2 Bee Hives in 1 house Trap Out.

[Cossack]

 
     I need some advice.

     A friend of mine has a honey bee problem. Its his parents home and he has been the care taker of the property. This is a beautiful older home. It was built in the 1940's. Back in the first week of June. He noticed honey bees flying in and out of the cedar siding on the Westside of the house.

     I came over to take a look and observed on the West side two honey bee entrances approximately 15 feet apart. The first (Rightside) entrance had alot of bees coming and going. The (leftside) had a few bees coming and going. I "guestimated" that the right side entrance was the original hive and a swarm moved into the (leftside) and started a new hive. I thought this because the entrances were 15 feet apart from each other.

     My friend asked me if I could help him out with his Bee problem. He did not want to tear into the side of the house. So I mentioned to him about the Trap out. This was my first trap out. I followed the directions from this site and built a trap out and installed it over the entrance of the (Rightside) entrance.
I caulked any crack I could find and set up a hive box with brood and frames. I placed some lemon grass oil in the hive box. It worked beautifully. The bees were moving in the hive. I did nothing to the (leftside) entrance.
 
     A few weeks later I checked on the Hive and there was a new Queen in the hive and many bees. So, I moved this hive back home and replaced the hive with a new hive box with a few frames of brood, because there were still honey bees coming out of the trap out. This new hive was doing its job as the bees coming out of the (right side) entrance began to slow down after 3 weeks. They had created a new queen but this group was much smaller. They had only drawn out three frames.

     My plan is to leave them (Rightside) there for another week and then remove the trap out so they can rob the honey from the house.

     I built and started a new Trap out this past Saturday on the (leftside) entrance. This one I caulked any and all cracks and put a trap out over the entrance to the hive. I placed brood in a another hive body
and set it near the cone of the trap out. I waited and saw some bees leaving the trap out but they did not go into the new hive. I checked 2 days later and discovered that the bees have chewed through the cauking and are entering back into the house again. There are some bees going in and out of the new hive but there are still bees entering the house.

     My questions are..........

    1) Was I correct in assumming that there were 2 hives or just one huge hive?

    2)  The (leftside) entrance Trap out is not working that well. Any suggestions on What I need to do?

    3)  Should I wait to remove the (rightside) trap out until I have removed the bees from the (leftside) trap out?

     I will try to take pictures and post  them here in a few days.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Mike.





     

 

[iddee]

Do NOT remove the right side trap in 4 weeks from the start. For an older colony such as that, 6 week minimum, maybe longer. IE: a full week without a single bee leaving the house.

The directions on this forum say use silicone caulking. Did you, or did you use something else for sealing the house? I have never seen them remove the silicone and make a new entrance.

>>>>1) Was I correct in assumming that there were 2 hives or just one huge hive?

    2)  The (leftside) entrance Trap out is not working that well. Any suggestions on What I need to do?

    3)  Should I wait to remove the (rightside) trap out until I have removed the bees from the (leftside) trap out?<<<<

1]  Yes, there are two colonies.

2]   It will never work as long as they can return to the house. Seal all entrances with silicone caulk.

3]   The right side should be treated independently, as if it were miles away. One week with no bees leaving the structure, not even one, before removing the cone. Then watch for pollen being carried in the structure. That is a sign of brood still there, so the cone must be replaced and left for another couple of weeks.

[Cossack]

Iddee,

Thank You.