Tempting a queen

[NeilTheCop]

I did my 2nd ever cut out a few days ago from the ceiling of an outbuilding.
Looked straightforward, I could see the entrance and the ceiling was nailed on OSB, but after a short time I found it was also glued, so the bees were far from happy with all the noise, and made their displeasure known
Anyway, finally got the bees vacuumed out and the brood/larve/eggs put in frames, plus about 60 pounds of wildflower honey
But, between the joists about 12 feet back from the nest were a big ball of bees which I assume contain the queen as I couldn't find here anywhere else.
I'm loathe to use the vac to try and get her out in case I injure or kill her, and it's too far back to try and somehow coral her and pull her forward.
Is there any way to tempt her out of hiding so I can get a catcher around her?

As a side-note, do not attempt to remove angry bees in 97 degree heat while fully suited. The cramps you get later from dehydration are agony, many times worse than the single sting I got on my bicep

[Dallasbeek]

You probably are going to lose the queen.  Maybe someone with more experience than I have will give you a suggestion on luring the queen out, but I don't see it.  You could try a trap (see lots of videos and discussions of trapouts on this forum), but you're still losing the queen with a trapout.

You say you put brood/larvae/eggs in frames.  Let the bees make a new queen.  But you still have the problem of bees in the structure.  Good luck on that.

As to your dehydration, get a "camelback" setup and stay hydrated when you're suited up.  I've also thought of wearing some kind of vest with pockets for those freezer gel packs.  At least your humidity is low in Roswell.  Try 97 degrees and 70-90% humidity!

[divemaster1963]

What I do to bring the remaining bees out is two fold. Vacuuming the bees out does not aways kill the queen. I have vac many queens by accident and did not harm her. Tape your hose to a pole to reach them. Then when you have about half of the out use a long stick or rod wrap a piece of paper towel with beegone on it and push it past the ones left then watch them come out and vac them up. You may even see the queen and catch her

John

[NeilTheCop]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

[iddee]

I always leave a piece of brood comb in place until I find the queen. If not found, I will close the area for 30 minutes. She will go to that comb. Maybe you could put a piece of comb back in and hope she came back to it.