when to kick them out

[gmcharlie]

I tried to get these guys out of this log last year,  tried every trick I could think of..  frames, frames with brood and all..  no luck   a whole year of traipsing thru the deep over frames,  and not one cell touched....  they just dug deeper in the log.( I cut it off at the edge of the comb on the bottom.  so they are remodeling inside,  they had no space left.


This year I am going to try 2 things.. first fuming them out  since I can get to both ends,  second is a cutout with a bee vac....

My question is timing?   since its finaly warm I am ready,  but what the best timeing for the bees?   one thought is to wait until I have a queen ready because I assume failure....  the other is right away and let them raise a new one from some of my other brood.   

But when are they best ready to produce wax and settle in a box???

[JP]

I would just go ahead and tackle it, I'd do a removal. If for some reason you don't get the queen you could make one from another one of your hives by giving them eggs and brood. If there's no flow and not much honey in the log, you could feed them until they don't need it anymore.

Smoke them before each cut.

...JP

[Michael Bush]

Split the log and do a cutout.  Or just keep them in a gum.  :)

[JhnR]

     When I was a very young boy I had a serious eye injury that kept me home for the summer. I found a bee hive in a tree in my backyard. I would stack the metal milk crates (yes..before plastic) to get high enough to watch the bees enter and leave. My father was worried...sooooo...he decided to cut a 6 inch square just below the entrance..to make a glass looking port for me. I heard the rest of this story many years later. Anyway, he also added a few steps and a seat that I could swivel from side to side. Had a black hood to keep the sun out.  I spent many hours at that hive, without a sting.
     If this was me.....I would set that hive with the rest.....and watch

John

[millermann1972]

i took some out of a log today and it worked out great. the log was hollow so i took a chainsaw and cut each side and split it open. took all the brood comb and put it in frames with rubber bands. i looked for the queen for a while and could not find her. i set one frame of brood on the log and waited about thirty minutes and checked the frame again and there she was. worked out great for my first time taking bees out of a log :)

[gmcharlie]

     
     If this was me.....I would set that hive with the rest.....and watch

John

Did that last year......  got too many hives to need one more to watch....  if its not profitable,  its firewood....   no point in a bunch of wild bees with 20+ domestic hives in the yard......   actually kinda fun being beat by them last year......  tried evry trick I could think of short of cutting them out.