Cut Out in porch ceiling

Blacksheep · June 12, 2015, 05:27:04 PM

Hi Guys: Well yesterday I started a cut out and vac of the bees and quickly I discovered this was a bad deal! The bees are located between the ceiling of the 1 st floor and under the floor of the second story.I had to get down on my knees to even reach them at all and was stung a conservative estimate around 30 times. Mostly on my right hand and both knees since my pants were tight in that area.
This is a old hive of bees been there for several years and I am sure it contains around 100 thousand bees.I got concerend about being stung so much I quit and brought what I had home and actually made a split with them since I had them in 2 vac boxes.Boy they are really ill and the queen is still at the site I went back this morning and climbed up my ladder and observed them flying in and out.They didn't try to attck me but the ones I brought home are mean buggers.Some got out when I was changing the boxes and after about 2 hours I went out side to get my bee suit which was wringing wet with sweat well several of the bees attacked me as I didn't have my suit on and I got stung a few more times twice in the face and one close to my eye.The try to sting you in the face especially around the eyes.
So far I have tolerated the stings ok and that is a main reason I pulled off till Monday to allow my body time to deal with the stings.
I have the big bunch locked in for a few days and hope they will make a queen??I hope they can make one and I will use the original in the smaller hive.I never got to the brood combs but they are next so maybe I will get the queen if she don't decide to take off since they lost 1/2 of their home>I will post the final results when I get finished! Thanks,Bill

MDavid · June 12, 2015, 05:34:51 PM

Exciting...keep us updated and take some pics between stings.

OldMech · June 12, 2015, 08:08:01 PM

You mentioned you had a vac?
Smoke them, and vac them.. usually they will become demoralized after you have vacced most of the guard bees.. if they are still nasty keep after them with the vac. I will pull a comb, and vac it, then vac all the bees it revealed, then cut another comb, etc... After a while I can usually remove the bee suit.

Blacksheep · June 15, 2015, 08:00:50 PM

Hi I went back today and got some more of them but still not able to get the brood nest as it is inside the house! they had found away to get in from the old nest site and moved inside the house so they are in the ceiling of the first floor and floor of the second floor. I call the owner and he wants to just seall them in and let them die in the house.I am trying to get him to allow me to get them as I really want the Queen.Boy are these bees mean!!Ver aggressive with no Queen! I have split what bees I have caught and the ones I got to day I plan on dumping them in the nuc which is the smaller group.I don't know if the will fight or not since they came from the same hive I think they will accept them ok. WHAT DO YOU THINK???These buggers have stung me many times since I began fooling with them!

OldMech · June 15, 2015, 09:11:14 PM

Have you ever smelled 40000 bees rotting? PLUS, the brood and the fermenting honey? He will very quickly regret the decision.. the honey will ferment, burst its caps and leak through the ceiling creating a REALLY ugly mess. THEN, the smell will have every rat, mouse, Wax moth, Hive beetle and ant within a mile running to get there....
No, not a good idea at all... Pay for the cost of removal now, or pay later.

Blacksheep · June 16, 2015, 12:28:58 PM

Up Date on the Porch bee! Well yesterday wasn't a good bee day for the bees or me!I had caught some first using a larger vac catch box and put thos e bees in a 10 frame boax along with some of their own comb,no brood but one did have a small amount of honey in it.They seem to be doing ok.
I went back with a smaller box I had made and collect some more and put them in a 5 frame nuc box.This was the meanest bunch of bees I have ever seen,they were on 5 frames of foundation which was new,crack the top and they were all over you stinging you any place they could and following trying to sting.Well I went back and got some more bees in the morning and kept them in the shade till yesterday afternoon.I had some frames of honey I was going to give them and opened the box and they started to swarm out on me well I really put the heavy smoke to them and slamed the pid on them.The ones who were out stung me 4 times thru the gloves I had on.
I was planning on dumping the last batch in with them and right before dark I opened the box all bees dead!I then opened the vac box and they were dead also.All total I guess it was 7 to 8 thousand bees dead.Now for what went wrong!
I am sure the hot smoke along with the very hot temps killed the ones in the 5 frame box(Over smoked them and smoke to hot)
Bees in the vac box(which was the same size as a 5 frame nuc box( I thing maybe the vac was to strong and vaced them to long as well as the very hot temps yesterday.I had them in the shade and thought plenty of air but the were dead.
Mistake--I should have shook them out of the vac box quick as I got home.
I will not be using smoke much in the future just use sugar water instead.
Maybe some of you will learn some thing from all this post I hope so as I learned a lot!It is one thing to sit in a class and hear how it is to be done but the application is usually a liot different!

BeeMaster2 · June 16, 2015, 01:25:43 PM

Quote from: OldMech on June 15, 2015, 09:11:14 PM
Have you ever smelled 40000 bees rotting? PLUS, the brood and the fermenting honey? He will very quickly regret the decision.. the honey will ferment, burst its caps and leak through the ceiling creating a REALLY ugly mess. THEN, the smell will have every rat, mouse, Wax moth, Hive beetle and ant within a mile running to get there....
No, not a good idea at all... Pay for the cost of removal now, or pay later.

What OldMech said.
I did a trap out in an old brick house. Thought they were between the wall and brick. A week later and for the next 3 weeks, the customer had honey flowing down 8 feet by 8 feet of wall every day. Then the SHB larvae started crawling down from behind the crown molding. Then we had to do a cutout to clean it out. It was between the first and second floor. If they have rug on the second floor, like I had it is rather easy to open and repair.
If you want pictures to show the customer what it looks like, PM me your cell # and I will send them to you.
Jim

Eric Bosworth · June 16, 2015, 01:47:14 PM

Quote from: OldMech on June 15, 2015, 09:11:14 PM
Have you ever smelled 40000 bees rotting? PLUS, the brood and the fermenting honey? He will very quickly regret the decision.. the honey will ferment, burst its caps and leak through the ceiling creating a REALLY ugly mess. THEN, the smell will have every rat, mouse, Wax moth, Hive beetle and ant within a mile running to get there....
No, not a good idea at all... Pay for the cost of removal now, or pay later.

It's not just the smell of rotting bees... You then also have to deal with the ant and rodent infestation going after the honey once the bees die.