catching bees!

johnnybigfish · June 29, 2008, 09:16:16 PM

This is more or less a picasa album test.
I found these bees this morning. For some unknown reason I was compelled to go look into an abandoned trailor house that was along my walking route. I ended up with a big mess and probably no queen( but about 200 lbs of honey!)
at any rate I hope the pics work like yalls do!
The pics are kinda hazy due to me smoking the bees.
your friend,
john

http://picasaweb.google.com/Johnnybigfish/BeesInBrokenTrailerHouse

rast · June 29, 2008, 09:35:44 PM

Pics worked for me. That would have been a big mess getting apart. Go back tomorrow and see if whats left is clustered around the queen.

buzzbee · June 29, 2008, 10:44:17 PM

Wow,nothing like a full cupboard. Cool!

johnnybigfish · June 29, 2008, 11:05:33 PM

heh heh.... :)
I was thinking of posting this as" My new observation hive".
I'm really pleased that I got this to work(the picture posting, I mean).
These bees were really friendly! The smoke works wonders!
yeh, Rast,...I was gonna do that. Like I told Paul, The least we can do is catch the rest and add them to another hive. Unfortunately, there were lots of drowned bees because of all the honey pouring out when we took out walls of comb. We did manage to rubber band lots of brood, larva, and eggs to frames though, and thats good!
I only got stung a couple of times,..........Until we were finishing up! :shock: I didnt use gloves(I couldnt find them....I cant find tools either when I look for them)..I had about 10 bees drilling my right hand all at once! :shock:...Paul had gloves but they stung right through them :evil:...My wife had on full body armor and the camera.....not a sting!
When we ate the honey we could eat all the wax tooo! It was like being Winnie the Pooh!!
My truck is full of bees now cleaning up all the stuff covered in honey. I guess they'll be going with me to work tomorrow!
Ok,..better go soon,...I'm fixin' to start a book about African bees and how to work with them.(Just in case, you know?)

your friend,
john

poka-bee · June 29, 2008, 11:28:59 PM

Way to go John!! Quite a score! Oh my what a sticky mess, a beekeepers dream in the cupbord! I see you like Whinnie the Pooh, Honey, YUM YUM! Hopefully the queed didn't drown in the goo...yes, check tomorrow to see if she rallied the troops overnight! Good Job Jody

JP · June 30, 2008, 12:29:25 AM

Hey John that was quite unique, how did they get into the cabinets, from the ceiling or a hole in the back of the cabinets?

Never did one like that before, very cool, thanks for posting, and oh yeah, what a mess!!

...JP

Frantz · June 30, 2008, 10:28:36 AM

John,
that was way cool, thanks for posting. I love the pics of the cupboard full of bees. What a job!!! Seemed like they were drawing nice straight comb too!! Bonus.
F

Irwin · June 30, 2008, 10:33:55 AM

How long did it take to do all that work? Great pic's!

Robo · June 30, 2008, 11:23:04 AM

John,

That is way too cool! Glad you got the picture thing figured out now and thanks for sharing. The first thing that came to my mind is the fact it is one of the few bee removals that doesn't require any repairs and it is an abandoned trailer...... go figure :roll:

It's also a good example of how messy and sticky a removal can be for those that think it is just easy FREE bees. I love the picture of the range hood covered in honey....

rob...

johnnybigfish · June 30, 2008, 07:06:36 PM

Sheeeesh you guys!!
You crack me up!
Other than swarms, I've only come across this sort of thing twice! The other one was in a demolition job and the bees were all gone..They were in a 15 foot box.....I just had an excavator set it in a trailer Paul and i dragged with us and took it home to tear it open..That was a dud.
Ok,....Anyways,.... :)..
JP,....Why'd ya have ta go and ask me a question like that?? :-\....Theres fiberglass in the ceiling, and Paul mentioned last nite that he didnt remember the "Pipe" what should have been in there... I'm pretty sure they just crawled through the cabinet door "Warp Space"..I just came back from there to take a look see at whats happening and there are tons of bees there again :-D Good thing I didnt have to guarantee my work, huh? Only got stung twice..on my bald head and on my hand....again.....This triggered the "Opium Itch"!! My hand id driving me crazy now!!
Frantz, The comb was almost perfect. 21 slices!...But I really buggered it up. :(
I'll get another chance at them soon though but i want to be sure the foragers are all in before I jump in.
yeh Jody, it WAS a MESS!!!There was honey everywhere!!..Janelle woulda killed me if this was in our kitchen!! And Robo, You're right for sure about people not having any idea about how messy it is and how its not about just "catching free bees"!!!!...The posted pics of cutouts sure dont show the sticky mess a person deals with. The pics make it look easy, dont they! I learned also that :) when you cant find something your using, (Like a lighter, or rubber bands, or camera lens cover) I could find these things just stuck on me or Paul somewhere!...My shoelaces are still sticky, my long pants stick to the floor..I could chew on my bee coat for a week and survive! Pauls gloves are sticking up on the wall in his shop...by honey!
Irwin, I'm not sure how long it took..Maybe a couple of hours. It seemed pretty quick though. Ok,..Now that I think about it...Redsox started at 13:00..I was taking my morning walk at about 06:30..By the time I called Paul and started gathering stuff, that took about 30 minutes...We had about 45 minutes till the game started when we finished doing the clean up... Sheeesh, its hard to believe but I guess about 4 hours!
My wife had to get things we forgot a few times but I only live about a half mile away from this place..I didnt even notice the heat...Right before we were done in the house I was just about blind as my bandana had fallen down halfway over my eyes and between my glasses and my veil prevented me from being able to push it back up :-D

On just one more note.....What are all thoses bee gonna do up there if theres no queen? Will they just die or will they try to move into another hive somewhere?
Also, The bees and brood that i salvaged..I let Paul have this part and we "newspapered" them over his hive box. I completely forgot about WHY we kept the comb and bees..You know, to make another hive. So what do you suppose the bees will do when they meet? (I'm assuming there is no queen at this point, but am knowing its fully possible).

And thanks for the input.

your friend,
john

Irwin · June 30, 2008, 08:07:41 PM

It looked like an all day job to me with all the prep and the clean up. Good job! You got a good team.

Jerrymac · June 30, 2008, 08:11:18 PM

I don't get no pix. I get; 500 INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR

rast · June 30, 2008, 09:02:00 PM

Just go get those tons of bees, hive em with some brood, eggs and honey from yours and Pauls hives and they will know what to do from there. If the queen is not in the middle of them they will probably die.
Oh yeah, quit complaining about having to take a bath and wash your suit :-D. I would have taken two baths for the bees and you could have kept the honey.
However, I do feel for ya on the seven year itch around the stings.

Jerrymac · June 30, 2008, 10:55:42 PM

OK I got the pics now.

JP · June 30, 2008, 11:00:33 PM

John, there's a very good chance that the queen is in with the bunch of bees in the cabinet that are left, See if you can go back and do another check.

I've done removals that made me wanna crawl right out of my own skin, soaked from head to toe with honey, especially in my hair, these are usually ones that I have removed from overhead and there is honey just dripping everywhere, you're in honey hell!!

When I hit the front door the clothes come off!!!

Anyway, thanks for the juicy details, good story as always.

...JP

Keith13 · July 01, 2008, 09:18:10 AM

Quote from: JP on June 30, 2008, 11:00:33 PM
John, there's a very good chance that the queen is in with the bunch of bees in the cabinet that are left, See if you can go back and do another check.

I've done removals that made me wanna crawl right out of my own skin, soaked from head to toe with honey, especially in my hair, these are usually ones that I have removed from overhead and there is honey just dripping everywhere, you're in honey hell!!

When I hit the front door the clothes come off!!!

Anyway, thanks for the juicy details, good story as always.

...JP

JP I have noticed a lot of your stories end up with you naked. I think you might be a closet nudist :-D

Keith

JP · July 01, 2008, 11:42:43 PM

Quote from: keith13 on July 01, 2008, 09:18:10 AM
Quote from: JP on June 30, 2008, 11:00:33 PM
John, there's a very good chance that the queen is in with the bunch of bees in the cabinet that are left, See if you can go back and do another check.

I've done removals that made me wanna crawl right out of my own skin, soaked from head to toe with honey, especially in my hair, these are usually ones that I have removed from overhead and there is honey just dripping everywhere, you're in honey hell!!

When I hit the front door the clothes come off!!!

Anyway, thanks for the juicy details, good story as always.

...JP

JP I have noticed a lot of your stories end up with you naked. I think you might be a closet nudist :-D

Keith

Perhaps. ;) :shock: :-P

...JP

poka-bee · July 02, 2008, 11:21:19 AM

:shock: :shock:**fingers in ears** LALALALA too much info for me...like my Daughters say "I'm Traumatized!!!" Jody