Going to Help with a Cutout on Tuesday

sarafina · April 03, 2010, 10:30:54 PM

at work, no less!

We have an abandoned house on company property that bees have moved into the walls. Ten years ago they exterminated them, but with all the press on the decline of bees they have hired a beek who does cutouts for a living to save the bees. I am bringing my bee suit and gloves to work on Tuesday to help her.

I have never done a cutout before - just watched videos, so I am looking forward to the experience. I can't take any of the bees (she offered) as I have no room for more hives but I hope there is some honey left over so I can make some more mead. :-D

Highlandsfreedom · April 03, 2010, 11:42:50 PM

Dont forget the handy dandy camera...... You will have a blast for sure!!

Kathyp · April 03, 2010, 11:45:32 PM

and a bucket with a lid just in case you get some of that honey :-)

sarafina · April 04, 2010, 12:12:39 AM

camera... check

bucket - thanks for the reminder! I was planning on taking my 5 gal bottling bucket along with a couple of my 2-gal food grade fermentation buckets and had already forgotten to set them out so I wouldn't forget.

JP · April 04, 2010, 03:50:56 AM

One word of caution: are the bees in the exact same spot where they once were exterminated? If so, were the combs from that colony removed ten yrs ago?

If yes and no I would be leary of possible contamination issues. But if the bees are using the old comb could be the pesticide used has lost its residual effect.

If in doubt, please protect yourself and carefully examine the colony yourself. Any comb sections that are being ignored I would pass on.

...JP

Buz Green · April 04, 2010, 07:54:47 AM

Have fun and the best of luck to you

sarafina · April 04, 2010, 01:07:09 PM

Quote from: JP on April 04, 2010, 03:50:56 AM
One word of caution: are the bees in the exact same spot where they once were exterminated? If so, were the combs from that colony removed ten yrs ago?

If yes and no I would be leary of possible contamination issues. But if the bees are using the old comb could be the pesticide used has lost its residual effect.

If in doubt, please protect yourself and carefully examine the colony yourself. Any comb sections that are being ignored I would pass on.

...JP

I thought about that and wondered if the residue would still be there after 10 years. On the other hand, bees are so sensitive to pesticides that I didn't think they could thrive if it was still lingering. You have a good point on comb that is being ignored by the bees - I will steer clear of it.

JP · April 04, 2010, 01:20:59 PM

Yep, just keep your eyes open. I've seen bees swarm right in where a prior hive was sprayed. One where you could see honey stains that had dripped down the brick, staining it a dark black.

I know bees are sensitive to chemicals but at the same time they seem more resilant than maybe we give them credit for.

Have fun with the cut out!

...JP

sarafina · April 08, 2010, 12:53:02 AM

Well, the cutout was a lot of fun!

These bees turned out to be very gentle - lots of very dark black bees and a few lighter golden ones.

Took over 2 hours to find the queen but we finally did and got her in a cage. The bees were living between the eave and the roof and were getting in through a hole where the natural gas line entered the attic. Since the house is being torn down she just got on the roof and cut a big hole in the roof and flipped it over. The bees had attached comb to the plywood decking and were building down.

I really enjoyed being able to observe a wild hive and get to spend so much time looking them over. I always try to get my own hives buttoned back up as soon as I can so as not to stress them out too much.

The most interesting part was the total lack of mites. Saw a few hive beetles, but not one single mite. We opened up 8-10 drone brood and and not a single mite in them, either. Some got sliced in half when the she cut the comb out since they were at the bottom and again, none had mites. She has about 80 hives and doesn't treat any of hers so these should do well for her. I wish I could have taken them but I can't.

I'll upload the pictures tomorrow and post them.

JP · April 08, 2010, 10:41:46 AM

Glad y'all had a great time. I believe I would have removed them the same way as they were attached to the roof sheathing.

Awaiting the pictures!

...JP

Two Bees · April 08, 2010, 11:25:55 AM

Looking forward to the pics! :-D

sarafina · April 11, 2010, 06:07:12 PM

Here are the pictures as promised:

This is the abandoned house with the bees:

And their hive entrance:

She cut into the roof and folded over the roof with the decking:

Comb with bees:

Her bee vac box:

Vacuuming the bees:

Saved the brood comb along with the nurse bees:

And FINALLY found the Her Majesty!!! :-D

G3farms · April 11, 2010, 08:50:18 PM

Great pics.

That is a huge queen it looks like!

Those had been in there a while with the black comb.

Looks like you did a good job, and that sure is a different looking bee vac.

How come you did not rubberband the comb into frames as you cut it out??

G3

sarafina · April 11, 2010, 09:02:59 PM

G3 - I am not sure why she didn't rubberband the brood comb right away - she had extra empty frames with her. She was going to get them all settled into their hive that same evening after she left.

sarafina · April 11, 2010, 09:12:33 PM

Finding the queen took the longest.

She had several long extensions on her vacuum hose and managed to get some bees that had run up into the roof and we were afraid the queen had rn with them. I sat up on the roof for almost 2 hours watching her and poking different clusters of bees to see if they were covering the queen. Good thing I had my Ultra Breeze suit and and it was overcast or I would have roasted. We checked the vac box, we checked the comb. There was one piece of comb that was sitting on the roof I kept looking at because the bees were so calm on it. She finally brought it down and set it next to the screened box of bees to see which one the bees moved towards and Her Majesty came gracefully walking out of that comb that had been on the roof the whole time. The beek cupped her hands over her while I got the queen cage and then I snapped those pics while she was guiding her into the cage. That was when the queen hopped on her glove and I got that great pic with the worker bee behind her.

G3farms · April 11, 2010, 09:22:14 PM

Queens can hiide in plain sight sometimes, glad you found her.

Sounds like you had a great time.

Those are the best of times just getting to help out, watch and learn.

G3