Went to do a cut out today and realized due to the way the soffits were built on this house that the length of this colony was not 3 feet long but in fact 6 feet long and 24 inches wide between two trusses and was moving south between the next set of trusses. The length of the colony made it physically impossible/feasible for me to remove it, and since it was new comb it would be near impossible to retrieve any of it intact. So I stopped and left it alone. This is a 2 month old colony.
This is the main colony
Colony expansion south in the attic
I actually did something I never dreamed of doing or telling anyone under any circumstances but I told her she had two options. The first being to call an exterminator ( :( ) and the second being to call a contractor to remove the soffit. I told her the drawbacks to the first option were having 4 - 5 pounds of dead bees up there and that the honey (an easy 40 pounds) would eventually leak out and probably ruin some part of her house, and that the honey would attract other unwanted critters. There's also always the chance of exposure to pesticides also.
The drawbacks of the second option basically boiled down to the added expense.
She chose option two so I get another chance and no bees died, other than the 3 that stung me :) :)
Option 3 was to leave the colony and that was unacceptable to her. So it actually turned out to be a good day and I will revisit this colony soon and give them a new home in my apiary some time soon!