hi
We just found a huge hive that is growing inbetween an outside and inside wall of our house. We don't want to kill the bees and then have to deal with the mess of cleaning out the hive. Honestly, as a teacher I've always wanted to have a bee hive and learn all about honey harvesting.
Anyway, I found some plans on how to encourage the bees to leave the house and go to a manmade box and move thier honey their. Am I bitting off more than I can chew? Is it really realistic to hope that the bees will move to the new hive? Since I don't really know what I am getting into I really need help in knowing if any of this is possible. All your help and expertise would be so apprectiated.
Thanks,
Teresa
If you're lucky, they may swarm and that swarm MAY land in your box. (Be sure that's a "movable-frame Langstroth" as anything else is illegal...with the exception of a TBH in certain states.) To get rid of the hive in your wall, if you want to do it yourself, you may want to hire the help of an experienced beekeeper. To get that hive out you have to do what's known as a "cut-out" where you cut open the wall and, "cut-out" all the combs. If you live in an area without SHBs you can reuse these combs by tying them into frames. MichaelBush can probably give you better details. If you're gentle with the bees (and a little lucky) the queen may survive this but, before you even open the wall, make sure you have the number of a queen breeder so you can make a quick call. As you cut the combs out set aside a food grade container to keep the honey (my guess would be that wild honey has virtually no risk of pesticide contamination). Either use a vacume or brush to get the bees into a container, either the Langstorth box or a cardboard box to be shaken into the langstroth box. This is more than most home owners would like to deal with but, that hive has to come out somehow. I've heard from one of our pest controll operators that sprays around my house that, in Miami, he had a case were a house had a wall so heavy with bees and honey that it fell in and the rest collapsed. Granted, that was before hurricane Andrew and most houses were made of 2x4s and plywood. NOw they've bumped up the standards.
Sorry to write a book...
:D Best advice;
1. find a local bee keeper who will help and advise you
2. Call local fire station to see if they have a local beekeeper that deals with those situations
3. Call the State Apiarist to see if they have a local beekeeper that deals with those situations.
Go with fcderosa's advice. Start beekeeping and enjoy the experience as you will learn a lot and not just about bees.