Someone appears to have dumped a "table" that consists of plywood screwed onto the top of an old whiskey barrel onto a wooded lot. It looks like someone stapled cardboard over the bung to move it and the bees. The girls have chewed their way out and are merrily doing their thing. The owner of the lot doesn't want it there and has given me permission to remove it. The barrel is pretty light all things considered and can be easily moved by two people so I don't think the hive is huge or has a ton of honey put aside. It is probably a swarm from this spring. Would be difficult to cut it out where it sits with no access to power and no room to work due to trees and brush. I was thinking of placing hardware cloth over the entrance in the evening and moving the entire thing to a neighbors lot and cutout and rehome them into a hive once they settle into their new location.
Any suggestions or hazards I should be aware of in moving a feral hive like this with no way to know how comb is attached inside? I have an endoscope on order and hope to be able to take a peek into the hive when it arrives early next week but the lot owner wants the barrel gone this weekend so it needs to be moved before I get the scope.