Angi, be prepared for the fact that this tree could be hollow all the way to the base. Yes, this means you could have comb that is anywhere from 12 to 15' long and a huge hive on your hands. The first thing you need to do is find out how large the hive is before you make any attempt at all to deal with this thing. Some of what I mention may have been presented to you already so I apologize first hand for any redundency on my part. You need to have a drill with you, no questions asked, and some long wood bits say in the 1/4 inch range. You will need to drill some test holes in the tree and determine where the hive stops so you can guage the size of this thing, it doesn't matter exactly what time you do this as long as you screen off the entrance hole, while you're drilling your test holes. After you drill, examine the bit for honey or propolise, etc... As others may have mentioned, your best opportunity to get the hive and even possibly the queen, you will have to be able to get right up in there and physically remove and transfer the combs. With this said, and I don't mean in any way to discourage you from this undertaking, for your first removal, you are quite possibly in for a real challenge. I don't know all the particulars of the situation to guide you better, please after further inspection, if you would like, you can of course post back here with the specifics and we can better guide you from there. Please pay attention to detail and conduct those test holes. If the hive is not very large for some reason then you could take the section of the tree that contains the hive and transfer the entire thing to your apiary. Get back to us for more assistance and we will gladly help in any way we can.
Sincerely, JP