Just got a call for some bees in a wine barrel.
Owner said I can just take the entire thing if I wanted.
So I want to ask, should I do the cutout there or bring it home and do the cutout?
(That's if I can seal the bottom and holes and take it with me.)
If it were me, and it was a good bet to move them, I'd take them back to a bee yard to do the cut out. I did one recently that was in an old 55gal drum. They only had one entrance (a little rust hole) that was easy to tape over. I moved them back to a yard and cut them out into a hive body set up on a pallet already. Didn't have to move them afterward and they oriented to the new hive beautifully.
Scott
Why make it complicated?I would back my pickup right up to it, after dark, set it on and drive home. Have the site set up in advance and set it off as soon as I got there. Then I would remove them at my leisure. Announce at the local club when it would be done and get free help from the newbees.
Thanks guys! Will do just take. If I need to, I'll slip a board underneath and seal it somehow before trucking it home.
If you have to seal it up don't think about all of the holes. Take an old bed sheet and cover up the whole thing and use string or duct tape to hold in place.
G3
It's a full barrel! But yeah, I'll bring some sheets for sure! Thanks
Pic of the barrel. LEFT barrel is where the bees are at.
(http://tackletour.net/temp/HiveBarrel29.jpg)
After I take the barrel home, I plan to remove a ring or two so the wood is loose enough to take apart one at a time until it's large enough
to get to the combs. Not sure how the barrel is constructed if I can remove the top or not.
Questions
Should I hive it during the night time or day time?
Should I bee vac the bees into the new hive? (Robo's bee vac design)
Scoop them in by box and brush?
Thanks
Great! I got some in a wooden 30 gal. pickle barrel once. Someone called me one night and said they had watched a swarm go into a pickle barrel under their carport. That night they put some tape over the bung. They wanted me to just come and get them, barrel and all. So I did.
Good Luck,
Steve
Hive them between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
The other questions are personal preference.
Ok, I'll bring the barrel home first and open up the hole, let them adjust to their new location first, then hive them later during the day time. Any other suggestions?
For some reason I thought it was a half barrel :?
If the staves are loose you can peck the hoops down a little to tighten it up.
Be careful when loosening the hoops, if you get in too big of a hurry the whole barrel will just fall apart.
Good luck with it.
G3
I thought it was half barrel too!!! Until the owner sent me pics.
I might have to drill 3 screws into the top cover, string it, just incase it falls apart, at least the top won't drop and crush all the combs.
This is going to be fun! I was thinking maybe just leave them as is and harvest someway :) Natural THB or something of that sort. :-D
Will get video and pics if I dont mess up too badly. :-D
I don't know about your State regs, but here in Florida bees have to be hived on removable frames for inspection...skeps have (sadly) become a thing of the past.
Scott
I'm in California... maybe no regs? (I doubt that as CA as so many crappy laws and such!) Anyone that live in CA know?
I think it's a state law that has been passed in all 50.
Quote from: montauk170 on June 22, 2010, 12:16:27 AM
I'm in California... maybe no regs? (I doubt that as CA as so many crappy laws and such!) Anyone that live in CA know?
They don't seem to have many laws regarding the bees. And no one to regulate them, so if no one sees them, well you can probably do whatever you want.
Yeah, so true Annette. CA is in deep kaka regarding budget already, they are already cutting services left and right. They are not going to care about bees/beekeepers.
But anyways, I'll hive this barrel colony. Easier to manage the bees and stuff.
Got another idea I might want to try. I want to be sure this colony won't leave if I cut them out and hive them.
Using the existing barrel as one of my brood chambers, close off all current entrances.
Drill a new entrance on top.
Add a medium(#1) on top with a top entrance.
Hopefully they will start building upwards.
Then after they have drawn out the frames and hope the queen moved up to lay
I can set up a SBB, put the medium(#1) that was on top of the barrel as my bottom brood chamber.
Then cutout the barrel and add those framed brood/eggs combs and reintroduce them in a new medium.
Crazy idea? Too troublesome? Just do the darn cutout? Give it a try?
Has anyone attempted this before?
Suggestions/comments please.
If the queen moves up, add an excluder under the super and keep adding boxes. Remove barrel when empty.
So you think the idea would work?
I can inspect the first super I added on top of the barrel to see if I can find the queen up there, then add the excluder if I find her.
That is correct.
Just got home from the removal of the barrel with bees.
When I got there I see honey on the ground around the barrel!!!
I asked if the barrel was moved and owner said it was not.
Bees were bearding outside the entrance. It probably hit about 82F today.
Maybe the heat and not a good comb build resulted in the heavy comb with honey
breaking off.
My father and I quickly brushed the external bees into a box and sealed the hole
with a screen. Then had to build a quick platform/bottom because the owner
didn't know if it was open or not. Found out later there is a bottom.
Lifted it, two person at first, onto a furniture moving wheel thingie, it was heavy!!!
Not sure how heavy the barrel alone is but it was pretty darn heavy.
Anyways, trucked it, strapped down, and moved the barrel to my beeyard.
Opened up the entrance and put some grass infront of it.
And yes, honey still leaking out of the barrel. :(
I'll take some pics of it tomorrow.
I plan on leaving it for one week to see how they do with their new location,
then do as I planned on adding a medium ontop as their new brood chamber
and top entrance.
Here are some pics I took this morning while checking up on them.
Is that an overkill with the grass at the entrance?
(http://tackletour.net/temp/images/picwinebarrelhive02.jpg)
Honey leaking out of the wine barrel hive
(http://tackletour.net/temp/images/picwinebarrelhive03.jpg)
Entrance
(http://tackletour.net/temp/images/picwinebarrelhive04.jpg)
I would do the cut out immediately. Something's wrong. Healthy hives don't leak.
Yeah, I know. I wanted to put it off for 1 week but I better get it done Saturday.
Did the cutout today. It looked bad inside but there were still a lot of bees left.
And I did find the queen about half way through the cutout. I think it was her.
(http://tackletour.net/temp/images/picwinebarrelhivecutout04.jpg)
(http://tackletour.net/temp/images/picwinebarrelhivecutout09.jpg)
Full details and more photos on my newly created blog: http://losaltoshoneybees.wordpress.com/ (http://losaltoshoneybees.wordpress.com/)
WOW that was a good sized hive inside there, too bad if collapsed.
What is inside the barrel, the wooden slats held together with plastic tubing.
Looks like you did a good job on it.
G3