, 01:59:08 am
I'd ask the arborist if he/she can recommend another arborist who would examine the tree without killing the bees.
I'd also contact the backwards beekeepers in LA.

deknow
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: edward on November 22, 2012, 06:39:46 am
I think his plan is to remove the combs after the bees are all dead so the honey won't leak down and soften the tissue of the tree.

Why not vacuum the bees and take out the comb?

In the end its a question of time and money and conscience. Which do you have more or less of?

mvh edward  :-P
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: BjornBee on November 22, 2012, 09:05:15 am
Here is one option......it involves a frog, a tree house, a few railroad spikes, some signs, and a few long haired hippy types.

Build a tree house large enough to hold a few weeks of food and provisions. Hammer the railroad spikes into the base of the tree. Write a few signs with just about anything with a anti-capitalistic viewpoint with greed and corporation to blame. Also go out and buy some exotic looking tree frog (or owl) from an underground dealer, and place it in the cavity. Call the EPA, sierra club, and others claiming to have found an exotic tree frog that eats solely honey bees as it's food source.

It will take years for the system to clean up this mess, especially in California. Years of litigation, EPA rulings, and groups all trying to save the bees, the tree,......and the frog.

Or option number two, or perhaps in conjunction with option number 1, making this option number 1/A, 1-A or even 1 subsection A,...call the best bee saving environmentalist on the planet, who while he is at it, may just take residence in that tree house, if you have enough smoky smoky to offer. ;) And who would that be you ask? Well that would be Billy the exterminator! ;)

Throw in a few Elvis look alikes, a few native Indians claiming this a burial ground, and honey boo boo dressed as the honey queen from whatever state she resides, while mumbling some incoherent gibberish which would take weeks to decipher, and this could delay any destruction of this colony for years.

Be creative. You are in California.....and everyone has seen far worse than this. ;)

  
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: little john on November 22, 2012, 10:16:48 am

Too bad someone doesn't make a simple repellent spray that could be shot up there and give them a day or so to all leave and start a home elsewhere.   


They do - one is called Bee Gone, the other is called Bee Quick. The first stinks of vomit, as it's basically just butyric acid (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_anhydride (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_anhydride)), the second has a more agreeable smell, but apparently isn't quite as good.  But - never used either myself.

Once the bees have vacated their nest, whoever's up there will need to plug the access hole with a chunk of soft foam rubber or similar. Even so, the field bees will still be returning to that place for several days (as they'll be running on a homing autopilot for at least 48 hrs) - so - unless the bees are killed, anyone working up there will have to wear a veil at least, if not a full beesuit.

LJ
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: Robo on November 22, 2012, 10:34:44 am

They do - one is called Bee Gone, the other is called Bee Quick. The first stinks of vomit, as it's basically just butyric acid (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_anhydride (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_anhydride)), the second has a more agreeable smell, but apparently isn't quite as good.  But - never used either myself.


Neither one of these cause an established nest to abscond.
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: little john on November 22, 2012, 11:10:59 am

They do - one is called Bee Gone, the other is called Bee Quick. The first stinks of vomit, as it's basically just butyric acid (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_anhydride (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_anhydride)), the second has a more agreeable smell, but apparently isn't quite as good.  But - never used either myself.


Neither one of these cause an established nest to abscond.

Well - perhaps not in the recommended doses - but I was rather thinking of applying x10 or x20 the recommended dose - on the basis that these bees are destined to die anyway - so why not give them the choice of suffocating or leaving ?  Ok, so that may not be a very nice choice to give them, but I'd have thought it was worth a shot, in the absence of any other viable ideas.

LJ
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: Robo on November 22, 2012, 11:32:20 am
Not trying to dampen your thinking,  we would all like to find a quick fix for situations like this. Trust me, a lot of us have tried fumigants to speed up trap outs with very little success. 
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: iddee on November 22, 2012, 12:40:25 pm
Also, instigating an abscond this time of year is just prolonging their death. They could never make it to spring. Either put the work off till spring, or kill them quickly and get it over with.
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: Jim134 on November 22, 2012, 01:58:48 pm
 
Also, instigating an abscond this time of year is just prolonging their death. They could never make it to spring. Either put the work off till spring, or kill them quickly and get it over with.

 X:X X:X X:X X:X

As this tree being cut down ???

              BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)    
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: edward on November 22, 2012, 03:10:58 pm
If they are condemned to die, kill them fast and swiftly with the least amount of suffering  :chop:

mvh edward  :-P
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: deknow on November 22, 2012, 07:19:37 pm
Neither one of these cause an established nest to abscond.

...the few times I've used bee go on an established nest, it did cause them to abscond.

deknow
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: little john on November 26, 2012, 02:22:09 pm
So - Saturday has passed - what was the outcome (if any, yet) ?

I know a couple of others are also interested ...

LJ
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: iddee on November 26, 2012, 03:37:12 pm
He never came back to the forum after he posted.
Title: Re: My bees are to be exterminated on Saturday. Any ideas on how to save them?
Post by: beeghost on December 03, 2012, 01:47:57 am
I like bees just as much as the next beekeeper, but at the same time I weigh things out and put them into perspective.

This hive is what, 50' up in a tree right? To me I would rather leave it to the city to exterminate this hive knowing that MANY more swarms, cut outs and trap outs will happen every year under safer and controlled situations and the will save a lot more bees...........and beekeepers.

"Save all the bees" perspective:

Scaffolding - atleast a few hundred to rent.
Bucket lift - $500 to rent.
Wife making sure your up on your life insurance before proceding with extraction - depends.

My perspective:

A nuc - $100.........pick it up and install it............easy does it.
A package - $70.............again, pick it up and install it.
A swarm - ****FREE****....................shake and bake.

The first perspective involves heights, I dont like heights, too many things to go wrong.

My perspective involves driving (which can be dangerous, but we all do it) and walking on flat ground, for the most part unless you have a swarm 30' in a tree, again, there are methods to get them down with your feet firmly on the ground as well!!

What is my point? Sometimes we have to think about our lives before animal/insect lives............and this case is a good point.