Retrieving a swarm

[Kris^]

Well, after getting up at 4:30 this morning to load the truck to take flowers to the farm market for the Mother's Day crush, and after dealing with the crowd of people all day, I left early when things died down, about 5:30 in the afternoon.  I was beat, and all I wanted to do was lay down on the couch and nap.  But the postal carrier left a note in our mailbox -- she had a swarm in her house and wanted to know if I could help get rid of them.  So I called her, got the info and went over there.  

Sure enough, there were bees all over one corner of her living room.  She said they'd been there about a day and a half, and started as a big clump near the top of her sliding door.  Now they were laying on the floor, looked like they were dead, but as I started sweeping them up, they started moving about and it was obvious they were still quite alive.  I sprayed them with syrup and swept them into a cardboard box.  There was maybe a pound of bees.  

As I was finishing, her husband came in from out back, and we started talking about the bees.  He said, "well, I guess I shouldn't have used the shop vac on them."  Needless to say, when I looked in the shop vac, there was the bulk of the swarm in there, dead - and undoubtedly, along with the queen.   Which is probably why the bees in the corner of the room were not clustered together anymore.  

Then they said this has happened each year for several years, since they moved into the home.  They took me around the side of the house and showed me where a a colony had their entrance in a corner where the siding of one part of the house meets the brick wall of another part of the house.  Sure enough, there was a fair amount of activity, mostly returning bees, considering the time.  He wanted to know if I'd be willing to remove the colony if he cut the siding and outer wall panel out.    We looked and tried to figure where the wall studs were located, and how much room there is between the siding and the wall (none).  

So I said "sure."  He wanted to know if they would come out and cover him with stings if he started taking the siding off.  I told him they could if he disturbed the hive in the wall under the siding, but if they started harrassing him, he should stop and back off.  But I also said I have an extra veil and gloves that would make it a lot safer if we did it together.  I gave him my number and told him to give me a call mid-week and we could set a time to get together perhaps next weekend to cut the wall out and remove the colony, and I'd bring the extra protection for him.  He seemed interested.

So maybe I'll get a call later in the week, and we'll spend an afternoon cutting out his wall and removing the colony.  But for now, I'm gonna take that much needed nap -- until 4:30 tomorrow morning, when I get to do the whole day all over again!

-- Kris

[JP]

Kris, if you really want this guy to be safe from potential stings I would suggest you offer him a full suit along with veil and gloves. You never know what can go wrong and you certainly don't want this man to get stung. Just my two cents, good luck.