Now how long did you say that they have been there?

[philinacoma]

I gotta say these cutouts can be a lot of fun. I went out on one yesterday that had 'only been there about a year'. How many times have I heard that one before? Once I opened up the wall I found the comb was in sheets 5 foot high, this turned out to be 3 sheets deep. a year, yeah, right, sure they have.

The brood comb filled the 10 frame box we brought with us leaving us no space for any honey.

The quantity of comb was nothing like the chimney job, but #@$%&*^ hell the number bees was incredible! The hive was situated behind a water heater so perhaps that was keeping them warm over winter.

There were more bees in this colony than I have in my 2 established hives at home. They would not fit inside the 10 frame box with all of the brood. I have to go back tonight with another box to put on top so that I have a chance of removing them all. I nearly called for reinforcements (OzBuzz) to help me with them once I ran out of fuel for the smoker and the only thing I had left to try to pacify them was some icing sugar.

It will be interesting to see what the state is when I get there this evening.







The new owner of this colony is a new beginner, the lucky boy! He helped me with everything yesterday and copped 6 stings out of them, where I got away with just the 4.  :)

[OzBuzz]

WOW! that's all i can say! very impressive! do you think you got the Queen?

And i'm always there with reinforcements - just a phone call away  :)

You should get a back of sugar cane mulch from Bunnings! it is the best! i've actually been able to keep the smoker going for almost 2hrs without refilling and the smoke is thick and cool!

[Pete]

You should get a back of sugar cane mulch from Bunnings! it is the best! i've actually been able to keep the smoker going for almost 2hrs without refilling and the smoke is thick and cool!

I am off to get some this arvo, thanks for the tip.

That looks impressive Phil, please post lots o pics.

[OzBuzz]

I am off to get some this arvo, thanks for the tip.

It is seriously awesome stuff!

[philinacoma]

Good luck, and don't forget to take some pics yourself!

[philinacoma]

Well I aint doin that again.

I went back tonight to put the second box on top. First I put a nice board under the hive and set it up so that it touch the wall of the bungalow just next to a cluster of bees.

I thought (or not as the case turned out  ) I could quickly wip the lid off and pop the box on and add the lid again. I lifted the lid and the bees poured out like cochroaches in a B grade horror shlock.  :shock:  I wipped the box on top but for some reason the frames didn't want to sit flat so the lid isn't sitting right. As I was trying to get the frames settled they poured out of the top of the new box and boy they were angry! It took about a second for the first sting through the sleeve the second came through the not long after. I gave up real quick and threw the lid on as gently as I could then high tailed it out of there. 

I hadn't bother with the smoker as I new there was not a lot of honey in there. Any suggestions on how to calm them down enough for me to work them? :needhelp: Spraying sugar water? I tried dusting them with icing sugar yesterday as that was all I had left but it was only a temporary lull.

[OzBuzz]

Sounds like a hot hive there! They stayed in the box though which is a good thing - hopefully you got the Queen! I've found the sugar water 1:1 sprayed in a fine mist works well - they focus on cleaning the sugar syrup off each other rather than giving you grief. I'd definitely couple it with some smoke though...

[Meadlover]

Great photos!
Will be interested in hearing how you go as I'm still pretty new to the swarm collecting/cutout/trapout scene.

ML

[philinacoma]

I dropped in on them this evening on the way home from work to check up on them. I was hoping that some of them (all) had walked the plank and gone inside the hive box. The owner let me know that there was a small cluster of bees on the ground in the grass on the other side of the bungalow. I grabbed the torch and had a look and the cluster was about a dozen bees. Nothing special except that it wasn't where I would have expected to see them. As I was watching them shift around who pops up to the top? :jawdrop: Yes, HRH herself. A real golden beauty. Very carefully with a pair of scissors I cut the grass underneath them and gently shuffled them onto a tray. Given what happened to me the previous night and the fact I did not have my suit with me. (I had had to wash it after the stains from the last visit :'( ) I was unwilling to lift the lid even for 2 seconds to put her in. Instead I chose to put her on top of the lid near where it was open a touch. (I had not succeeded in sorting out why the frames refused to sit properly) The gap is large enough to let bees enter and exit which is what they started doing again. One crawled onto the lid, hopefully to investigate what the fuss was about with the cluster there. The other took off straight at me so I didn't see what the outcome was with the queen.

I noticed that the wall still had several thousand bees on it below the level of the board and they were building new comb.

My hopes:
1. The queen is accepted home.
2. She has now been escorted inside.
3. The bees inside the box start fanning the pheromones out from the entrance to entice the bees on the wall in.
4. The bees on the wall do actually take the hint and move over to the box.
5. The demeanor of the bees improves hugely with the queen back on deck.

I was very worried about the poor beginner being given a real monster hive so early in his beekeeping life until I found the queen in the grass. I don't know what she was doing over there, but hell, I ain't complaining after finding her.

Plan A is they all cooperate and get in the box, I seal them in and transport them to their new home.

Plan B is finishing the bee vac and removing the bees from the wall that way. I would transport them all in the vac reuniting them back at the new recipients' home.

Plan C is Taking what I have in the hive away then gassing the remainder.

Plan D is yet to be defined.

What an experience this cut out has been.  :-\

[hardwood]

Bee quick.

Scott

[philinacoma]

Unless I can get time off work, I can't get there in daylight until Saturday. :(

Bee quick.

Scott

What do you see as the biggest risk by delaying?

[Pete]

I think he talking about some stuff the Yanks use for spraying the bees? See the Honey Bee removal sub forum for videos by JP and he uses it a lot.

[philinacoma]

I'll check it out.

What ratio of sugar to water does anyone use for a spray to subdue agro bees? I know for supplemental feeding it's 1Kg/600ml.

[OzBuzz]

I just use 1:1 in that spray bottle that we used for that cutout! and that's also what i feed them if i want to stimulate brood production. If i want them to turn it in to stores (normally fed just before winter) then i would use 2:1

[philinacoma]

I dropped in again last night on the way home. There is still a few thousand bees clustered on the wall. It may have been my imagination, I hope not, but there were no guards coming at me when I approached the hive and there was not the same angry sounding buzz that I had the previous two nights. Hopefully it is the case and the queen is inside and calming them down. If only that crowd on the wall would move inside the box, then everyone would be happy!



It was difficult to get in there with the camera to get a really good shot, but the cluster broadens out at the bottom of the picture and extends down about another 10 cm.

[hardwood]

Hard to tell from waaayyy up here, but it looks as if you may have missed the queen?

Scott

[philinacoma]

Hard to tell from waaayyy up here, but it looks as if you may have missed the queen?

Hi Scott, It is possible she isn't inside the box but I did find her in the grass about 7-8 metres (read yards) away on the other side of the bungalow. The owner told me about the cluster which was small and only contained about a dozen bees which is how I was able to see the queen. I transfered her to the top of the hive box near to the opening. As I was not suited up and I was too 'cautious' to open the lid of the hive after they had attacked the previous night. I think the bees in the box are a little more docile now than they were a couple of nights ago before I returned the queen. I was hoping last night to see the bees on the wall deminished dramatically in number.

[OzBuzz]

Is it possible she went back to the scent on the wall? It's a shame your vac isn't up and running yet

[philinacoma]

Is it possible she went back to the scent on the wall? It's a shame your vac isn't up and running yet

Look it is possible, but to do so she would have had to walk past the opening in the lid and the front door to the hive both of which had guards out the front. My expectation is that the guards would have been very happy to see her and said come into my parlour baby!

[OzBuzz]

Is it possible she went back to the scent on the wall? It's a shame your vac isn't up and running yet

Look it is possible, but to do so she would have had to walk past the opening in the lid and the front door to the hive both of which had guards out the front. My expectation is that the guards would have been very happy to see her and said come into my parlour baby!

Very true - i think it's likely they're just stragglers that have gone back to the scent - you wouldnt expect that the queen would walk past those entrances and the scent of the brood