Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: yrots on November 21, 2012, 05:22:55 pm
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I have discovered that bees have taken up residence in my brick home in Orlando. Due to the nature of the construction a trap-out rather than a cut-out will be necessary. I actually have all of the woodenware that I built last year but never acquired any bees. Since I have no frames with eggs and brood I have nothing to attract the bees into one of my boxes. I have prepared a wire cone to do the trap-out but would like to purchase from someone some frames of eggs otherwise the trap-out will simply force the bees out.
Dirk
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I'd love to help you out but I was in my hives today and there is no brood or eggs to pull. You should wait til late January or February when drones start flying or they won't make a queen anyway.
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I'm sure I could find you a frame of eggs but you'd be making a poor bet at this time of year in regards to the new virgin queen mating well. It's best (as marktrl pointed out) to wait until spring for a trap out. You are aware of our SHB problems here right? A trap out leaves the comb with honey/pollen in the wall and the SHBs usually take over before the bees can rob it back out leaving a runny, stinky mess that can ruin your drywall and carpet. It's better to do a cut out.
I've got lots (over 100) of videos on you tube of both cut outs and trap outs that may help you. youtube.com/MrBeedude
Hope that helps
Scott
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I'm with Mark and hardwood...wrong time of year...there are no drones now for mating a new queen. (The queen won't leave until there is only a handful of bees left, if she leaves the wall at all). Is there any chance of doing a cut out from the inside?? You can make barriers with plastic to keep the area confined from the rest of the house. Just a thought.
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First off thanks for the quick response and the knowledgeable advice. I would much prefer to do a cut-out and hopefully get the queen and the comb out of the wall but I'm afraid the type of construction may prevent this. My home's walls are not a true brick but rather 7W x 12L x 3 1/2 H hollow block so the comb will be in the single cavity in the centers. I would have to cut the mortar and then cut the face off the "bricks" to access the comb. I guess it could be done but seemed to me a trap-out was a better option. It may be that I'll have to wait until Spring unless I figure out if the cut-out will work (and SWMBO doesn't freak about it).
Scott, I'll search through your videos to see if i find some info on removing from a concrete wall which is similar. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Dirk
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I have several videos of block wall removals. Here's a recent one.
Stephen's bees block wall removal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhraE2iU-VI#ws)
Scott