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Author Topic: Moving a bee tree  (Read 4415 times)

Offline D Semple

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Moving a bee tree
« on: July 17, 2013, 09:34:09 am »
Got an 7' section of a tree to move containing a large colony.

Our summer dearth is about to start and I don't want to do a cutout or trap out on the tree which is being cut down. My hope is just to transport the tree section out to one of my remote bee yards and set it out there and next spring I'll do a trap out on it.

Problem is I can't see how to transport, unload, or attach a wide base to the bottom of, the tree section without laying it completely over.

Is transporting a hive/log on it's side in 90 degree weather going to just create one huge mess of broken comb, spilled honey, and dead bees inside the log?

Any advice?

Thanks.   ....Don


 

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Moving a bee tree
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2013, 01:10:35 pm »
Good chance a lot of bees will die including the queen especially if the tree is dropped during removal like the one I had. I was notified 2 days after the large limb was dropped 10'. If you are cutting it down do it early in the cool of the morning.
Jim
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Offline oliver

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Re: Moving a bee tree
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2013, 02:26:34 pm »
We moved 2 last fall  around Thanksgiving. Tried to set them up like they were but lost both in the winter.

Offline Sour Kraut

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Re: Moving a bee tree
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2013, 02:44:20 pm »
Are you going to have help from a tree company or similar ?

They would be equipped (maybe ! ) to pick it up in one piece and set it upright on a trailer or pick-up

Then you'd need a way to unload it, gently..., keeping it vertical, at the destination.

Lacking that, I'd say your intentions are great, but getting it done may be impossible




Offline hjon71

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Re: Moving a bee tree
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2013, 05:48:53 pm »
I will qualify this response by saying I have no experience in this area. But as an outside observer it would seem to me that damage would occur if the tree fell and jarred everything loose inside. But if you could gently lay it down you might minimize any damage. It would certainly seem easier to transport load unload laying down versus standing up.
Quite difficult matters can be explained even to a slow-witted man, if only he has not already adopted a wrong opinion about them; but the simplest things cannot be made clear even to a very intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he already knows, and knows indubitably, the truth of the matter under consideration. -Leo Tolstoy

Offline D Semple

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Re: Moving a bee tree
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2013, 06:26:04 pm »
There will be a cherry picker on site, hoping the section can be lowered down gently.

Done a couple removals on fallen tree's and have not had good outcomes, will walk away if that is what is going to happen.

All about making a buck, but not if it means killing bees.



After thinking about it I agree with everybody that transporting the log laying down is probably not going to work.

Recon I can screw lumber to the tree section to form a stand before lowering it down into the bed of my pickup to keep it upright.

I'll rig up a block and tackle on a tree at my beeyard to unload it.

Should just ship it to Bud's for next year.

Thanks for helping me think it through.   ....Don

Offline iddee

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Re: Moving a bee tree
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2013, 08:18:57 pm »
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline DLMKA

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Re: Moving a bee tree
« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2013, 09:27:12 am »
My experience is to leave bee trees that have fallen any distance. 90% have collapsed comb and dead queens and it becomes a salvage operation, don't mess with it unless you're getting paid. If you can be there and see the trunk/limb get lowered down by all means take it home. I'll still do those kind of rescues for free.

If a bee tree has been laying on it's side for more than 24 hrs and the bees are still there the queen is dead.

Offline MsCarol

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Re: Moving a bee tree
« Reply #8 on: September 15, 2013, 10:14:39 am »
My experience is to leave bee trees that have fallen any distance. 90% have collapsed comb and dead queens and it becomes a salvage operation, don't mess with it unless you're getting paid. If you can be there and see the trunk/limb get lowered down by all means take it home. I'll still do those kind of rescues for free.

If a bee tree has been laying on it's side for more than 24 hrs and the bees are still there the queen is dead.

 :( That is a sad fact to learn. I know a logger and asked him if he ever downed bee trees. He said occasionally it happens if the hive was not detected before cutting. Loggers don't want hollow trees.

So I am guessing that most hives with a still living queen abscond ASAP after the tree goes down? Doesn't it take her a few days to trim down enough to fly?

Next odd question. If the hive was in a portion of the tree that was left in the woods - like the tree top. Would the smell of old comb attract future swarms if the top is still slightly propped up?

 

anything