Weekend Cutout

Finally. After a long season without bees, I got a new start. My cousin's husband called me some time last year and asked about getting some bees out of a house that they owned. It was late in the year, so I told them if it was ok to wait until this spring and I would be glad to get them out.

This Spring has been very wet and cold, so I had to wait until this past weekend to try it. On Friday (05-24-2013), around 11am after work, I began. After checking several places, we finally found them in the floor joists over the carport and under an upstairs bedroom.

It was 2pm before I even got started extracting the hive, and shortly thereafter, my son came by to give much needed help. We didn't finish on Friday, so I was back out Saturday morning to finish it up.

I wound up splitting the hive into two top bar hives, and I don't know if I got the queen in either box. In box #1, I'm quite sure they have resources to make a queen, but in #2, I don't recall any eggs or larvae, just capped brood.

Ants were a problem the first day at home in both hives, and in hive #1 yesterday. Hive #1 also suffered mild robbing on Monday. I think I'll take a look at them today and see how they are.

A short vid of the project is here.

A First For Me

Last Friday(5-7-2010) & Saturday I tried something for the first time. I removed a beehive from a wall in a church about an hour south of where I live. It took me two days, and help from my wife, my son, and the deacon, but I think it was a success. Now for the amazing part: I got one sting. My wife got one sting. My son got two stings. That's all! This colony was in the wall of a bathroom in a church that was built back in the late 1800s. The bees had been there for several years. The hive was about 4 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and six inches deep. I harvested some honey and was able to keep some to give back to the bees that I moved to one of my top bar hives. As promised, I now have pics and video.

Pics

Vid