Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye

Lone · November 30, 2008, 10:01:48 PM

We have plans to domesticate yet another wild bee hive today. They are in a hollow tree at the neighbour's place....and it is hot, muggy and starting to cloud over, so I might be able to give you a first hand report of how wild a wild hive is. Or we might leave it until the conditions are perfect.

Lone

Cindi · November 30, 2008, 10:31:37 PM

Lone, may the force be with you, :-D :) :) :) good luck, have a most wonderful day, Cindi

JP · November 30, 2008, 11:01:34 PM

Are you able to cut into the tree to remove the colony? Good luck, keep us informed and take lots of pictures.

...JP

mlewis48 · December 01, 2008, 01:45:59 AM

I have one of those on deck. It is a nice locust tree that was blown over and the land owner wants them removed. When time alows, I will cut the log in sections, cap one end, and stand it up. If I get a warm enough day, I will take it to a yard that I have close to the area and wait untill Spring
Good Luck with yours,
Marc

JP · December 01, 2008, 10:00:37 AM

Quote from: mlewis48 on December 01, 2008, 01:45:59 AM
I have one of those on deck. It is a nice locust tree that was blown over and the land owner wants them removed. When time alows, I will cut the log in sections, cap one end, and stand it up. If I get a warm enough day, I will take it to a yard that I have close to the area and wait untill Spring
Good Luck with yours,
Marc

When's the last time you checked this hive? If the colony was upright and has been in a horizontal position, usually it only takes a few days, they either abscond or shb takes over.

...JP

Irwin · December 01, 2008, 10:31:18 AM

Lone I don't want to wave goodbye how about see you later. I wish you luck on what ever you do :-D

Lone · December 01, 2008, 10:53:17 PM

Hello,

The weather fined up and I merely melted away in my beesuit. They never made to attack us, and there was only the odd sting. So Irwin, I have lived to tell the tale. Here are some pictures you asked for, JP.

Hollow ironbark tree...it still has termites in it.

The chainsaw. The rubber vine made things interesting.

Honey and brood. We taped one slab of brood comb into a frame. There was some new comb lower down. All the activity was in the midsection of the tree.

Our theory is..the bees are where the queen is, so we waited till most of them congregated in one section of the log.

The fellows used a crowbar to finish splitting the log. They won't let me near a crowbar because it makes their hearts bleed watching me. There was a good amount of honey the bees kindly shared with us. It has a lovely bush flavour. We are going to leave that hive on the property 3km from here as the owners have just retired and need something to watch from the verandah. There is also good amounts of scrub there. There is also plenty of wax to melt down and exchange for foundation comb in Brisbane. Can someone please give me some instructions on melting wax into blocks? I got some deep stainless steel bowls today to use as moulds.

Mlewis, why do you need to leave your colony in the tree? We don't have shb here yet but need to protect them from black ants and the wooden boxes from white ants. All the best with your adventures too...there is nothing more fun you can do with family and friends!

Lone

mlewis48 · December 02, 2008, 01:56:43 AM

JP,
I checked on them last week, they are still there and waiting. The weather has been cold, here for the last month or so. We don't have to worry about shb here yet. And I hope that is something that stays away but since most of the packages that come to us come from Georgia or California, it won't be long before they get here. If they are not here already????
Marc