I had to drive over two hours one way to get to the old farmstead and I got there at 6:am. It was still cool and the contractor was nervous about all of the bees in between the studs and behind the siding. We started to remove the old clapboard siding so I could get the colony out. I had been told that there had been bees there for over 50 years....I was anxious to find out what was in there.
From the first moment that I seen the bees flying around, I had the feeling that they were not acting right. Nothing was normal about them at all. So many drones! :(
Once inside, with the studs and comb exposed, I discovered what was wrong....no laying queen was found....many deformed wings and dead bees were all over. Blackened comb only and no new comb. Some old, dark honey was still there, but no new honey....scattered brood....little pollen stored and not much nectar, no new eggs, other than a few cells with about five eggs per cell....I found a laying worker, over 2/3s of the bees were drones....capped drone cells and nothing else....mites were everywhere. :'(
This cutout was the worst that I have ever seen. I did not get any bees, or any honey from this one....it was quite the bust of all cutouts. Of course the landowner said that she wanted lots of honey! :-\
I was told that someone had sprayed the bees last year with a bee bomb to try and kill them. But that was only after I had the cut out done that I was told about the spraying. :?
This one was a record for me....that bad! What was the worst cutout that you had?
Brenda
sorry to hear that. You wasted the better part of a day for nothing. Better luck next time.
worst cut out for me was a buch of box hives, no frames, about five years old.
G3
Dude, (if not.... sorry :-\) that sucks. The effort and time would be so disheartening. Finding out afterwards stinks!!!!
Quote from: joker1656 on June 19, 2009, 08:53:04 PM
Dude, (if not.... sorry :-\) that sucks. The effort and time would be so disheartening. Finding out afterwards stinks!!!!
Hehe...I ain't a DUDE :evil: and really am glad that I am not one! Whew! :evil:
It seems that I have cycles of good calls and then the not so good ones....this one really had me wanting to do the cutout. Even the pictures did not come out very well....but on the bright side, I met some really cool people! (I now know Roger and Scott! They are some pretty cool folks to know!
Brenda
Whooops! Sorry about that. :oops:
Glad there was a bright side to your cutout, though.
i went to do one last year like that. as soon as i got there, i knew something wasn't right. like yours, the bees had been there "forever". as soon as i started to remove the siding, out poured sevendust. i smiled, said sorry i don't do poisoned hive, packed my stuff and left. in all fairness to the renter, i don't think she knew that the owner had come around and dumped insecticide in the hive. she was all about saving the bees.
even so, not worth my time. let the homeowner figure it out.
This is one I'll never forget http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2JpP1kTKVfH2bVvGZpxluQ?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dL1CI4zUfujXNTu9OsJAzg?feat=directlink
Guy told me the entire house was gutted but this one room, nothing had been gutted. This was right after Katrina. I was so overwhelmed at the amount of mold, I didn't even bother to check what was above the area, which I normallly do. I just wanted to get the job over with.
He showed up with a huge ice chest for honey and I had done several removals of flooded houses where the honey was dark like used motor oil and tasted funny. The honey from this colony was no different. I filled the ice chest and then some but warned him that I wouldn't touch the honey myself, which he conceded.
Above me on the second floor was a bathroom. The bees built their hive around the bath tub and inside the wall adjacent to the bath tub as well as in three floor sections. The bees were mean as heck!
There are others that involve honey dripping down on me, covering me head to foot, that I won't soon forget, and the one in Lafitte, Louisiana where my nephew and I couldn't take our veils off until we were two city blocks down the road as the bees would follow the truck. My nephew quit helping me do removals after that day!
...JP