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Author Topic: 2nd cutout done!  (Read 1933 times)

Offline fermentedhiker

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2nd cutout done!
« on: May 28, 2010, 08:30:22 am »
Got a post from our bee club about a swarm that moved into a ladies soffit(sp?).  So I went up Wed night after work and tried to get them out.  This is only my second cutout and my first was  in a barn wall that the owner didn't care if I damaged.  The message said they were easy to get to just occupying a space behind the facia board.  HA! never believe what people tell you right :). Well it was that hard but the 1800's era house construction is a little different.  They had actually reoccupied a deadout and so there was probably enough comb in there to fill a single deep.  The facia board was only four inches wide and the soffit cavity was probably 10 inches deep.

Because I was working at the top of an extension ladder I tied the vac to the rung so I could give my arms a rest.  I ran out of light to work by and told her I would swing by Thurs after work to clean up the stragglers(a few hundred I guessed)  I got home at 8:20PM and installed them in an 8 frame deep from a deadout hive of mine.  I went back last night and the cavity was FULL of bees.  I got nearly as much in the vac as I did the night before.  I can't see how I could have missed that many but hey.  They did say that they saw another swarm about 100 yards away hanging in a tree so it's possible that the new swarm reoccupied the cavity.  I debated about installing the second batch in there own hive to wait and see if they had a queen or not, but in the end decided to put them together.  Got four or five stings out of the whole process.

I did a much better job of not killing the bees in the vac this year :) The hive looks to have 4-6 pounds of bees in it now. and are very gentle bees that look to be mostly Carni type.  Puts me at 13 hives now.

it's not a hobby it's a real "alternative" lifestyle :D
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Offline fermentedhiker

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Re: 2nd cutout done!
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2010, 08:32:10 am »
P.S. Thanks to JP Iddee and all the others for posting cutout and trap out threads and pics.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
--Douglas Adams

Offline JP

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Re: 2nd cutout done!
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2010, 09:24:50 am »
I don't believe the swarm moved in although its a very remote possibility. You most likely had that many left and perhaps the queen. Check the new set up for a queen, hope you got her.

Sounds like that was a tough removal.


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Offline fermentedhiker

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Re: 2nd cutout done!
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2010, 12:34:34 pm »
It probably would've been a piece of cake for those of you who do it regularly.  I was pretty sure I got the queen the first night.  Never saw her, but thought I heard her pipe when I was about to dump them into the hive body at my place.

They had only been in since Saturday and had packed much of the old comb full of nectar.  What a mess it made.  Stuff ran almost as thin as water all over everything.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
--Douglas Adams