Wednesday, July 13, 2011

My 1st Beehive removal

There is at least one human on this earth that thinks I know what I am doing....  Here's the story.

Last week I saw a post on the Wasatch Bee Keeping Association's FB page about a school in need of a Bee Keeper's help.  They found that they had a beehive inside one of the vents at the school which was right next to a heavily used ramp, so the bees definitely had to go before school started.  I called and left a message, but I really didn't think anything would come of it.  On Monday, the principal of the school called and said no one else had offered to come out.  So today, the kids and I took a ride out, not knowing what to expect or really even knowing how to remove a hive.
It turns out the vent was positioned about 4 feet off the ground, and was about 1 foot high by 3-4 feet across, so plenty of room to work while planted firmly on the ground.

After applying some smoke, the custodian and I managed to get the cover and wire mesh off and reveal the hive right smack in the middle of the vent, and close to the front, so it was easily accessible.

It was a small hive, with 4 rows of comb, some brood and honey.  I figure it was about the size of a mini-basketball for kids.  The bees were calm while being uncovered.  The poor custodian was a bit jumpy, and once the cover was off, he stayed well away, watching from a safe distance.



I figured that this shouldn't be too difficult, so I suited up and got to work. 

First, I sprayed the bees and hive with sugar water to keep the bees from flying too much.  This worked wonderfully.  Most of the bees stayed put on the comb, and I was able to gently pull the first comb away without incident.

The rest of the combs had to be cut from the top, and to my surprise, this went smoothly as well.  I did get sticky from dripping honey, but more importantly the bees were very accommodating during the move.  I put the combs in a Styrofoam cooler (the one from the previous swarm),  with as many bees as I could keep on them, and put the lid on - keeping it cracked enough for the bees to gain access.  I did manage to find the queen wandering around in the vent (and what a fine looking queen she is), so I scooped her up and relocated her with the rest of the hive.  With the queen in the cooler, the rest of the bees should readily follow her.  I positioned the cooler on a chair next to the vent so the foraging bees would have a chance to rejoin the hive.  It was windy, so I placed several rocks on top to keep the lid in place until I returned at dusk.

At this point I am thinking this was too easy.  All was going according to plan.  No one got stung, No dramatic bee clouds.  Combs removed and the bees were going where they are supposed to.  A textbook case.

So away we went.  Off to visit some friends and have dinner while we waited for dusk.  All was right with the world.

When we came back, all the bees indeed were inside the cooler (YIPPEE!), but something had happened to the cooler.  The entire side of it was broken!  As in a big chunk GONE.  Either I loaded the top with too many rocks, or some clown came along and threw a big rock at it.  (My guess is that someone was throwing rocks at the bees by the way the pieces were inside the box.  The lid was not damaged).  I really hope the queen wasn't killed or injured.  What a shame it would be if something happened to her.  

So now I had a blown out cooler with a bunch of unhappy bees in it, that I was supposed to load into my car and drive home... and I forgot to bring a sheet to cover them with.

I ended up putting the gaping cooler (and bees) into the van and wrapped a sweater around the open end.  To my amazement, it worked!  The bees stayed nicely in their box, without complaint or fuss.  They are now parked in their new location, waiting for final installation into the new hive tomorrow.

And that's the way it was... My first hive removal.




Here are some photos of the blown out cooler.  I still think this is a really good idea.  I will have to pick up another one to have on hand.  It really does work well.



3 comments:

  1. Congrats, that is wonderful you were able to find the queen and move them. Boo on haters who don't understand their connection to honeybees and how important they are to life on this planet!

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  2. I was glad that the principal made the effort to get a beekeeper to remove them. The location of the hive in relation to a major ingress/egress made it mandatory to get the bees out. I was happy to help.

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