I removed a colony this evening that had no queen, no brood of any type, but with about 6 queen cells. The two older sections of the hive were blacker than night. The hive had a bunch of honey that smelled fermented, a ton of bee bread, small bees, a good bit of drones that were all small too btw, no sign of mites, no sign of waxmoth. The people sprayed them with wasp spray once, a while ago, like yrs ago, oh well, not the perfect removal by a long shot, and I did it in reverse as well, through the upper plywood floor.
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/pyxicephalus/April92008
...JP
JP, still, no wonder you are called the Swarm King, doesn't matter the size, etc., you still go out and do your thing, good for you, yeah!!! Have a beautiful day in this great life. Cindi
Cindi. I did another one yesterday morning I was too disgusted to talk about. It was one that had been sprayed several times and had major waxmoth. The hive was inside of a brick bay window, that was an act of God to access. In fact the contractor and I were perplexed at how this bay window had been designed, stronger than Fort Knox!!! He nor I have ever seen this type of construction. We did everything but remove bricks to access the poor little pathetic colony. Then after I got other stuff done I had to remove the queenless colony, which btw maybe had perhaps 6-7,000 bees. Don't want a repeater of yesterday, no!
...JP
JP, don't ya just hate when there are things that you just cannot bring oneself to talk about. I know what you are saying. I remember when I used to used Roundup around here for weed control, I would just spray everywhere there were weeds. I didn't even have a clue back then that there may have been so many beneficial insects around, let alone honeybees. It makes me cringe when I think about it, and I can just barely talk about this now.........I know what you mean. Off to get the kids all off to school. Beautiful and wonderful day, loving this life we live. Cindi
Cindi, I didn't mention it for two reasons, yes I was disgusted, and two, I never mention the ones I can't save, and there are unfortunately a decent number of these. This is my take, I work in a service oriented industry and my job is to help and serve those in need, even the jackasses!!! :-x But ohhh the nice people who want to do the right thing is what helps me keep my sanity.
...JP
Geez, JP, I guess I never thought of it that way - of course not all the cutouts you do are for good people. But as you say, you're providing a service, you can't judge the client - to their face, that is! :evil:
JP,
Bro you love cutting those floors don'tcha? Man that comb looked really thick! I haven't done floor cut out yet and hope not to. Looks like the area was being renovated so I guess that was good. All the best to you my man and thanks for the pics.