Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: Carriage House Farm on April 06, 2008, 10:08:53 pm
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The cut out went amazingly well today (for those of you following my rants).
The colony itself seems extremely weak, but it was a fantastic experience. Took my time, had my gear together, a helper along, and two years of digesting forums and books.
Man, I was nervous as hell.
Sort of glad it turned out to be small.
So, I'll have more pics, but here are the highlights...
Not nearly as large as I had hoped. Lots of honey, probably about 80 lbs of it. A chunk of bee bread but the only brood ran along the top and almost all of it was damaged removing it. I got another container of about 18 gal volume worth of empty comb.
And yes, I nabbed the queen. Got her in a cage and placed her with some house bees in a box to await all the field bees I vacuumed up as they returned.
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3904/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3911/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3927/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3930/web.jpg)
I put them in with 3 frames of honey and some capped pollen and a hive top feeder and some 1:1 syrup I mixed up a couple days ago.
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3933/web.jpg)
The bee vac worked great and I think I lost, maybe 5 to 10% of what I sucked up. Not too sure if it was the bee vac, the tube, or hitting the plastic wall of the container.
I will not be surprised if I lose this colony. I do have the queen but I was worried about the comb. Some of it looked odd and decided to place them on foundation with three honey frames.
Not too sure if that was a good call or not. I wanted clean comb just incase they had been sprayed and do manage to make it.
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Great job!!! The combs look a little dark, changing them out for fresher foundation/starter strips Imo, is a good idea. If your numbers aren't that great you could always babysit them in a nuc. Sometimes its too many bees in the vac box that kills bees, too much congestion and lack of ventillation. Also a bunch of honey on the bees in the vac is not good either as they get stuck to things and this streeses them to near or to death. Keep an eye on them, make sure they are well fed, and give them all the tlc you can. Let them do the rest. Good luck and thanks for sharing!!!
...JP
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Boy, oh Boy. I am not an expert on cut outs, but that one looks great to me. I believe you did an expert job and took some wonderful photos as well.
Loved seeing the queen as well.
Annette
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Outstanding job !! Glad to see you got the queen .......Like the hive stand.
........Little John_NC
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Outstanding job !! Glad to see you got the queen .......Like the hive stand.
........Little John_NC
Man, little John, didn't know this was your first post on here! We see you all the time in ventrillo, we have to see you here now too? lol, of course. Welcome to posting on beemaster.
...JP
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Cut Out
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/P1000389/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/P1000393/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/P1000396/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/P1000399/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/P1000407/web.jpg)
Queen Caught
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/P1000416/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3919/web.jpg)
Cleaning Up
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3924/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3926/web.jpg)
Gear
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3886/web.jpg)
(http://gallery.mac.com/thesw0rdofroland/100046/IMG_3925/web.jpg)
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Great job!!! The combs look a little dark, changing them out for fresher foundation/starter strips Imo, is a good idea. If your numbers aren't that great you could always babysit them in a nuc. Sometimes its too many bees in the vac box that kills bees, too much congestion and lack of ventillation. Also a bunch of honey on the bees in the vac is not good either as they get stuck to things and this streeses them to near or to death. Keep an eye on them, make sure they are well fed, and give them all the tlc you can. Let them do the rest. Good luck and thanks for sharing!!!
...JP
I did not use the bee vac till the very last. I tried to place all the house bees (or at least what I perceived as the house bees) into the box as I was looking for the queen. Once I found her I placed her in the queen cage/clasp and placed her in the box and then started cutting the comb to fit the frames and get something more organized in the box.
I then cut out the remaining comb and shook or brushed the rest of the house bees into the box.
I then scraped the cavity clean.
After I had the box taped up and the entrance closed and moved back into the shade I began vacuuming up the rest of the "lost" bees. Maybe a couple hundred at most.
It seemed to work out really well. I figure if the choice is between leaving the rest of the foragers there (or flying house bees) or taking them with me, I might get a few.
I probably should have put them in a nuc. I have two and should have thought that through a bit more. Right now I do not have other bees here, so they are not defending against another colony, but who knows. Temsp are supposed to stay nice for the next four or five days and not get lower than 40F out.
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Richard, excellent, what a fine job you did. That colony looked to be a decent size, and yes, I agree with you, for the first time doing a cut out, I would want it to be a smaller type job too. Excellent pictures as well, yeah!!! Have a wonderful and beautiful day. Cindi
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LilJohn. You snuck in here, hee, hee. Welcome to posting on our forum, I hear that you have been in the ventrilo alot, so you are familiar with some members. Anyways, welcome to our forum, the part that puts fingers to the keyboard to make posts, hee, hee. I would like to know a little more about you, as would others, I am sure, why don't you, when you get some time, introduce yourself in the greetings forum? Tell us some of your life experiences, do you keep bees? Have a wonderful and awesomely great day, Cindi
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THAT is a small swarm?? :shock: I can't wait to see pics of a large one!!
(Yes, I'm new :-D)
Great pics, too!!! Thanks for sharing!
Love, Marla
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Wow! Great pics and nice location! So far all bee calls (last year) were wasps or hornets except for two. Good to educate the residents and spread some honey luvin'. The two that were honey bees were beyond my capabilities and I referred them to beek(s) that may be more local and capable. :oops:
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Look at all the fun you had. :)
Sincerely,
Brendhan
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Way to go Richard. Thanks for the pics. Good luck with them, hopefully you weather has turned around and they will stay warm and do well.
DennisB