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Offline wildbeekeeper

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trap out??
« on: July 02, 2008, 11:18:48 am »
I have a friend who has honey bees living in his house... they are getting in near his front door step and have been doing so for a year or two now (just found this out now.)  Short of doing an actual cut out, which im not ready to attemp nor does he really want to do....what is the technique for setting up a cone trp/funnel with a hive set up outside their entrance?  What do I need equipment wise, how do I set up?  Do I need come for inside the hive./...picture would help also!

Thanks for the help!

Steve

Offline JP

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2008, 09:37:56 pm »
I will be to the point if you don't mind. The best advice I can give you is to find someone in your area that has experience doing trap outs and hire them to do it.

Removals can be tough as it is but trap outs are another entirely different ballgame, not for someone who has never done a removal of any type.


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Offline wildbeekeeper

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2008, 11:17:47 am »
You have got to start somewhere right.....  no I havent done honey bee removal... yet....and I will eventually.  I have removed animals/birds trapped in walls for many years and know a "little" about cutting out sections of roofs and walls and siding and plaster and what not.....  I thought this was a place to ask questions and get guidance, not somewhere to get flat out denied and told to forget about it.  Im want to try this for fun not for money.....THanks for the lack of info.

Offline Keith13

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2008, 01:27:46 pm »
I do not believe that JP was telling you not to do it I think what he may of meant that this was a difficult task to take on with little or no experience, thats all. trap outs are notoriously hard to do even with a wealth of experience to draw on plus even when all the bees have been removed all the wax and honey still needs to be removed you can't leave that stuff unattended inside the walls with out the bees. so if you plan to move forward I am sure that everyone on the site including JP would be more than happy to give all the advice you will need. but I think they were just trying to give you a heads up as to the difficult task you have in front of you

Keith

JP didn't mean to speak out of turn hope I didn't step on any toes

Offline Jerrymac

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2008, 01:49:35 pm »
Never done one but if I was to do one I would put the cone or other gizmo in the hive body. Then a tube to the entrance where they are coming out of. This way they go through the tube into the hive body and then out to forage. Then when they return they go into the hive body and can not get into the tube to the wall. They then cluster in the hive body. After several bees have begun to gather you put in a frame of brood. They then make this their home and possibly make a queen from the brood you put there. Add more brood if needed.

It will take a couple of months for all the bees to come out of the wall. As the workers fail to return more bees will become foragers. Then there are the new ones that emerge from the cells and then they too finally come out of the wall into the hive. The old queen probably will not come out, or she might. After it appears all the bees are out you then open up the wall entrance and let the bees rob out all the honey.

This still leaves all the honeycomb, stored pollen, and old brood comb in the wall. This is a nice place for wax moths and Small Hive Beatles to have a home and they will really mess it up.

Also if there is any opening anywhere that can get the bees back into the wall, they will find it and start using it as you are trying to trap them out. You will have to find all these places and plug them up with something the bees can't chew out.

As mentioned. You will probably have to go in and clean out the wall at some time. It is much quicker to go ahead and cut them out.

And don't fret too much. When I first started I decided to get my bees from cutouts instead of spending the money on packages. Everybody.... EVERYBODY.... advised me on how it was not a good idea for a beginner to do this. Guess what. I did it anyway.

Go for it.
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Offline wildbeekeeper

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2008, 03:47:10 pm »
I guess I owe an apology to JP for jumping on him in a way.... i personally dont like being told to not bother with anything especially when I know it can be done.   I appreciate the advice so far and yes I do know that all that comb and what not has to come out and I know the problems it can cause....have see the damage a bear can do to the side of house trying to get to the comb in the wall!  Im just looking for some how to and I can decide from there.  I will probably go ahead and attemp it and talk to him during the process to explain the negative side of leaving the comb in there... as you well know you cant convince everyone!  I saw that when I did nuisance wildlife control... you know whats best to solve the issue but people what what they want and in the long run they'll learn the hard way./  THanks for the advice so far and keep it coming!!   Sorry JP!

Steve

Offline Robo

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2008, 05:48:01 pm »
Im want to try this for fun not for money....

There is no fun in trap outs.   You get none of the genetics, and none of the bees by the time your done.  You basically get surrogate bees to establish a colony with your queen.  Making a split is a hell of a lot easier and less headaches.

There are pictures and some description here -> http://www.bushkillfarms.com/site/removal-methods

You MUST block off all other entrances which can be a real pain in the butt as they keep trying to establish other ones.  You MUST monitor the funnel for blockage as it may cause them to find an escape route into the house.  You have to get a lure hive with a caged queen or a queen with one frame of brood within a foot of the funnel.

I'm with JP,  find someone who has experience and work with them for your first one.
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Offline Keith13

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2008, 06:02:32 pm »
Robo u sure about that link?

Offline Robo

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2008, 06:06:53 pm »
Robo u sure about that link?

Positive  ;)    Thanks :lol:
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Offline catfishbill

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2008, 06:10:54 pm »
hello Steve this is my first year beekeeping and i tried a trapout a couple of months ago.the home owner did not want his house damaged and i told him i could not guarantee that i could get the bees out but i would give it a try.we blocked off all entrances and exits and put trap out cone on a tunnel going into the hive.it all looked pretty awkward.it took adding a frame of brood to really make them come to it.then we had to leave it all there for about a month.the home owner finally got tired of that stuff being attached to his house and told me to come get it.i told him i could not guarantee that all the bees were gone.he just said thanks and i got a hive with about 4 frames of bees.i think he killed them afterwords but dont know for sure.but it was a long drawn out process and took up a lot of time.

Offline JP

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2008, 11:22:58 am »
I guess I owe an apology to JP for jumping on him in a way.... i personally dont like being told to not bother with anything especially when I know it can be done.   I appreciate the advice so far and yes I do know that all that comb and what not has to come out and I know the problems it can cause....have see the damage a bear can do to the side of house trying to get to the comb in the wall!  Im just looking for some how to and I can decide from there.  I will probably go ahead and attemp it and talk to him during the process to explain the negative side of leaving the comb in there... as you well know you cant convince everyone!  I saw that when I did nuisance wildlife control... you know whats best to solve the issue but people what what they want and in the long run they'll learn the hard way./  THanks for the advice so far and keep it coming!!   Sorry JP!

Steve

Steve, I've done tons of removals but no trap outs, I've read up on them, talked with others who have done them and it seems there are only a few that are successful doing them, the learning curve seems to be HUGE.

And they take soooo long to do them, RIGHT, can't imagine how long they take when you don't know what you're doing. One day I guess I will try doing one if I have the time, lots of time, and its got to be close to where I live with the price of gas and all.

Hope I didn't discourage you, really wasn't trying to, was just being realistic, trap outs are a real honed craft, if you could bring someone in and learn from them, that would be fantastic.

Best wishes, ;)


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Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: trap out??
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2008, 07:47:55 pm »
Trap outs are an all season adventure.  A once in a life time experience because you'll only want to try it once.
One way cones are a must to deplete to original nest and force it to die out while capturing the foragers in the trap hive baited with a brood comb to raise a queen with.  At the best you get a queen from dommestic stock that maight be mated with feral drones. 

With that in mind a trap out can be a source of bees year after year if no one way exits are used.
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