Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: BeeMaster2 on June 11, 2019, 01:34:44 pm

Title: Sofit hive removal
Post by: BeeMaster2 on June 11, 2019, 01:34:44 pm
BobSim and I did another sofit removal yesterday. This one was only 8 feet from the ground. It did not look like a big hive from the entrance activity but we ended up removing a lot of bees. Not a lot of honey, just a little more than one gallon. The bees were nice as can bee. We only took a couple of stings and they were all do to being crushed under fingers or back of my arms against boards while reaching into tight spots.
Here are some pictures of it:



This was just as we started.



Here is what it looked like when we opened it up.





Continued
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: BeeMaster2 on June 11, 2019, 01:39:14 pm


Bob working on putting brood in the frames.







Same shot just backed off a bit.



Continued
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: BeeMaster2 on June 11, 2019, 01:53:43 pm
I don?t know how I ended up with that double picture
 :embarassed:









I caught the queen.  She was just about the last bee to come out of this hive. After we removed all of the comb bees started coming up from behind the brick wall. There is about a 1/2 inch gap behind the wall. They were also coming down from above the bricks. We kept vacuuming them up. When they started slowing down in numbers, we added a little Beequick. Then we had a lot more of them coming out. Every time they slowed down, we added more Beequick. They finally stopped coming out when the queen showed up by her self and I reached in and grabbed her by hand. I did not want to let her get away like he have had in the past where the queen slips into a small crack and refuses to come out.
Continued
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: BeeMaster2 on June 11, 2019, 01:57:59 pm
I gave her a green mark and put her in a cage that I can put her in the hive. (I released her this morning.)







The last 2 pictures are what it looked after we were all done.
Jim Altmiller
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: CoolBees on June 11, 2019, 02:02:21 pm
Good stuff Jim. Keep 'em coming!  :grin:
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: jtcmedic on June 11, 2019, 03:32:00 pm
Looks good
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: herbhome on June 12, 2019, 03:53:21 am
Nice, Jim.  :smile: I may have missed but how many boxes did it work out to?
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: Skeggley on June 12, 2019, 12:08:15 pm
Dusty, I really enjoy watching your bee removals.
That you take the time to take and share is awesome.
Thanks for sharing, appreciate it here winter time Downunder. 👍
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: BeeMaster2 on June 12, 2019, 03:38:17 pm
Nice, Jim.  :smile: I may have missed but how many boxes did it work out to?
This one was one box of brood and I gave them an empty medium super to build in. There are a lot of bees in this hive.
Jim Altmiller
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: BeeMaster2 on June 12, 2019, 03:39:00 pm
Dusty, I really enjoy watching your bee removals.
That you take the time to take and share is awesome.
Thanks for sharing, appreciate it here winter time Downunder. 👍
Thanks, more to come.
Jim Altmiller
Title: Re: Sofit hive removal
Post by: Ben Framed on June 15, 2019, 12:01:47 am
Great job Jim and excellent pictures to present your situation and work. I also want to commend you for the pictures in "What a mess" I really enjoy you threads, especially on cutouts .......Thank for posting. Phillip