"Picture this, Jamaica, 2008. It is a warm sunny morning in a quiet rural district. Suddenly the morning quiet is shattered by an unholy humming/buzzing noise.... It is the hive from hell." (at least my version of it")
Ok folks started a cut out in a church this morning. Block and steel up to floor level and board thereafter. I had previously looked at it a couple days ago and thought that they(the bees) were were in the wooden structure. So, i went back this morning armed with my trusty hammer, a crowbar, my machete, smoker, queen excluder, old frames with wires missing, hive body(forgot the nuc) etc. oh, my sidekick as well(he does the hard technical work)I could hear humming from about 8 feet awayand began to realize with some trepidation that this hive was a bit bigger than i thought.
Any way i began to smoke them and pry up the board only to discover that the bees were not in the wooden walls as previously thought but in the concrete foundation. By now i've been stung on the lip and its looking quite full and kissable. A crowd is gathering, i began to explain the situation and get the go ahead to remove the blocks. Took out about 3 1/2 feet of blocks and chunks of honey (some up to 3 inches thick) 9 frames of brood(more like 1/2 frames and there is still more honey. Didnt see the queen, so i just had to leave the box and hope that with the brood removd from the hive they will move over to the box. When i tried smoking them they would retreat into the foundation, so as i said i just left the box, i'll pick it up on friday. Oh. on my way home i remebered i had the vacuum with me. Hows that?