Large Colony in ductwork " UPDATE 4/30 "

[BeeHopper]

A friend called me today about what he thought was a swarm behind a plywood cover on the outside of the building 10 feet off the ground. So I go to investigate, turns out to be a colony behind a sheet of plywood covering an unused duct about 14"x 18" roughly. There were workers flying around outside, but not leaving the area, the colony was bunched up in the corner ( much larger than what you would expect to see in a 3 lb. package). There was no new comb, but dried empty combs instead. I removed most of the colony into a cardboard box and hived them near my newly hived packages on new foundation. I am not sure if I have the queen, with my inexperienced eye, I could not locate her, I am hoping that she is in the hive. There are still more bees in the duct. Shall I wait a week to see if the queen is in the hive or shall I go after the remaining colony in hopes that I find the queen and add them in. This is my 1st removal, and I am sure there will be more. By the way I had a blast and no stings.Checked the hive from the swarm that I hived earlier in the week and to my surprise the QUEEN was there. I suppose LUCK played a part . WOOHOO !!! I'm relieved. Oh well, back to building supers.

[shavo]

i am jealous.wanna share?

[JP]

Beehopper,
you need to find the queen. Without one and no brood they are doomed on their own. You can add them to another hive using the newspaper method. Of course if they have parasites they could pass these along to the hive you mix them with. I would check the hive you have for that queen again, if you find her great, if not go back and look for her asap. Good luck!

[TwT]

if there are still bee's in the duct work, I bet the queen is with them, you might have got her but most the time if you dont get them all she will run off any comb or get away from you, you need a bee-vac with a long hose to remove all bee's, go back tonight or tomorrow and see if you can get the rest and add the those you removed already..... doesn't hurt to make sure by getting all bee's, if you dont have a bee-vac, go back at evening time spray them down with sugar water and get them with a cup like a scoop or something like that, milk jug with the top cut off would work.....

[BeeHopper]

Thank You for the input, Looks like I'll have to use the scoop method if I were to go back and claim the rest. The one thing I did wrong was not wait till later in the evening to remove ( it was 5 pm Eastern), but my friend was anxious to get them out. Got my fingers crossed.  

[JP]

Beehopper,
I prefer to remove bees in the morning, when there are less bees do deal with. The problem I see in your case is that you didn't try and locate the queen before you left the site. You can't just gather a bunch of bees from a site and expect them to survive. You need to have a queen, or some brood comb. If you don't have the queen, the bees can raise another queen from the brood. It's best if you have a queen and some brood comb. If you are going to consider doing removals you need to be properly equipped and as twt mentioned, a beevac can be a big asset.

[BeeHopper]

Beehopper,
I prefer to remove bees in the morning, when there are less bees do deal with. The problem I see in your case is that you didn't try and locate the queen before you left the site. You can't just gather a bunch of bees from a site and expect them to survive. You need to have a queen, or some brood comb. If you don't have the queen, the bees can raise another queen from the brood. It's best if you have a queen and some brood comb. If you are going to consider doing removals you need to be properly equipped and as twt mentioned, a beevac can be a big asset.

Well said, I do plan on building a BeeVac ( Plans on the other Bee Forum).As for the brood comb, there was not even a handful, I found it odd with such a large colony. As for the locating the queen in this situation, inexperience and I should have known better. Thanks.

[JP]

Beehopper,
I purchased a beevac from sothwest bekeeping supply, they call it the swarm retriever. It's pricey and you have to build it but it's a pretty good one. I ordered an extra inner box with mine.

[BeeHopper]

Beehopper,
I purchased a beevac from sothwest bekeeping supply, they call it the swarm retriever. It's pricey and you have to build it but it's a pretty good one. I ordered an extra inner box with mine.

JP, Thanks, I gotta check it out now that you mentioned it  :D

[JP]

Beehopper,
it's southwest beekeeping supply, my bad.

[TwT]

here's one that walter kelly has.... the only thing I don't like about it is >> it says that the cages only holds 1 1/2 pounds of bee's, a big hive could take 5 or more of them cages...

http://go.netgrab.com/secure/kelleystore/asp/product.asp?product=246

[Jack Parr]

Check this:

www,OwensApiaries.net  

There is a simple vac made with a five gallon plastic bucket that will work and is mostly free. I made one just like it ( ON MY OWN and it does work) before I found the website.  

The website has the plans for the vac, and, more importantly the PICS.

[TwT]

http://www.owensapiaries.net/    ,,,,, yeh, Bill is a friend of mine, he does alot of work with UGA, he has alot of time because he's a fireman, real nice guy that will help if he can.... the last time I looked at his site he wasn't finish with the plans section yet , guest he is now....

[Michael Bush]

I've killed a lot of bees with bee vacs.  I much prefer to just brush them.

[JP]

I have also killed a lot of bees with a beevac, but...I am glad I have one. And I bring it on every job I go on. There are situations where it is invaluable. You can minimize the bees you kill by giving them feed and proper ventilation. My beevac didn't have a vacum regulator, so I added one. Too much vacum is a bad thing.

[BeeHopper]

After checking out all the beevacs , I like and plan on building my own using the design in beesource.com. I like the inner box because it is the same dimension as the hive body and with the removable sliding bottom, the bees can be tapped to the frames below.

[Apis629]

I made a make-shift beevac with a cardboard box and some extra tubing which, ended up killing probably near half of the bees but, by some miracle, the queen survived.  I have to say though, I think beevacs are often easeir to be effectively used in most situations I've encountered.  Then again, the only hives I've had to remove were in branches with centers just bearly wider than my arm.

[TwT]

you can make one from allot of things, it took little time to fine tone my shop vac into a bee-vac with out killing bee's, now I have done vacuumed up 3 queens with their bee's and not hurt any..

http://www.beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?t=2775

[livetrappingbymatt]

made one from a 5 gal water bottle w/laundry bag inside it. added a flag pole bracket to back end and with painter pole can reach 25'. use sump pump hose attached to my shop vac.swarms or bldg it get/s the job doue!
bob