Hi everyone. I have a chance of getting a bee colony from a wall in someones house. Knowing that it is already August 21st and in Kansas, I am worried it may be to late. I am not set to do cut out yet but I can do a trap out. I know that trap out will take some time before the bees rob all the honey from their old hive and it may be late September before I will be able to place them in their new hive. The owner of the house does not mind to wait until spring. Would you go for it or wait?
I'm not sure if you realize it or not but you are not actually "getting" the genetics of the colony you are trapping out. You are getting a good bit of those bees but without the queen or comb with eggs/young larvae you are just getting bees from that colony.
What you can accomplish is getting those bees to make a queen from genetics of another colony of your choice and provide a service to the home owner.
You likely still have time to perform the trap out but may have to give them queen cells or a queen to speed the process along.
Find out when drones are typically kicked out of hives in your area from local beeks.
...JP