Hive in a tree - what now?

[SystemShark]

Its been a while since my last posting - been really busy! We finally got a house and it was well worth the wait, we have 7.8 acres of beautiful land, more than enough space for my apiary. We moved the hives from the swarms I collected this season, from my mentors place to our new house and all is well.

I checked craigslist on a whim yesterday and found a gentlemen who had a honey bee situation. After the tailwinds of Ike hit us a few weeks ago allot of trees fell down. As he was cutting up this one he noticed the honey bees and made the craiglist post - 10mins later he gets my email and later that day I go to pick it up. We had to use a chainsaw to cut it from a 10+ft long segment 20inch diameter to 5Ft so it would fit in my SUV.

I'm guessing its a bit late in the season to try and do anything with them, and the trip home was a long one with allot of bumps ^^. I'm so happy to have my first hive removal done and very happy to add to my new apiary.

Should I try and get these bees in some hive boxes or leave them in the tree until spring?
Oh, and I noticed these bees were VERY yellow (as opposed to the swarms I collected) I wonder what species they are. They look like chubby little yellow jackets!

here are some pictures! Thanks!

[JP]

I would position the tree upright or they will most likely abscond. Secondly, the tree is very thick and well insulated, I would leave them thee until next spring. Give them supplemental feed, syrup warmed in daytime as long as temps aren't too cold. Research winter feeding and also emergency feeding on this site.

As long as they have feed close to their winter cluster they won't starve and that tree is very thick (insulated) so they should be fine for the cold weather.

You could even wrap the tree with an old blanket to give them even more protection from the cold.

Good luck,


...JP

[Frantz]

Wow, that just looks great. Congrats on the new place and the bees. I would love to have a stump hive like that around, just for teaching purposes. Keep us posted with more pics when you can.
F

[SystemShark]

The gentleman emailed me today saying that a softball sized ball of bees had formed near the top of the tree that snapped. I'm guessing those are the bees that were out working when I took the hive home.

I picked up this hive around 2pm.

Its about 45mins away so I'm not sure if its worth going to pick them up or not - that and I don't really know how they would react - do I treat them like a swarm and just box them up and dump them near the new hive when I get them home?

Any suggestions?

[johnnybigfish]

 If you can catch them and get them home I would try to set them near the tree and see if they'll go in. I think you might spray them with sugar water/syrup first.I've read that bees dont usually fight bees off when they bring in food. Maybe the bees will recognize each others phermones and the can go right in. I dont think you have anything to lose...If you dont get them to go in I guess they will die over the winter without a food source and queen...I bet they'll go in the log though.
 Someone here who knows more will tell you more reliable information in a while.
Good luck!
your friend,
john

[Bill W.]

Any suggestions?

I always make a return for the stragglers if they are at least softball sized and not too far away.

Go in the morning or evening when they are sluggish and just sweep them into a container.  Dump them at the entrance of the log and they ought to go right in.

[gottabee]

Wow nice find. I'd leave them in there until I could hive them in warm spring weather. I would hang them upright in a favorable area and face them to the warmest exposure. Awsome.