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Author Topic: 6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House  (Read 4208 times)

Offline JP

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6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House
« on: March 05, 2009, 10:55:45 pm »
This house is being torn down soon. It had over two feet of water in it from Katrina and its 3' off the ground.

Lady said bees have been in the wall for 6 yrs. The bees were very gentle throughout the entire ordeal, I received only one sting.

I brought a deep with me that had about 1/2 the frames w/ drawn out comb. The comb of this hive is old and dark so the nice whitish drawn comb I gave them was like giving them a blood transfusion.

I found the queen on the interior floor in the last hour. Not sure how she got there really, but was glad to find her, she's one of those big queens that get ya all excited.

Shook a bunch in right before dark.

Going back and hanging a swarm trap as this house cannot be bee proofed, way too many holes in the exterior to keep swarms from entering.

In the pics, notice the deteriorated great stuff. Don't use this stuff on the exterior of a bldg the sun beats it down and everything chews right through it including honeybees.

Pics of the are removal here http://picasaweb.google.com/pyxicephalus/March52009?authkey=Gv1sRgCI27jsixz-Wh5AE#


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

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Offline dpence

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Re: 6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2009, 11:53:15 pm »
Cool, thanks for the pics.  Won't be long up here in Missouri where we can chase swarms and do cutouts.

David

Offline Irwin

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Re: 6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2009, 10:51:43 am »
Thank's JP keep them coming :-D
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Offline Shawn

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Re: 6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2009, 10:54:51 am »
Now that was a lot of bees! Thanks again for the great pictures.

Offline Cindi

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Re: 6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2009, 05:54:58 pm »
JP, nice pics, nice proud look on your face there, job well done!!!  Beautiful day, in our great lives.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline derrick1p1

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Re: 6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2009, 12:37:23 pm »
I'm wondering how you go about cutting/framing the comb from the old hive into the frames.  I know to use rubber bands, but do you have any tips you can share.  Do you brush the bees off before putting in the frame, do you worry about the size of the comb when cutting it to put into the frames?  Just curious in case I get the opportunity to do a removal.

Thanks,
Derrick
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Offline catfishbill

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Re: 6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2009, 11:22:48 pm »
man JP you got me itch'en.we are a couple of weeks behind yall up here,but it won't be long.and as always very nice pics.the last couple are my favorites,thats a bunch of bees.

bill

Offline JP

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Re: 6 Yr Old Hive In 62 Yr Old House
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2009, 11:46:57 pm »
I'm wondering how you go about cutting/framing the comb from the old hive into the frames.  I know to use rubber bands, but do you have any tips you can share.  Do you brush the bees off before putting in the frame, do you worry about the size of the comb when cutting it to put into the frames?  Just curious in case I get the opportunity to do a removal.

Thanks,
Derrick

Derrick, I just make sure to transfer comb sections vertically like they were positioned in the void space. Some sections are wide which really fill up a frame nicely others are long and skinny and require you to secure several sections in a frame.

I use rubber bands to secure comb sections some people use hinged, wired frames like Robo http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/cut-out-frames/ that open up whereby comb sections can be layed in place and secured rather quickly once the frames are closed.

As for brushing bees off while securing them in frames, I do not. I generally go gloveless unless the bees are extra aggressive. I just move my fingers right in amongst the bees. They seem to put up with intrusions perhaps cause our hands are warm.

I have a few bee vacs and I use them to reduce numbers so that I can see what I'm doing on hives with large numbers.

I find a razor knife best at cutting comb sections to transfer, make sure you have extra blades with you as combs dull the blades sooner than you like, particularly tough comb. A serrated knife like a bread knife works well as well. My all time favorite was a Ginsu knife I lost on a job, which I never did replace, maybe one day.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions please feel free to ask.


Catfish, have a great season and thanks for the accolades. Getting calls left and right now, the season is here!


...JP

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

My website JPthebeeman.com http://jpthebeeman.com