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bees in old house: what to do?
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Posted by pearlandvb (My Page) on Mon, Aug 14, 06 at 13:45
| I have bought a piece of rural property that has a delapidated farmhouse on it. I'm in no rush to tear it down. There is a huge honeybee hive in one of the walls with the main exit of the hive on the outside wall. I want to try to get the bees into my own hive before I bulldoze the house, though I'm a total neophyte to beekeeping. What are the chances they'll move into my portable hive if I just place it above the wild hive exit on the outside of the house? I could let it sit there a year if I had to. I've read about "drumming" them upward; would that be likely to work? I've read about making a cone out of window screen and placing it over the exit to force the bees into the new hive, but there are way too many exits for the old hive, inside and out of the old house. Should I try to pry off some of the old boards so the comb is exposed? If I do any of these things as a neophyte, is my likelihood of death high? I talked to a local beekeeper and his advice was "forget it, you'll never get them out."
The hive looks so huge from the outside I figured they'd be looking to expand, and if I just put the portable hive close by maybe they'd "move in". Or should I just bulldoze it and buy bees? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: bees in old house: what to do?
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| The problem with the cone method is that you just get the workers and not the queen so that won't do you any good. Just placing the hive outside won't work (why would they move out of their happy home). Drumming may work but I doubt it will myself. Your best bet is to take off the old boards, remove the comb and fasten them in your own frame in your own hive. A smoker, suit, veil, gloves, bee vac, etc. is recommended. You still may not end up getting the queen, but it's your best chance and they can raise a new one with the brood and eggs you save. Depending on your location though it may be a bit late to do this and expect them to recover and build up enough for winter. Since you don't have any experience handling bees I'd definately seek an experience beekeeper to help (probably not the one you've already talked to based on his response) -Tim |
RE: bees in old house: what to do?
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It would be a good learning experience to you!
Like Tim said, the queen will stay put if you place a cone.
I have extracted a few swarms and never managed to get the queen.
The problem when taking comb out, comb is very fragile and collapses right in your hand when brand new, so there will be dying bees and perhaps the queen too.
Have never used a bee vac, perhaps that would work better?
I have an idea, if you could open the wall somewhat to expose some comb and brood, attach one box with some frames just on top of the brood and place some brood in there to entice them to go in!
Bees do not like to be in the open, hopefully they will go in over some time. I would have the bottom of the box about 2 inches open and over the brood.
Konrad |
RE: bees in old house: what to do?
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| I followed the advice of some people on this site, and I shot holes in the nest with my shotgun. This did not work. It just made my neighbours and the bees angry. Eventually somebody called he police because of all the shooting. After explaining my situation to the police, they begn firing their hand guns at the nest, but it did not work. The bees just attacked us and covered us in bee stings. I think the best way to get rid of bees is to use a baseball bat and smash the nest so that you can be sure that it is destroyed. You may get a few bites, but nobody will be annoyed by all the shooting, and the police wont have to be called. Kevin |
RE: bees in old house: what to do?
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| Check the date on posts. Since the original was in 2006, the problem has probably bee taken care of. I heard they used AK-47s, followed by hand grenades and finished up with flame throwers |
RE: bees in old house: what to do?
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| Flame throwers, hand grenades, come on that's sissy stuff. Why not do it right the first time and just get one of those nice, portable nuclear weapons? |
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