removal

[danno]

I have a friend that has a 3 year old HOT colony in his pole barn walls.  No one including me wants this job.  He wants them out but if he can he wants to salvage the honey so is there a way maybe CO2 that is safe and effective to eradicate.
I new that something like this would just tick most off but please understand, I have 4 months experience and 2 others that have looked this over have 30 plus years each and said no.  If I cant get a answer he is just going to use raid.  His wife is alergic and they dont let them near the door to the barn

[Bill W.]

Unless you absolutely don't want to do the removal, why not scope out the situation and see how it goes?  I'd suit up, smoke the heck out of them, poke around, and see how they react.  Don't start removing anything, just see what they do when you get close, maybe jiggle the combs a bit, and keep applying smoke.  Maybe you'll find they are more workable than you think.  If not, you can just walk away and kill them later.

I'd look at it as a chance to do a practice run.  If you start and can't finish the job, they were going to die anyway.  If you accidentally kill the queen, well, you would have ended up killing her on purpose anyway in order to cool them down.

So long as you are suited up, you don't really start getting stung until you're covered in honey and the suit sticks to your skin.

To kill them without poisoning the honey, I would suit up and go in with a shop vac and just vacuum up all the bees.  Then just block the intake so they can't leave and any that weren't killed by the vacuum will be dead before long.

But, why pass up an opportunity for a practice run or even the possibility of getting some new bees?

[johnnybigfish]

Whats the Hardest part Danno, tearing the wall out? I mean, is it way up high?
I was offered a bunch of bees awhile back but they were in cinder blocks and they had access to the entire ceiling area of a 100 yard building.I had no idea how to get them out, and to the best of my knowledge, they might still be in there.Unfortunately, they seemed to be nice bees. The only option the entomology guys could think of was poison, but then again, it wouldnt come in contact with the bees.
My biggest problem I had with this situation is that the entomology dept called me to capture the bees and I couldnt do it. I didnt know how without knocking down the wall :(
I like bills idea....A practice run, and just maybe you WILL get the bees!
your friend,
john

[Kathyp]

look around and see if there is something that is stirring them up.  yellowjackts, etc. robbing them will make them defensive.  they are probably storing honey for winter now and will protect their stores.

if they are buzzing people who come around, but not actually stinging, that is not my definition of hot.  that's just pretty normal behavior of some hives. 

using raid will probably not work.  we all have gone to do removals where the owner has tried to kill the bees with raid.  all it does is piss off the bees and ruin the honey.

i agree.  suit up and see what you can do.  you may find that it's not as bad as you think.  go to the removal forum and read about all our adventures.  there is also a list of equipment you'll need.