Vanity: I have a large hive of bees in my wall, and want to transplant them (no-kill): HOW!?

18 JUN 09 | dcbryan1

[DCBryan1]

Freepers:

As usual, I try to find "experts" on certain issues here before I go searching for the "googled" or "wiki" answers.

I have a large hive of honey bees (non-african) in my wall of my house. I have tolerated them for a wile (they have been there for four-five years), but this year they are much, much more numerous and I fear that the mold/mildew inside of my siding will be detrimental in the long run.

I want to safely remove them without destroying the hive and transplant them to a bee box.

Beekeeping has been one of my "learn how to do" hobbies and I think this is a great opportunity.

Do any of you have any experience, techniques, or known methods to safely remove a hive from within an exterior wall, and then transplant them to a bee-box?

Thanks for your input!

[A Texan]

LOL!!!

[hsrazorback1]

(In my best Austin Powers...)

Oh, bee-hive.

[green pastures]

I suppose it was a bit of a tough cell...

;-)

[concentric circles]

I just had to mark your post so that I can return later for your final report. Good luck.

[spectre]

http://arbeekeepers.org/swarm.htm

[NellieMae]

Call a local beekeeper’s association and ask for assistance.

[DCBryan1]

Beepers!....er Freepers!

Thought I would give you an update. Thanks for your advice, esp. lazamataz ;)

After I posted this thread, Jon Zawislak, from the University of Arkansas Div. of Agriculture's Cooperative Extention Service came to my house! He was just down the street and excited about my two (2) hives!

He said that they were NON-AFRICAN honeybees....and looked Italian to him. (I didn't know there were Italian honeybees).

Anyways, his website is: http://bees.uark.edu">

He was very nice and we talked bees for a while. We are going to trap them later this summer with a couple of hive boxes and clean them out. Next monday, he is going to invite me to the Central Arkansas Beekeeper meeting and wants me to bring some pictures....He bets that they will be more than willing to donate equipment and time since they are Italian honeybees.

Anyways....I will post some pictures later for you;)

Stay safe! ...and thanks for the advice!

DCB

[SnarlinCubBear]

I dealth with this problem last year, when a queen bee started a hive inside the wall of our business. Then, bees started getting inside through vents. The beekeeper I hired wanted to get them all out alive, as did most of us, but it was impossible. They had to be poisoned.

[Just another Joe]

Could they be killer bees?

In other words, do they look like this?

[Lazamataz]

honey will rot

Actually, honey is the one biological substance that WILL NOT SPOIL, ever. They recovered Egyptian honey from an underground catacomb. Still edible after 4000 years.

[Lazamataz]

Thanks for your advice, esp. lazamataz ;)

Just call me MISTER HELPER! :)

[hoosiermama]

Glad it’s going to be a happy ending....My experience have been bats and flying squirrels (Not you Laz). They usually leave with a shallow pan of ammonia.

[NellieMae]

Well!! Aren’t you a lucky duck!!

[NellieMae]

I had a bat flying around in my house a few years ago. It slipped in the door one night when we came in late. I had actually been reading a vampire book all week and it just figures that I’d get a bat in the house. I woke the kids up so that they could see it flying around. It would act like it was coming at us
(it really wasn’t) and we would all scream and duck. It finally landed on a curtain and I flipped it into a paper bag and set it free. I got one in my convertible one night too. We were at the lake with the top down. It got chilly so we put the top back up with a bat apparently hiding inside. It started making it’s presence known several miles later. It scooted across the dash and landed on my lap. My husband stopped the car and I shooed it outside. I guess that the people in the car behind us was wondering what was going on. I had to get one out of my male cousins house one time too. I’m really not into bats though, I should say.

[Rebelbase]

“Italian honeybees”

Just doing the work American Honey bees won’t do.

[hoosiermama]

We had hundred on bats...an entire colony in the barn that is now my home. Since bats come back to have their young close to where they were born, we had a baby or two each year....I'd turn the lights on and open the door when they first came out in the evening. They would clear the facility of insects and leave. (Learned a lot about them at this time) One regularly landed on a beam within my eyesight. One night she brought her baby with her....Stretch out his arms, cleaned his hands/fingers and generally shared her baby with me....

At the time I was preparing a devotion on animals for the County Fair. Realized she, like Mary, had shared her baby with a stranger who could be a threat to both...but it was Genesis that put it all in proportions....We have been given the responsibility to be the caretaker of the animals.

[Hacksaw]

Two words: Gasoline Matches

and Fire dept. Number

[Lazamataz]

My experience have been bats and flying squirrels (Not you Laz). They usually leave with a shallow pan of ammonia.

I, also, leave with a shallow pan of ammonia.

I put the pan in my briefcase, and leave with it.

You can find me by tracking the ammonia trail.

(Of course, how many times have I used THAT last phrase? HUNDREDS.....)

[hoosiermama]

Laz, You should really do stand up....BTW have you met Freeper gator 113* yet? You two should get together and write for Letterman....He needs the help. And you both are REALLY funny.

*I posted one of Gator’s comment as a thread for folks to use as an email....tried putting it in activism....Mods removed it as usual....Don’t think they like to laugh.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2274993/posts?page=53#53

[Cicero]

Good news. The ancestors on my Italian side would be pleased to hear about it.

Nothing like Italian bread smeared with fresh butter and honey.