Vacant House Hive 8' 3" long April 10, 2009

JP · April 10, 2009, 10:28:26 PM

This hive was between the first joist and band board. In one of the pictures you can see remnants of another hive.

The house has been vacant since Katrina and the next door neighbor said the bees had been in this house for three years or more.

I measured the hive length with my tape measure at 8' 3".

The bees are relatively gentle for such a large, mature colony.

Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/pyxicephalus/April102009?authkey=Gv1sRgCOH5rIvI6KWhpgE#

...JP

Kathyp · April 10, 2009, 10:44:03 PM

did you vacuum, or just leave stragglers?

jimmy · April 10, 2009, 10:44:55 PM

Must have been tough finding the queen in all that nest.

On anonther note, hope that isn't Chineese dry wall . The news channels say its bad for you and N.O. has more than their share after Katrina.

JP · April 10, 2009, 10:49:15 PM

I vacuumed bees til the cows came home.

Chinese sheetrock? Come to think of it, my eyes are a little squinty this evening. ;)

...JP

Cindi · April 10, 2009, 11:03:46 PM

Hee, haw, JP, go, go, go!!! Keep on keepin' on!! Beautiful days in our great life, health. Cindi

annette · April 11, 2009, 12:17:33 AM

JP I am going out to get those bees in the wall of the shed next weekend with an experienced beekeeper. I will bee helping him and learning. He mentioned he is going to bring a beevac. And you mentioned the bee vac now also. I didn't know a bee vac was necessary for cutouts. Do you always use them??

JP · April 11, 2009, 12:28:26 AM

Annette, Walter T Kelly sells one for about two hundred bucks assembled. All you have to do is paint it. I bought an inverter, I use off my truck battery when no electricity available like today.

I use it on most jobs. It really comes in handy on hives that have a ton of bees. Its hard to remove comb sections that have hundreds of bees on them.

Once you've vacumed a bunch, you are better able to see what you're doing.

A bee vac also comes in handy when dealing with aggressive bees.

If you don't have a vac, smoking them to move them off of the comb sections helps, but less smoke is better as too much may run the queen into some nook or crannie.

Make sure to take pics on your removal and have fun.

...JP

Scott Derrick · April 11, 2009, 08:01:18 PM

Thanks for the pics JP. Bet it was a bit warm. Good thing this removal wasn't in another month or two huh?