After loosing my first hive to wax moth and hive beetle I was connected to remove a hive from someones eve. I brushed up on this forum and you tube and thought I would share some photos. The hive entrance allowed access to the eve and up the wall of the deck. After cut we exposed the lower area removing brood and I mounted into frame and boxed. Then had to go through house to get to deck where we saw the large honey stores. Lifted box to deck where we placed it next to exposed upper area. Day 2 bees were very active but in and out of box. My friend stopped by today and they are clustering on my box. Will check again tomorrow. Now to get the box off the deck without going through the house.? Hope the rope
Getting it off the deck without going through the house. Hoisting the box up empty with ropes was one thing but full of bees with branches in the way makes me nervous to bring it off the deck with ropes. Going through the house dont want bees in her house. I am thinking I would block entrance anyway with a cloth and at night. I do have to take care of some hive beetle and need to transition the hive correctly. Still lots to make sure goes well keep them crossed.
You can get into trouble with cloth. A good entrance closer is a strip of tight fitting sponge. You can tape the lid with masking tape so no bees can get out. If you seal the bees in properly, I can see no issue with carrying the hive through the house.
The other day someone told me how a friend used cloth as an entrance closer, but the bees still got out.
first attempt a fail the sponges were too thick. After I got them excited then they all filed out. Got dark so will try again tomorrow. They were calmer when I was cutting them out. They like their box.
Well done, it’s best to have the sponge just a bit bigger. Alternatively if you cut a piece of wood or ply that is a loose fit, then you can wrap a piece of cardboard around the wood to squeeze it in. It IS a bit tricky measuring it & seeing how it fits without a veil. Next time give the bees some smoke, it will drive them in & give you a better chance of fitting the sponge or ply before they come streaming out.
I have some one inch foam soundproofing leftover from soundproofing my boat motor. I cut strips off that. That’s running low, so I cut up ply strips & fit them to customers hives before they pick them up. I leave some cardboard sticking out so that all the customer needs to do after the hive is in position is pull on the cardboard & the piece of ply comes out with it. I have it tight enough so that it can’t come out during transport.
Wood and duck tape did the trick on a very windy evening. Hated to leave the 20 or so bees locked out . It is home and I hope they like the open spaces of my area. Cross my fingers it takes and is happy. Will add the med box day after tomorrow as I have only one frame that does not have brood. Put a hive beetle trap in and keep my eyes on them. Need a feeder will figure that out as that will take a week at least to get here. So I am stoked. Never thought I could do this and am so thankful to a couple bee friends.
I think we may have been getting “pineapple express” storm systems too, perhaps even from Hawaii. My bees have been sulking for a couple of weeks in the rain and wind.
Today its like spring. My new girls are active and I couldnt have asked for a better timing. I will feed them tomorrow just some sugar water in a bowl with stones because no feeder yet.and it is looking pretty sparse the citrus and coconut have bloomed.
Not a good idea if it is outside the hive. It can spread disease and encourage robbing.
If you have a mason jar with a tight lid, you can just punch 10-20 holes in the lid with a pin or thumb tack, then put the syrup into that jar. Invert the jar (so it is lid down) over the hole in the inner cover, put a box on top of the cover to make space for the jar and put the roof on top. Now you have a nice safe feeder inside the hive - no robbers and you are not feeding anyone else’s bees for free!
Ok thank you so much that I can do I thought you mentioned that but I wasn’t getting the fact that when it was tipped over the pressure would keep it from leaking. I will do that today. I am hesitant to inspect frames as the comb has only been in the frames a little more than a week. I have them secured with wire but … will let bees work on them in frames a bit longer. I looked in when I added the medium box and they were covered with bees. Working on getting some help to remove one more hive, this one may be huge it is 3 years old and is in a soffet under a tub. Crossing my fingers not easy task but stoked and totally into this.
Learning so much with this hive. Today I saw a uncapped larva. Beginning to understand what I am looking at with inspection. I am crossing my fingers but think I have a Queen. Still cant see a Queen but learning about the brood. Thank you Perfect Bee for you on line articles. The feeder is about 1 inch down and I removed the second box per some advice they have a frame to fill in the deep they are in. I do know one comb is large and leaning out from the frame and may create a problem. I did try to tack it back with a wire but did not want to damage comb at this early stage. Will figure that out if this hive makes it. X my fingers.
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. It is home and I hope they like the open spaces of my area. Cross my fingers it takes and is happy. Will add the med box day after tomorrow as I have only one frame that does not have brood. Put a hive beetle trap in and keep my eyes on them. Need a feeder will figure that out as that will take a week at least to get here. So I am stoked. Never thought I could do this and am so thankful to a couple bee friends.
