Any Bee keepers in here?

I had a swarm that landed in my grape vines. The trellis was right in the middle of them. No good way to get them out of that mess. I sat a hive under it with drawn comb, and sugar water sprayed inside it.........but they didn't take the bait.

 

The previous keeper I had come out used a shop vac to collect some of the bees... I really questioned how much the bees would be harmed... but he said they did it that way a lot.

 

They make a special vac......but a regular shop vac would surely kill em.

http://www.beesource.com/build-it-yourself/bee-vac/

 

dave, if you are interested in more bees i made a contact near exit 36. 4 nucs left at $75e, i think 5 frame deeps. they are swarm captures from this year. overflowing and need to get moving now. send me a PM if you want. i wish it wasnt 3 hours from home. i will be in tuckerton the 30th, but that might be too late.

 

that's very likely Dave if there is any residue of wax or honey in there you could very well catch some bees. I hope it works out for you that would be an easy replacement.

 

So I've got a question for you bee guys, I've got a colony in the eve overhang on my house, that is 20' in the air. Is there any way I could force them out of the eve, and have a hive set up that they might go into? I love having the bees on the farm to pollination of fruit trees and alfalfa, but I hate bees, more so getting stung. I know there will be a mess to clean up in the house overhang, and I need to get them out, really do not want to kill them, but in the same respect, not going to pay someone to remove them. I can to the work to the house, just don't want to mess with the bees.

 

google 'honey bee trap out' or something of the like. basically you affix a cone to the entrance. you must make sure ALL OTHER EXITS are blocked. they leave through the cone and return to the base. set up a hive near the base of the cone and they will start moving in. with no bees bringing pollen/nectar back to the hive they cannot raise brood. once they realize this the queen will leave with the remaining bees. the queen often does not move into your set up hive. i have only tried this once and i was lucky to get the queen. maybe they left when weather was not suitable for flying? once they are established in your new hive, you can remove the cone and the bees will go back into the hive to retrieve any remaining honey (they will bring it back to the set up hive). then you can get in and clean up all the wax that is left. it is important to clean it out well and seal it up tight so more dont move back in.
no real way to drive them out without being engaged in the colony itself. any pesticide used will kill them and leave a smelly rotting mess in places of your house that are not easily accessible.

 

The girls are happy and productive so far. We started with 4 packages on dead outs this spring. Put queen excluders and first supers on Memorial Day, and then put on second supers today. Fingers crossed for these hives. We lost all four last year.

 

Growing beebees over herr.

 

Hows that swarm doin dave?
We are slingin honey!

 

Hope your surgery goes well!

 

anybody pull any goldenrod honey this fall? 3/4 of a bucket here!

 

picture never made it through