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Author Topic: Wall cut out.  (Read 2845 times)

Offline cklspencer

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Wall cut out.
« on: May 28, 2013, 05:23:28 pm »
I was contacted a few weeks ago about some bees living in a wall in woodland hills Utah. I took the 40 min. drive south to go take a look and see if it was one I could handle.

The bees were entering under some 1x12 ceder siding that was put over some other sheeting. The other sheet has hole drilled to accommodate having insulation blown in. The holes may have been sealed at one time but were wide open for the bees to gain access. I set up a time to get back down there over the week end and get them out of the wall space. When I first check the hive out it was buzzing with activity. I thought it was going to be a rather large hive. It sounded like it had been there for a few years.

The time came and I got set up to extract the colony of bees. I removed the 1x12 ceder and pulled off the under sheeting. It was still cool in the morning and the bees weren't flying yet. The numbers looked rather small than when I  had checked them out the week before. I begin to remove the combs peace by bees while I sucked up the exposed bees with the black hole (bee vac). As I cut deeper into the hive I was getting worried as there was a very large lack of brood, I never did find any. I did find evidence of a laying worker just  starting to make progress. I didn't save any comb and all bees were placed onto drawn comb I had ready to go. There was a little honey but since I couldn't confirm the hive had never been sprayed by the old home owners I didn't see a need to same any of it. Took about 4 hours to remove, clean up, and put back together. I had some extra queens around and they were happy to get one of those, not so happy to be sucked into the abyss which was made clear when placing them on the hive stand at the bee yard.

I really wanted to video the whole thing but just after starting the camera went dead so all I got was a few pics.

The view after opening the hive up
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You can see some old wax moth cocoons that were sealed between the wall and tar paper with propolis.
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Some the the crazy comb they had built.
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Removing chunks of comb.
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Multiple eggs in a queen cell.
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All cleaned out.
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When I was just about done with the removal I had a swarm call come in. Once I was done I head over to get since it was on the way to the bee yard. Turned out to bee a nice swarm.
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Offline HomeSteadDreamer

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Re: Wall cut out.
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2013, 05:36:31 pm »
Nice pictures.  and some crazy comb.

Offline D Coates

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Re: Wall cut out.
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2013, 12:07:30 pm »
Great pics.  It appears that hives population was collapsing after unsuccessful requeening/swarming?  It was huge at sometime.  The swarm capture at the end was karma making things right for having a queenless cutout. ;)
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Offline blanc

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Re: Wall cut out.
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2013, 08:26:25 am »
Thanks for the pics and ran into a couple of hives like it with the tar paper sticking to it  :-x. Surprising is the lack of bees with all that comb too. Any appearances of spraying? Folks claimed they never spray but I have caught a few lying about it when I opened and the signs say different and then they come clean. I guess they figured if you knew you wouldn't take em out but my son and I look at it as a paying job even if I don't get the bees. It still does not ease the pain of knowing that in their attempt to save money they still had to pay to remove anyway. Good bit of comb to melt for candles!  :)
Blanc
Psalm 19:9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Offline cklspencer

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Re: Wall cut out.
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2013, 11:10:13 am »
I don't think the currant owners sprayed. They had been beekeepers before moving back to Utah. The past owners? possibly. The hive had been there for some time. It looked like it may have died out and had new bees move in at one point. I think the lack of bees was due to swarming as I did find old swarm cells while cutting it out. I think their new queen just didn't make it.  I gave them a new queen and so far they look to be doing okay.

Offline Haddon

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Re: Wall cut out.
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2013, 11:41:46 am »
In spring I find those often. Thats the reason you should charge for every removal. Sometime you just dont get anything worth saving.

The laying worker would have worried me but if they are taking to the queen then cool. Being sucked up might have made the more into swarm mood so you might have squished the laying workers desire. But I might have still given them a queen and a open frame of brood.


Offline cklspencer

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Re: Wall cut out.
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2013, 11:51:12 am »
I was a bit worried about the laying worker but the only place I found multiple eggs was in queen cells and not the rest of the comb so I figure it was just starting and I caught it early enough to not have  big issue.