Wild Tree Hive

[fishman]

I have never dealt with this issue. The swarms and cutouts I have done were pretty straight forward.

I have a friend who in his woods has a tree with an apparent hollow area in it.(close to house) It has held Honey Bees for approx 3 years. It seems it is getting bigger, and now his Wife wants them removed, and not hurt the tree either. The entrance is approx 30 feet from the ground. I have no way to get up there, with anything. 

  The question is, has anyone had any luck placing a super on a stepladder or something on the ground, and somehow luring them in with maybe lemon grass? I am looking for ideas so that this may become a win win situation. I would think it is hard to get them all coaxed out????

[bud1]

you are rite; impossible; catch you a swarm wid a bait hive . and with a tree cut out you rarely find the queen. too many places to hide  but a swarm a yr. i love my bee trees.  that high up they never gona have a problem with it  good thing to have around to show other people

[D Semple]

I agree with Bud. I always try to talk people into keeping their bee trees, by teaching them about how great they are to have in the neighborhood. And, then I teach them when and how to watch for swarms, and to call me when they see one. A big jar of honey goes along ways.  :-D

I caught about 30 swarms last year and most came from known bee trees. Better than money in the bank.


Don

[D Coates]

I'd say do a trap out.  At 30ft high though and they don't want to hurt the tree the best you're going to do is capture swarms off of that hive.  You'll never lure the actual hive down.  You can however,make it a decent win win by removing the resulting cast swarms if the hive is getting bigger as described.  As usual Don and bud1 are dead on.

[D Semple]

High tree trap outs can be done, but they are hard and DANGEROUS:



Carrying a 80 lbs. hive, chalk full of bees down a ladder isn't smart.


Don

[fishman]

Thanks for all the input. Hope to talk to his Wife soon. 

[bailey]

It's not worth your neck!!
Just place swarm traps in the area and catch them that way.  I would just decline to try to get that hive.
She will leave the tree and you catch the swarms by default
Bailey

[Michael Bush]

I always try to figure out what a package is worth (right now about $100 I think) and then weigh that against the risk and time.  If you fall off the ladder (and it's hard not to sometimes with bees stinging you badly) your hospital bill will be significantly more than $100... so keep that in mind.  Last time I climbed a 20 foot ladder to get a swarm it fell down the back of my neck instead of in the box... it's very difficult to calmly climb down a ladder when you are getting badly stung... but that is exactly what you have to do if you don't want to end up in the hospital...

[oliver]

Passed on several of these, just not worth the risk