Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: greenbtree on June 14, 2013, 12:39:16 pm

Title: Trap out end question
Post by: greenbtree on June 14, 2013, 12:39:16 pm
I have had a trap out going for a month now, and the homeowner would really like it to be done.  After the third box was removed I didn't replace it, because activity was really light and I wanted to see what accumulated.  Two days later I got a call that the cone was covered in bees and the folks were freaking a bit. It was 8:30 at night (they wanted me to come out right then) so I said I would be out late morning the next day.  Took another box, got there, and found just a handful of workers on the cone. 

But the roof was littered with little drifts of dead drones.

I'm thinking that the queen has left the building and the hive is on the verge of collapse.  Do you think it would be safe to close the wall up and call it done?  The hive is in a double brick wall with no access to other areas of the building as far as I can determine. I checked the attic where the wall terminates, and the space between the two walls is bricked up at the top.  I didn't find a single bee living or dead up there.  What do you think?

JC
Title: Re: Trap out end question
Post by: iddee on June 14, 2013, 04:31:57 pm
It takes 21 days for a worker to emerge, then another week or two before it flys. If the queen had quit laying the day you set it up, there would still be bees maturing a month later.
Title: Re: Trap out end question
Post by: greenbtree on June 15, 2013, 03:31:55 am
Yeah, of course you're right.   I need to start marking this stuff down on a calendar.

JC