HELP!!! syrup can won't come out of package of bees...

[TigerLily]

Some have already escaped and are buzzing around the wooden box. The bees are getting agitated and the sun is already starting to go down. We've tried cutting the wood around the can a little, but were unsuccessful. What can and should we do? the queen cage also fell in.

[johnnybigfish]

Can you just kinda tear the screen off? If you can do that you can fish the queen cage out, and shake the bees with the can still in...Perhaps you can even pull the can out from the inside once you have taken off the screen.
Sorry, but this is all i can think of....I'm pretty sure by the time you see this reply(its going on 10:00 PM here) you'll have gotten the bees out.
  Good luck, and I'm interested in how things work out, so post back :)
your friend,
john

[TigerLily]

we had just gotten the screen off when your were posting this, and were able to dump them in the hive.  Luckily everything went ok after that. Thanks for the help! :)

[Michael Bush]

You've got it now, but sometimes you have to grab the lip of the can with a pair of pliers to get it started and sometimes you have to jerk it upwards hard to get the lip on the bottom to clear.  I think the wood gets damp and swells.  I've never had one that didn't come out with that treatment, but some were difficult.

[Sean Kelly]

I had trouble with one of mine this year too.  I just took a nail, bent it into a hook, poked a hole in the can and used the nail to pull.  Made a sticky mess but worked.

Sean Kelly