I got a call today from a guy that came across a "nasty AFB colony" while helping his uncle clear an area behind a storage shed to prepare his property to put on the real estate market.
I had other errands to take care of, so I wasn't able to get there until right at dusk. So the images are not the best, but should give the basic idea. There's a drum full of bees in a fairly small space between a storage building, a tree, another storage shed and a chain link fence. The guy was right, they are a bit on the nasty side. His uncle got nailed in the forehead from around 20 feet away when we walked out into the alley for him to show me where they were located.
My first thought, to load the whole drum in the back of the truck and haul it off, was quickly discarded when I saw the circumstances and gave the drum a nudge to check the weight. IT'S HEAVY!!
They claim it's been there over a year, so there's likely a good deal of honey and no telling what else weighing down the drum. The images may make it look smaller than it is, but it's a full 55 gal drum . . . which if my math is correct, would weigh over 400 lbs if it were full of water.
So tossing it over the fence into the back of the truck may take a little modification first. One of the biggest challenges is the tight quarters to be working in with these aggressive gals. The 4' fence is buried into the concrete curb, so cutting and moving the fence is an option they would like to avoid.
I thought about maybe getting some sort of hoist to lift the drum over the fence, but when I felt the weight, I decided that would not be my first choice. Mainly because I'll be working this job solo and I'm not sure of the integrity of the rusty old drum. It may collapse under the weight if it's not strong enough to support the couple hundred pound contents.
Obviously I don't really want the comb to break apart and become a cluster of bee & honey soup inside. . . . So, I'm thinking of maybe cutting a window or two in the side of the drum to remove the comb in sections. However, cutting a window in the side of the steel drum is going to be challenging as well.
I'm not sure of the gauge, but I'm pretty sure tin snips won't cut it very well. A power saw with a carbide tipped saw blade would do the trick but will of course get pretty hot and sling more sparks and slag than may be acceptable.
So what other methods of cutting into the drum would make sense in this situation?
I know that DeWalt makes a couple different Swivel Head Shear, but I've never used one, so I'm not sure how heavy duty they are.
Or what other options come to mind, under these circumstances?