Tempting settled bees into a hive

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What a truly beautiful wild thing!
Why canā€™t you just leave them where they are. Are they bothering you?
Set up a couple of bait hives to collect swarms from them if they survive till next spring.

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I had a chance to view some correspondence from the NSW Apiary Officer discussing wild honeybee hives, the research done in Australia a couple of years ago found that the majority of wild hives did not survive a few years. The climate is harsh but above all disease gets to them and they die, so it was recommended to capture and manage wild hives where possible. Additionally, the wild hives are seen by apiarists as breeding grounds for disease which spread to managed apiaries.

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@dangerous, I agree it is amazingly beautiful and they do not seem aggressive. Setting up bait hives is probably the best option. I think the thing that attracts me the most is the excitement of doing it, which is not justification enough in itself.

There are a couple of other reasons to considerā€¦ in an exposed location like this, what the likelihood of it surviving the winter? We have pretty mild winters with night temperatures dropping to minimums of just above freezing - so if theyā€™ve got a chance anywhere it is probably here, but itā€™s got no shelter. It is also in the middle of a campsite, so it depends how comfortable the owners are with it.

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@Rodderick

Is it easy to get access to australian scientific research on bees? Are there journals worth subscribing to or academic news websites?

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Hi Dunc, I am not aware of any bee specific scientific journals. I subscribe to the Australasian Beekeepers Journal which is not too bad. Full of good info and recent research projects. Each state has a department of primary or rural industries some of which are ok at letting the public know about upcoming research projects. The NSW DPI publish their project and are available online for free.

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I like the idea af putting a box next to them so they move across.they are beautiful. Iā€™ve moved bees from shed walls and trees by transferring the comb and queen into a box and leaving it nearby and the bees follow the comb and Queen.

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Ever done any rappelling? Got someone to belay you? I would try climbing, with safety rope and harness, in stages. Then cut out the comb and lower it down to ground side help.

Sees a shame to leave them there, to die out over the winter, which is what I would expect for such an exposed hive.

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Hi @Dunc
If you havenā€™t already, check out these sites that often feature Australia scientific research on bees:
http://www.rirdc.gov.au/search-results?searchCriteria=bee (RIRDC is a statutory authority established by the Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989)
http://www.theabk.com.au/
http://beeaware.org.au/
http://honeybee.org.au/
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/honey-bees/management
http://www.bqual.com.au/overview.aspx

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@HilltopHives

Iā€™ve started looking through these - some good stuff. Think Iā€™ll be working through them for a while to come. Thanks for the links.

The campsite manager wants the bees gone. He also thinks theyā€™ve swarmed and set up a 2nd hive as well in a tree hollow.

Best news is that they have a scissor lift on site.

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Itā€™s on.

Iā€™ve got an more experienced beekeeper to take the lead. Is there any advice on what time of day to do it? As I understand it bees returning and finding their hive gone arenā€™t too happy, and as this is a campsite itā€™d be good to minimise the risk of this happening?

Also, has anyone recovered bees from a tree hollow? I havenā€™t seen it yet but Iā€™m presuming that it will be a lot harder to cut the comb out.

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Interestingly a friends daughter got stung on the campsite a couple of weeks ago and ended up with severe anaphylaxis, started going blue till the ambulance got there! All alright in the end. She has an epipen now.

Fortunately, the camp manager hasnā€™t panicked about it and thinks they are going more dormant now anyway. Will probably take it on at the start of Spring before the colony gets too big.

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A mass of bees with no queen or brood IS good for anyone, simply get them into a box full of frames (stickies if you like) with the center frame being a frame of brood that includes lots of worker eggs, young worker larvae, pollen & honey. It is that simple.

That was over a month ago, what was the outcome? I saw the photo, it doesnā€™t look too high for a long extension ladder, Iā€™d tackle it, piece of cake.

I disagree & agree, lets educate new beekeepers by giving them good information right from the start. One of the things the flow team are instructing newbees to do is to hook up with a local bee club. This is what newbees should do. Get to know other beekeepers in the area. They could offer to pay for a frame of brood from another beekeeper. They maybe offered one for free, just return the favor one day. ā€œa bunch of bees with no queen and no brood is no good to anyoneā€. is not a good message to be putting out there. Lots of people might argue that a bunch of bees with no queen or brood is actually worth saving. Brownie points aside.

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Yep, Iā€™m new to this game.

Iā€™m planning to do it after winter with an experienced beekeeper. Though Iā€™m thinking about putting a box up there to see if the queen will move in.

I donā€™t think any normal ladder would do it but they have a 8m scissor lift available on site, which makes it plausible.

Iā€™m also going to put out a bait hive or two on site for Spring as thereā€™s another nest, inside a trunk, out of reach of anyone but a monkey (probably 15-20m up, canā€™t get a photo with my phone). It should help prevent more nests being set up on site.