Earlier this spring, I called the local extermination company to ask to call me if they got calls for any bees.
Got a call last week and stopped by the place last weekend.
Bees are entering under the flashing at the chimney, on the roof side. Chimney runs on outside of house from ground floor to top. It's a two story house. The roof is a hip roof and the peak is up against the chimney.
The flashing is about 4 ft on both sides of the hip roof. It appears the bees are entering through areas of about 2 ft length of the flashing.
Crawled in the attic hoping for a cutout, but this part of the roof/attic is not accessible (unless I cut through it).
So, how does one go about doing a trapout when there is a 2 ft section where the bees are entering? Even if I could build the screen for that, there is another 6 feet of flashing for them to get around. I'll try to post pics tomorrow if I can.
Reduce the size of the entrance.
Steve
Exactly like this..........
(http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j226/Iddee/removals/temp006.jpg)
(http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j226/Iddee/removals/temp009.jpg)
(http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j226/Iddee/removals/temp011.jpg)
Picture attached of the layout.
Was also informed that this in not a hip roof.
There is no access from inside from the attic. I looked already. I would have to cut through the owner's closet on the second floor, and hope they were where I cut.
I'll try a trapout.
So, looking at the pic below, I was planning on placing the hive box on the roof, above the chimney, so the chimney supports the box. This would mean no wood work or support needed built for the hive. Plus, the roof is pretty steep, and I'm not a structural person to build support.
(http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/355/streaterbees.jpg) (http://img823.imageshack.us/i/streaterbees.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
But this also means the hive entrance won't be close to the existing entrance at the chimney, it would be 4-6 inches above where they are currently entering/exiting.
Any ideas?
My first suggestion would be they don't do any structural damage, are out of the way and won't be stinging anyone, and it just would be a waste of his 500 dollars to have them removed.
If that didn't work, I would clean the debris, caulk all the entrances with silicone, make a new entrance at or near the top. Give them a few days to adjust to the new entrance, then set the trap.
Then in a few weeks, I would take my bees and the 500 and go home.
Is that a slate roof? If so be very careful...that stuff ain't cheap anymore. Do you have a borescope? Maybe just a small peephole cut into the closet would give you a direction on which way to go. It looks like either a mansard style roof or maybe just a steep (snow load) gable? If the interior rooms have vertical walls there will be a cavity between them and the roof decking...that's where you'll find the bees.
Scott