Bees from a removal went right back into the same house

[TwoHoneys]

Today I removed a colony that swarmed into a house only 5 days ago...we removed the bees and the few new drawn comb. We vacuumed the bees and then poured them into a hive box containing their comb. I left the box near the old hive entrance and intended to collect it at dark.

But the homeowner called early evening to say the bees were orienting to another place in their house. When I arrived, there were very few bees in the box and a lot of activity at a new location at their house. HECK!

I have no idea if we got the queen. I doubt we did. I didn't see her, and the bees never showed great interest in their new box...so I guess I missed her even though we left one comb in the cavity for quite a while waiting for her to appear.

Now that I think about it, perhaps I should have taken the vacuumed box full of bees home with me right away.

Is this common?! Do new colonies with little investment (there were eggs but I didn't see larvae) tend to abscond like this and seek out another cavity? I'm so bummed.

-Liz

[Robo]

I never leave the bees at the location after a cut-out,  so can't answer your question directly.   However, I have a good results doing quick trap-outs on swarms that have moved in within a few days.  Usually they will abscond out of the wall within a few days.   Sometimes to the trap hive, sometimes not.

[hardwood]

If you get right on it you might be able to smoke them out.

Scott

[D Semple]

Murphy's law of averages bites us in the butt sometimes.

Some jobs just don't go as planned.

I had to do a free 30' high removal with repairs, on a new swarm that moved in to the same exact spot where I had completed a removal the month before. And, to make matters worse at the end of this 2nd removal, after I think I've gotten all the bees out and am basically done, I pull out the Beequick and accidentally run about a 1/2 pound of hidden bees in to the master bedroom of the house when nobody was home through a can light. I get a call two hours after I've left from the frantic homeowner when she discovers about a 1000 bees that have been on the loose in their fancy shmancy bedroom for about 3 hours. Jeez what a mess, spent a day cleaning up.

 http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/DSemple/Bees%202011/Bees%202012/Deb%20W%20Part%202/

My advice is to always charge an extra 10% on every job to cover unforeseen contingencies.

Don
 

[JP]

I rarely shake bees on site WHEN I have not caged the queen. I have had them abandon brood a few times in the past & have had to oust them out of the new spot as Scott suggests. I also notice as the season wears on & it gets hotter the bees don't seem to cooperate like they normally do earlier in the season. When its really warm out I generally avoid shaking them on site even after the queen is caged. Instead of going right into the set up they will bunch up where the hive was prior. Unless you shake them after dark in pitch darkness.


...JP

[TwoHoneys]

I rarely shake bees on site WHEN I have not caged the queen. I have had them abandon brood a few times in the past & have had to oust them out of the new spot as Scott suggests. I also notice as the season wears on & it gets hotter the bees don't seem to cooperate like they normally do earlier in the season. When its really warm out I generally avoid shaking them on site even after the queen is caged. Instead of going right into the set up they will bunch up where the hive was prior. Unless you shake them after dark in pitch darkness.


...JP

Thanks for the inside tips, JP.

Those bees did NOT, in fact, reenter the house, thank goodness. All but about 10 of them left the box into which I shook them and they flirted all afternoon and early evening with another spot (far far from where the convenient scaffolding was located) and by dark they were all clustering in a big ball at their new (very high) spot of interest. I climbed a ladder and vacuumed them and took them straight to their new bee yard. The next morning, the contractor caulked every gap he could find.

BTW, JP and schawee and Scott and anyone else who can find the queen during a cut out: I have NO IDEA how you do it.

-Liz