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Author Topic: Bee removal in a walnut log  (Read 5481 times)

Offline afretired

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Bee removal in a walnut log
« on: March 19, 2008, 11:44:31 pm »
Last week a buddy called me and had some honey bees he wanted to get rid of.  He had just had a fence row dozed out on his farm and ran across a walnut tree with a colony built in the base of the trunk.  Since I was out of town at the time I told him the earliest I could get them was Saturday. He could wait till then but needed them removed as soon as possible since it was holding up the dozer operator and logger.  Well of course it was raining Saturday, but I went ahead and cut the part of the log out with the colony and waited till after church on Sunday to split the log.  I was amazed at how calm the bees were all through the removal process. Maybe it was because it was cool (50 degrees) and damp.  I started by almost cutting all the way through on each side with my chainsaw then laying the log down and using wedges on each side, splitting the log.  There was a good amount of bees and comb.  I removed the brood comb and used rubber bands to hold it in new frames.  I ended up with three good frames of brood and good bunch of bees.  I took a full frame of honey out of another colony to give them some stores to eat on.  Check out the slide show below. 
Thanks
Dave
 One last comment, I'm wearing the jacket with veil, I recruited my son-in-law Ryan to help, he is in the full suit.

Walnut log bee removal


Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2008, 12:34:40 am »
Awesome, good job.
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Offline JP

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2008, 01:38:37 am »
Cool! Keep an eye on that queen though.

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Offline bassman1977

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2008, 02:51:46 pm »
Nice one.  When you guys pull these hives, are you keeping the brood/eggs in their natural positions when possible?  What happens if you don't (besides having upside down comb when they fix up that frame).
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Offline afretired

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2008, 10:15:43 pm »
Bassman1977
I really don't know what would happen if the brood is not in the same orientation as the original hive.  The brood comb I removed was in the log vertically, and I put it in the frames in a horizontal position.  Being fairly new to the bee business, the question would better be answered by some of the more seasoned beeks on this forum.

Dave

Offline buzzbee

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2008, 06:32:07 am »
Great job guys! :)

Offline DennisB

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2008, 10:48:05 am »
Super photos Dave. Sure looked like fun. You probably could get a few small boards out of that base as well. That was a big tree!

DennisB

Offline Understudy

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2008, 02:24:41 pm »
Nice job.

Hell of a tough cut out.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

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Offline afretired

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2008, 11:32:56 pm »
My buddy Eddie got a call last week by a land owner who wanted a bee tree cut.  According to the land owner, a bee stung one of her horses and she wanted them removed. Today we didn't have a lot going on so we descided to go and see about the tree.  It wasn't that big of a deal to cut it,  Eddie dropped it right in the edge of the woods.  It was to cold today to attempt splitting the tree after we brought it back.  We set it up in Eddie's yard till it warms up a bit.  The hive didn't look that old, most of the comb was light in color. Anyway here are a few pictures of it, it also was in an old walnut.

Bee Tree Saturday, 22  March 2008

Hopefully in a few days I'll add some pictures when we split it.

Dave

Offline JP

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Re: Bee removal in a walnut log
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2008, 01:12:52 am »
Another excellent Job!!!


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