Excavator & Honey Bees don't mix... need some trap-out advice.

[KD4MOJ]

Ok got call from a commercial hydraulic mechanic shop down the street from me (probably my bees). Said there were some bees underneath an excavator. Well when I got there, it was more like IN the excavator. The bees followed the hydraulic lines inside the bottom structure of the excavator and it's a pretty big opening. They were not in a good mood either... probably since a major thunderstorm had just passed through. Wish I had my telephoto lense to get a better picture of the opening but you might be able to see the size of the opening. There are ALOT of bees.. the picture doesn't do it justice. I had probably several hundred flying about me while I was underneath this rig.

Obviously this will be a trap-out if they agree to the timeframe that it's going to take. I need some recommendations on how to seal this thing up for the trap-out due to the weird configuration of the opening. Pics to follow:

On the right in this picture

Closeup - 4-6" with hydraulic lines going in

Looking underneath, it appears all solid with nothing to remove to get to the comb.

To trap-out, I would have to build around the opening and also around and through all the hydraulic lines. Not sure how I could seal around the lines... Any thoughts?


...DOUG
KD4MOJ

[iddee]

A WHOLE LOT of bee-go.....  :evil:

[KD4MOJ]

A WHOLE LOT of bee-go.....  :evil:

Instead of SAMSUNG it should be called Samson & Delilah!!

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

[BeeMaster2]

Assuming this is the only opening, big assumption, buy a plastic bee escape, the small white ones that go in the hole of an inner cover, get a board large enough to cover this hole, cut a one inch hole in the area of the board where the bee entrance and staple the bee escape over that hole. Use duct tape to attach the board over the entrance, bee sure to cut notches for the cables and tape around them to seal it real well. If you use an election type, plastic corrugated board as the board, you can cut it with a knife on site.
Good luck. The only problem that I see with this trap out will bee how many ways can the bees access this area.
Jim

[KD4MOJ]

Going to talk to the man at the site today for a prelim... he said that they could drop the pan for me which will make extracting a whole lot easier (no trap out)! I'm not sure exactly who is going to volunteer for this since it's a 2+ man job to drop the "pan".

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

[BeeMaster2]

Doug,
If you have more than me bee suit, offer to let them use one for the pan dropping. You will want to bee there for the dropping just in case the comb is attached to it. You will bee surprised at how brave people become with the suit.
The hive should bee just inside the entrance according to an instructor at the last bee college.
Jim

[Spear]

Following! Please post Lots of pics!

[Scott Derrick]

A WHOLE LOT of bee-go.....  :evil:

Honey-B-GoneOr Honey-B-Gone