I have a established hive in the corner if my house. I dont want to destroy the hive but woukd like to put it into a hive box outside. I woukd appreciate any help or suggestions.
Thank you
You’re best off waiting until spring. Maybe you can find someone to do a cut out during the cold months and you’ll be all set once things get warmer in the spring.
Hi & welcome to the forum. Especially welcome since “Groundhog Day” is my favorite movie. On our last trip to the US, we visited Punxsutawney.
You can’t remove the hive without destroying it. However you can do as @chau06 suggests, & cut it out which means you can salvage to re-use some of the comb & the vast majority of the colony.
If you don’t want to damage & have to repair the corner of your house, you can do a trap-out, which traps the colony out, leaving the hive behind.
It occurred to me that you might be calling the colony “the hive”. The hive is where the colony lives.
Thank you for your help. It’s just the corner of the house. Not a big fix. Would like to have a bee hive outside instead of in the house.
We can help you with advice on how to do either method of removing the colony, however it does mean that you’ll need to acquire a fair bit of gear in order to do so, which wont be so bad because you’ll have quite a few weeks in order to acquire it & research the method you’re going to use.
I would do the trap-out myself. If the hive is well established, it could occupy a large area inside your wall, which can result in a much larger repair than anticipated. I guess it depends on the construction of the house.
I have to purchase the hive box and all the equipment.
What is the trap out method? When would be the best time to remove the colony?
The trap-out method is the use of a wire funnel that bees can easily exit, but find it hard to get back in. We need to make sure that the bees don’t find any alternative entry points. Wait til spring starts on warm days, & preferably warm nights as well.
The way I do it is to set it up early in the morning while foraging bees are working. I use a frame of open brood to place next to the trap-out cone. The returning bees will eventually give up trying to go back into the hive, then gather on the frame of brood. Once there is a decent covering of bees on the frame, we place it inside a brood box, with the entrance in the same place the frame of brood occupied. Create a second entrance by moving the brood box roof back a bit. The bees at both entrances will entice further returning bees into the brood box. This will continue, as long as the bees don’t block the funnel, or they don’t find another entry back into the wall, which is easy to monitor, & remedy if needed.
There will be a further boost of bees each afternoon as new bees come out to do orientation flights. I think they are the easiest bees to entice into their new home. Don’t worry about the queen, on account that as long as there are worker eggs in that frame of brood, the colony will make a new queen. You can always add a second frame of brood (containing worker eggs) after 3 days if this doesn’t happen.
PS, the latter part of my video shows the method I’m describing.
You’ll see other videos where people construct large cones, which I don’t think is necessary… If you look at my little cone over a piece of garden hose is all that’s required. I kept the hose supported straight so that light was visible from the inside, which drew the bees out easier.
Unless you have access to a frame of brood to make a trap-out work (from one of your own hives, or from a local beekeeper), I would suggest that a cutout is your best option. Better yet, join a local bee club, find an experienced member that you like, and get them to help you do it. You can learn from watching videos, but hands-on support is well worth paying for, if you can find somebody amenable in your local area.
