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The bees may have more than one possible entrance and you may have to seal up some of the entrances to get the bees, depending on your specific situation.
Put smoke into the entrance holes prior to removal of siding.
This old abandoned house was easy to deal with in that their was no insulation to worry about and the siding was about to fall off anyway. I was able to get to the WHOLE nest after removing two panels. I did not have to worry with sealing up the holes and trapping bees, I just removed the comb bees and all. I did not have to repair the damage done to remove the bees. A new structure could present specific problems in these areas and you will have to plan for that. MAKE SURE you and the home owner have an agreement, written is best, on whose responsibility it is to repair any damage. Make sure if you are to repair it, you have an agreement on the cost to do so.
The big cluster of bees is the brood area and is likely where you will find the queen.
Brood nest in the wall
Carefully cut the comb from the wall using a long serrated knife. Place the sections in boxes or buckets you have prepared. Be careful with brood areas, that you do not mash your queen.
This comb is over 6'long. Use care working on ladders. Bees are not worth getting injured over
Until you take the siding off, you do not know which direction the bees have built their comb.
Taking the siding off was easy. Now what?
Some of the comb may break off with the siding
The comb may be carefully cut to fit into frames with rubber bands placed around the frames to hold sections of comb in until the bees attach it to the frame. Make sure to put comb in so the cells angle up. Make sure to band in comb that has brood and eggs first. Place these in the middle of the brood box. You can add some honey comb on the edges. I fed the excess honey back to them and let them build new storage for it. I saved the left over comb to melt down later.
Chris Mathis of Buncombe County Beekeeper Chapter has this take on bees that are in a structure.
Any time you find bees in a wall or other building area you have to ask - how much deconstruction (A)CAN I do and (B)am I capable of doing and (C)how much is actually needed.
Invariably there is MORE WORK REQUIRED than you imagine if you take the "deconstruction" approach. (see pictures above and Chris has photos available from his removal project from last year which you may have seen on WLOS and CNN.)
The second question you must consider has to do with "access" - are they easily reachable? Two stories off the ground? Is it safe?
Assuming that you have access and capability, now you have to decide which of three basic techniques you are going to use to remove the bees. One is "Deconstruction, remove and rebuild". The second is the "One way exit" approach. The third is the "Vacuum technique". (There are other variations but these are your primary options.)
The one way technique is characterized by letting the bees out but not letting them back in. The basic tools needed are a small wire mesh cone (usually mounted on a small board with a hole in it), some squishy foam stuff to press the board to the wall over the opening, screws, duct tape or other "attachment techniques for mounting the board to the wall over the opening.
Essential to the success of this approach are:
1. A hive body or nuc with at least one frame of eggs and larvae (Bait for the returning bees. They are compelled to protect and feed baby bees). A bottom board and top cover are also required. You are going to place this nuc or hive body as close to the opening in the wall as possible.
2. The ability to seal up every possible escape route for the bees EXCEPT ONE - the one you have the wire cone over. This wire cone can be 1 or 2 inches across at the base and then narrow to one bee's width diameter at the end. The length of the cone doesn't matter. I usually make them about 3 to 5 inches. BUT, the closer you can get the narrow opening of the cone to the opening of the hive body or nuc, the higher likelihood of your success.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This technique TAKES TIME - usually 3-6 weeks. Why? Because even if the field bees go into the hive body to take care of the eggs and larvae on the frame, there are still eggs, larvae and emerging bees in the wall.
Two things happen during this time.
First, the bees outside the wall will begin the process of making a new queen in the hive body. (That's why you need EGGS and young larvae on the frame in the hive body.)
Second, the queen in the wall will slowly become unprotected as the population of bees in the wall dwindles to the point that she will die.
This is the general technique. Every situation is different. Every wall and colony situation is different. You have to try this a few times to apprecitate the challenges.
The vacuum approach can also be successful, especially if you have pretty good access to the bees and a fairly tight enclosure, making the vacuum suction more powerful. (Without building your own, I suggest calling Larry Sebren, a member of the board of Buncombe County Beekeepers Chapter, who has been sucking bees out of walls all spring.) If the wall is block or somewhat porous, you may have some additional challenges with the vacuum approach.
You will lose some bees in each one of these techniques. Your goal is to get as many as you can into a hive and in the care of a beekeeper.
Good Luck!
R. Christopher Mathis
The Spicewood Farm
P.O. Box 1000
Bee Log, NC 28714
828-350-9930
Chris Mathis points to the colony of bees in the ceiling of an old dairy barn on the Biltmore Estate. The removal had started the day before and reinforcements were brought in to help and to photograph on the second day.
lots of bees and comb are still left for removal
Chris Mathis and Edd Buchanan get ready to work on the removal
Larry Sebren places some brood comb into a brood frame with rubber bands
Chris, Edd and Larry work together. Extra hands are always welcome in this kind of operation
A bee vacuum can be handy when removing large colonies of bees. Most survive the process and are in a neat package to install in your hive when you get home.
Honeycomb can also be installed into super frames for colony stores. The bees will attach it to the frames and remove the rubber bands.
These frames of honeycomb will make a nice super of honey for winter stores to sustain the colony this winter
It is very important to preserve all honeybee genetic material that is currently alive. Given the catastrophic losses of honeybee colonies in recent years, our honeybee gene pool has decreased dramatically. It is possible there is in existence feral honeybee colonies which show resistance to the viruses that are being vectored by the Varroa Mite infestation of honeybees in the United States. Feral honeybees make nests in various locations which they have sought out after swarming from a parent colony. They commonly build in hollow trees, or in cavities that are not properly sealed to the outside in barns or houses. If a colony has continuously existed in one of these locations for more than three continuous years, it is very possible that colony has some genetic advantage over most bees which require close human management to survive for long. As a result of these facts, I have actively sought out these feral colonies to build my own apiary. I also have selected from the best of these colonies to raise my own queens. I have found my apiary is showing resistance to the common problems most colonies are experiencing with the mites and with viruses.
It is believed that most Feral bees in the United States have died out. However, I have found some bees that are still in the unmanaged wild. The question is are these managed colony swarms that have escaped and found these feral colony comb remains to make their home there? I feel this is true in part, but I also know that vast numbers of feral colonies were out there. There is a strong possibility some did survive and their swarms are also repopulating the feral population. Their drones are also out there mating and I want to capture that aspect by open mating in areas near the large national forests where so many feral colonies existed before the mites came to the United States.
There are various ways to obtain feral honeybee colonies, but one thing is very important. Capture of the feral queen is very important to insure you are getting her genetics as well as any advantages her genetics may carry. Without her, you may be able to raise a queen with some of her genetic traits from her eggs, but getting her is the most desirable way to capture the colony. Remember, if you raise a queen from her eggs and the colony is moved to another area prior to the virgin queen from her eggs being mated, you will potentially miss out on the drone genetic material the original queen was mated from. This could vastly alter the genetic outcome of your new queen and negate the desired effects you are seeking from her. Without the queen, you also only get one shot at raising a queen from her eggs. If you save the queen, this gives you an opportunity to experiment with her eggs and gives you more than one shot at developing a desirable effect from her progeny.
Honeybee colonies in houses tend to be the ones you hear about most often, because the owners want your help in removal. They are also more aware of how long the colony has been in that location without management. Obtaining colonies from structures is easier if you have some knowledge and experience in construction, as well as some basic construction tools. Removal of siding is almost always necessary and before getting in over your head, you need to have a detailed agreement with the homeowner over what is expected and what will be accomplished. Working with a contractor may also be necessary. The price for your work as well as the contractor’s will also need to be agreed upon. Sometimes you get lucky and a feral colony is found in an abandoned house or one slated for demolition. Barns are often easier to obtain a colony from in that the detail of the finish is often easier to fix after the work is done. Make sure you know what you are getting into or talk with the contractor to make sure what to expect. Sometimes removal of the colony is easier from the inside, especially when brick veneer or stucco is involved.
If you are a hiker or are friends with hikers, you may come into contact with feral colonies in hollow trees. These can vary greatly in difficulty to remove the colony. Make sure you have permission to remove the tree before cutting into a bee tree. Typically, the colony is at least eight to ten feet off of the ground. This can pose a bit of a problem in getting the tree down without damaging the colony too much. If you want to remove the colony still in the tree section, make sure to seal up all the holes with screen wire while the bees are inside. Once the tree is down, the section with the bees in them can be cut out and screen wire quickly placed over the holes. The tree section can then be removed to your property by hauling it on a trailer or in a pickup. However you decide to handle your bee tree, you must get the bees out of the tree and into a hive. If your section of bee tree has a hole in the top, you can place a Langstroth hive on top of it and allow the bees to naturally move up into the hive. This could take some time, but does work due to bees natural tendency to move up. I usually suggest cutting open the tree and removing the bees, comb and all and putting them into a hive. The tree can be cut open with a chain saw or even a wedge. I have done both, and believe it or not, I liked the way the wedge worked the best. Some people smoke the bees up into a hive also.
Whether you are removing the bees from a tree or from a structure, the actual cutting out of the comb is much the same. I make sure I have lots of things available for either job. I like to have the following:
1 Buckets
2 Boxes
3 Screen Wire
4 Staples or Tacks
5 Duct Tape
6 Knives (including at least one long flexible preferably serrated one)
7 Gloves (dishwashing gloves work fine)
8 Camera
9 Rags
10 Several buckets of water
11 Queen Cage (at least one)
12 Queen Marker
13 Smoker
14 Hive Tool
15 Complete Hive Body (with empty frames)
16 A second hive body or a super (with empty frames
17 Plenty of rubber bands
18 Protective Gear
19 Queen Excluder
20 Hive top cover
21 Bottom board
You may add to this list after removing your first colony, but even if you do not use all of these items, having them available could save the day.
Whether you are removing the bees from a structure or from a hollow tree you must first expose the colony. I suggest smoking them prior to exposing them. After exposing the colony, you need to assess where the brood nest is and try to protect the brood and probable location of the queen. I cut out sections of comb that are approximately the size of the frames I am going to place the section in. I attach the comb into the frames with rubber bands. The bees will attach it then cut and remove the bands. Make sure to put the honey comb in the supers as much as possible and the brood nest in the brood body. I try to put the brood towards the center of the box and put honey on the outside of the brood box. Make sure the orientation of the cells in the brood box is the same as it was in the colony. (the cells should angle upwards) If you place the cells in wrong, the wax may not be useful, especially for honey storage. I try to collect all the brood and as much of the honey comb as possible. I take out all the excess honey comb and let the bees rob it back to the new hive. Don’t forget to put a queen excluder (queen includer) below the brood box so the queen will not try to leave and take the colony with her.
After getting the colony cut out, make sure all remains of the colony in the prior location is removed. If you have the queen, I suggest taking them home as soon as possible. If you do not get the queen, you can come back later and there will be a cluster where you removed the comb. If you find a cluster there that you can spray with sugar water and scrape into a container to add to the colony you have made. If you have removed bees from a structure, I suggest sealing up the structure as soon as you have all the bees removed so that they can not return. If you have removed the bees from a tree, I suggest cutting the remains of the tree up and removing to keep the bees from trying to go back. The parent hive can be left in the area for a few days so the stragglers can make their way into the new colony home. Remove the excluder from below the brood box when you are sure the queen is laying eggs and plans on staying.
You may want to quarantine the hive from your apiary to make sure there are no undesirably diseases being introduced. Foul Brood is one disease that comes to mind which you want to guard against.
