This removal was a bit of a disappointment. Maybe a clue would have been the mass of bees hanging on the exterior of the column. I don't know. I assumed it was because of the heat. It was 90 plus when I gave the guy his estimate.
I stayed up til 0100 last night, because I figured as old as the colony was supposed to be there would be huge numbers and lots of comb. I stayed up that late, because I had to build boxes, frames, and load my van. I am not the fastest finger joint cutter LOL.
Anyway, today I roll in around 0630 and see that the bees are still clustered at the entrance. I thought that was odd, because it was nice and cool. I began by popping off the old trim, and then cut all the nails on the 1 by that made up the "column".
Once I made it inside, I found piles of old rotten comb, waxmoth cocoons, dead bees, and on the good side a few new combs with about 3 pounds of bees.
They told me that the tenant had set off a "bug bomb" INSIDE the house, because he had 100 + bees flying around inside. According to the folks no one sprayed inside the column at all. I don't know what to think, because the bees did not seem to be too energetic. I don't know if they will spring back, or not. I did my best, so we'll see.
All in all an uneventful, fairly uninteresting removal. :-\
forgot the pics....here they are
(http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3957/dscf5968.jpg)
okay...sorry...wont load my pics. :?
I got a picture of the outside of the house
Always add the clause 'that if there are any insecticides or poisons used on the colony' that the estimate for removal will be adjusted accordingly.
I too find out that many of the 'never been sprayed colonies' have been sprayed more than once! We never know what they used for sure and what we ourselves are being exposed to! Some of these people MIX whatever they have on hand together and then spray the heck out of the bees. I had one fellow grab some old cattle spray out of the barn and now I tell you that there had been no cattle on that property since the 50s! Who knows what it was that he used....it was in a rusted gallon can....with just the words "CATTLE SPRAY".....then DANGER could be made out on the reverse side. :-\
Brenda