Three story cutout

Greg Peck · May 20, 2008, 03:58:14 PM

I received a call from a lady who had contacted the Pa Department of agriculture. She said that there was a swarm or colony of bees moving into or living under the flashing of her chimney. They were having some slate work done to the roof and the roofers could not continue until the bees were taken care of. So I went to look at the house and found an old 3 story stone house. The bees were at the peak near the chimney.

Click to enlarge!

Click to enlarge!
The roofers said they would help so long as they could use one of my bee suits. So the roofer removed some slate and removed a few of the roof boards. The hive inside was a mess. Some of the comb appeared to have melted in the past and fallen down then they built on top of it. there was tunnels running through the hive and we took out chunks that looked more like bricks then comb.

Click to enlarge!

Click to enlarge!
Being that the comb was such a mess it was very difficult to remove any usable comb. There was a few pieces but I did not feel that they would be worth the hassle of putting then into frames. A lot of bees where killed in the process of removing the comb due to the tight area and messed up comb. I made a bee vac which worked out really well, it would have been a big mess with out it. All in all I probably got about 4 pounds of live bees 2 pounds of dead ones and we had to kill a bunch in the wall where it was imposable to get to.

Mistake and lesson learned...CHARGE FOR CUTOUTS. I figured that I would get a new hive out of the deal but I ended up just putting the bees into a week hive I had.

Click to enlarge!

Kathyp · May 20, 2008, 04:48:55 PM

no brood out of that? :-(. that's to bad. oh well, they are all learning experiences. i lost my first two cutouts. my mistakes. i learned so much on those that the next ones were easy and the hives have thrived.

KONASDAD · May 20, 2008, 04:59:29 PM

Thats exactly the kind of comb I found in my most difficult cutout. Only, when i opened the ceiling, it collapsed on me, soaking me w/ honey. Very difficult day. You were lucky the roofer gave you such good access. All of my other cutouts were a lot more organized in their comb construction.

As for charging, yes its hard work. I did two for free, and now charge.

Good job as well.

Greg Peck · May 20, 2008, 05:12:18 PM

There was some brood but most of it was damaged while getting it out. I think that they had swarmed recently because I found no queen (not surprising) but I also found no eggs or larva. just a minimal amount of capped brood and about 7 swarm cells. A few of them were recently opened and some were still capped. So I think the new queen was not laying yet.

These roofers were happy as could be to help and they were a huge help. It would have taken a lot longer to do even if they had opened the roof up for me.

The bees were very calm during the cut out. I smoked them pretty good but I was surprised at how calm they were. A little different story when I got them home and dumped them into a hive. I put a empty hive body on top of an inner cover on a week hive. I then put a queen excluder on top of the empty then another empty. I dumped all the bees from the bee vac boxes inside on top of the excluder. My plan is that the live bees will go through the queen excluder into the hive below and all the drones and dead bees will not get through. I opened the top today to see how they were making out and they got angry. It is a rainy day out so maybe that contributed to it.

KONASDAD · May 20, 2008, 05:38:14 PM

Be careful. If you vacuumed the queen, she will be left out in cold an die if they dont congregate on her. I put the excluder on top of the bottom board . She may also be a virgin queen and need to fly to mate. Just some thoughts.....

Greg Peck · May 20, 2008, 05:55:33 PM

I just went out and checked on them again. There was a clump of them in a upper corner of the empty against the outer cover. The QE was almost completely covered with dead bees so I think this small clump could no longer get through. I sprayed them with some sugar water and poked through the clump to see if there was a queen inside but could not see her. There is a newer queen in the hive I put them all in so hopefully they will combine and be good girls. I removed the excluder as it had already did its job keeping the dead bees out. Then I knocked the clump off over the inner cover hole.

Scott Derrick · May 22, 2008, 09:54:06 PM

Greg,

I got much respect for you my brother! You got some stones! I would never have climbed up that high..PERIOD. I am a sissy when it comes to 12/12 roofs like that...And Slate? No way my man. And you did if for free? Dude I feel like we ought to take up a collection for you just because you put your life on the line for the girls like that!

You da man!

Greg Peck · May 24, 2008, 01:17:52 AM

Thanks Scott LOL. It may have been a different story if the roofers had not been there and had there ladders set up already.

Cindi · May 26, 2008, 10:17:02 AM

Greg, go man go!!!! That is very cool, you are livin' life to the hilt!!!! Be careful, going up high on ladders can be a very dangerous thing, but yeah!!! You did it and sounds like you had fun at the same time, lucky you had the roofers there to help, yeah!!! Best of this most wonderful day, lovin' and groovin' on our lives we share. Cindi