Australian Swarm Story

A recent story here from 9 News. Another reason to reduce the swarm impulse…we are the world leader in asbestos housing here…

We recently killed a colony of bees living above an asbestos ceiling rather than disturb the asbestos & cause any unwanted concerns for the tenants, R.E. agent & the owner. The ceiling was above a patio otherwise we probably would have had to remove the ceiling & colony.

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Hi Jeff, -just been watching one of your videos where you were cutting out brood to prevent swarming a few years back!
I wasn’t sure exactly from the Nine story what solution the beekeeper (from Beecroft) had come up with. It sounded like he was going to use a bee escape outside that hole and set up an adjacent box. The plan being I think that that the workers/foragers would then occupy that box. After some months is it the idea that eventually all the bees leave the house and end up in the box - with the queen following as well? I understand that there might be stinking dead larvae in the wall cavity at some point?

Hi Dan, yes that would be the case re: stinking dead larvae, primarily from the smell of SHB larvae. If I was doing it, I would entice the bees into the box with a frame of brood outside the box & then place it in the box after a couple of hours once the frame is covered in bees. With that process, they will make a new queen. If the old queen eventually comes out, she might have a fight on her hands. I’d say she will probably not come out until the SHB has taken over & eventually drives the last of the bees out.

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Thanks Jeff - fantastic advice.

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