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Author Topic: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures  (Read 3979 times)

Offline JP

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This past Friday I looked at this tree and was told the bees were discovered about one month ago. It was evident this tree had seen better days as it was infested with two different type of beetles and most of the top of the tree was gone, possibly due to lightning.

I told the lady that hired me that the void space the bees occupied would have to be accessed which would ruin whatever structural integrity was left. I plan would be to remove the bees and cut the tree down.

This monday I began by cutting the top of the tree off. The very top of the one and only trunk was about 15' tall with three main branches reaching upwards of around 25' or so.

I also cut a chunk of the tree out at about the 5' mark to see if there was any comb there. There was comb that extended upwards to about 13 1/2' and capped honey at the 5' mark. They definitely had been in the tree much longer than a month!  :-D



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That was all I could do Monday as my back was tightening up on me. Called it a day around 6:30 pm.

Tuesday, it rained and just wasn't a good day to get back into it so I went back yesterday (Wednesday) and finished the job.

I discovered an awful lot of dead beetles inside the tree, some were propolized over. Best I can figure is the bees were either stinging them on their abdomen or stinging through their exoskeletons before they had the chance to harden.


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Monday I vacuumed two boxes of bees which I combined with another hive. Yesterday I vacuumed 2 1/2 more boxes and shook them on site into a two medium set up after I had removed all comb and cut the rest of the tree down.

Overall this removal was a good bit of work but the bees were very gentle (which made it a very enjoyable removal), was stung one time and wore no protective gear throughout the entire process.

Hope you enjoy the pics!


...JP


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http://img64.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=img1825yz.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=img1833nd.jpg


I have more pics to add but have to walk out the door.

Later!


...JP
« Last Edit: August 11, 2011, 10:45:27 am by JP »
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Offline D Semple

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2011, 11:11:44 am »
JP your a glutten for punishment, that doesn't look like a job for a guy recovering from back injuries. 

Neat hive, thanks for the pictures. One question how do you go about combining vacuumed bees with an existing hive?

Thanks.  .....Don

Offline JP

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2011, 03:30:56 pm »
Don, I smoked a double stack that could have used some more numbers and smoked the bee vac boxes and shook them in. Not text book by any means but I have done this hundreds of times before with no real problems to speak of. The key is to smoke both batches.


...JP
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Offline JP

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2011, 03:41:57 pm »
BTW, after I had removed most of the comb I could see a small clump of bees covering one of the beetle holes in the interior of the tree about 4' from the ground. I vacuumed some and applied smoke into the beetle cavity because I suspected the queen was in there. The smoke did the trick by running her out, a pretty good one, nice and fat.


...JP

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Offline D Coates

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2011, 03:45:04 pm »
Dang, that's impressive.  As always thanks for posting the pictures!   Nice to know about adding vacuumed bees to an established hive with smoke for both.
Ninja, is not in the dictionary.  Well played Ninja's, well played...

Offline JP

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2011, 03:59:57 pm »
Dang, that's impressive.  As always thanks for posting the pictures!   Nice to know about adding vacuumed bees to an established hive with smoke for both.

I don't necessarily recommend that type of combine to someone with a few hives as there is always the chance for some losses but I do it and others I know do it who have a good many hives. With enough resources you can make just about any situation good.


...JP
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Offline AllenF

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2011, 04:53:48 pm »
Honey bees that attack beetles, there is a hive you may want to hang on to and split that line. 

Offline schawee

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2011, 01:01:22 am »
good job great friend :-D
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Offline JP

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2011, 10:13:13 am »
Allen, I hear what you're saying, wish SHBs had a soft spot for bees to sting. All I've ever seen them do is bite at them. These beetles were huge and had wayyyy more surface area.


The bees are at my Dad's house, temporarily.


...JP
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Offline Oblio13

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #9 on: August 12, 2011, 11:11:25 am »
What was the honey like?

Offline JP

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2011, 04:05:10 pm »
It was very good tallow honey.


...JP
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Offline JP

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Re: Bee Removal In Sycamore Tree On Military Complex With Pictures
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2011, 04:05:24 pm »
It was very good tallow honey.


...JP
My Youtube page is titled JPthebeeman with hundreds of educational & entertaining videos.

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