Allright, tell me I'm crazy, but give me some ideas.

[njoylife10]

There is a hive of bees in an old dead tree.  The tree is coming down and is mostly down except for the stump.  I think it is too big to safely let drop without harming the hive.  The entrance is about 8 feet up and is about 4 inches by 18 inches.  It looks like the bulk of the hive is in the stump, which is so big it would take 2 or more of me to hug it.

My idea is:  Drill a hole into the trunk and put some smoke in there.  While simultaneously vacuuming them from the entrance.  That should get most of the bees out of the way.  Then cut out a window in the trunk with a chainsaw.  Then remove the comb and work it like a cut out. The tree is in such a way that if it did happen to fall it would fall into a vacant yard.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I would think that the chainsaw is going to get them riled up.  Is there anyway to avoid this?  Are there any advantages to lowering the stump and then performing the cutout?  It seems like moving the tree would cause more chaos. I've done cutouts and swarm captures, but never an established hive in a tree.

thanks all,

njoylife10

[AllenF]

Your crazy.


No, you have some good ideas, but I have a question, if you are afraid of taking the tree down, and if there is just on hive entrance, do a trap out.

[schawee]

your crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :-D a trapout is the way to go.     ...schawee

[BjornBee]

Your no crazier than the person that put a "hive" in a old dead tree. What college prank involved this?  :evil:

Just by chance your referring to a "colony" in a tree....then yes, you are crazy! Crazy not to get that whole thing moved to your backyard. What a topic of discussion that would be!  ;)

Whatever you do, make sure you get video.

I think a trap out might make sense. There is no guarantee that the comb is any good anyways.

[iddee]

Cut the tree and take the bees out. Like you described in the OP. Why waste two months and countless trips. You may even get a super of honey this year if you get it done now.

[njoylife10]

Yea I thought about a trap out right off the bat, but it is over 20 miles away that means 2 gallons of gas each trip.  Add four kids to that and I would rather get it all done in one trip.

Schawee: I have watched a ton of your videos.  So when you say do a trap out that makes me seriously consider changing my plan.  Do you have any other suggestions to make this easier on the bees besides a trap out?  I also always wondered how you price your removals.  PM if you don't want it out in la la land and just ignore that question if you don't care to share at all. :)

Bjorn:  You just want me to video, so you can get a good laugh.  Nice try ;)

thanks all keep it coming.

njoylife10

[joebrown]

If you can keep the stump in place, I would cut the tree above the bees entrance. Then place supers on top of the stump. Just make sure they have a way up to the super. You may have to make a piece of plywood to go on the bottom of the bottom super to keep it closed. My father in law and his grandfather use to bring the stumps home and place supers on them all the time. Of course there were more bee trees back then. Let them live in the stump and super the stump.

[hardwood]

I would go for the cut out! One trip, save the genetics, capture the queen...fun stuff! Trap outs (and I do a few of those :) ) take too many trips.

Scott

[schawee]

i would have to agree with iddee and scott.if you don't have time for a trapout you should cut the tree and get the bees out.don't know how good the comb is inside but you can save the bees .      ...schawee

[CapnChkn]

My next door neighbor cuts trees for a living.  Occasionally he comes across a bee tree, and calls the neighbor across the road, who has a tractor with an arm.  He takes the tree, wraps it with netting, then they fell the tree after chaining it, wrap it the rest of the way, and haul it to his house.

The reason for all this trouble is the tree surgeon usually cuts these trees in residential places and it has to do with insurance.  Still the trunk sets in the other's yard with a piece of plywood on the top.  I never found what happened with it, I'll ask next time I see him.

If this is what you want to do, you could set a hive on the plywood with a hole in the plywood so the bees could move up into the hive.  There are different ways of getting the queen up there, but the traditional way was to smoke the trunk or old hive box and "drum" the bees up.

I just found this!  http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=2350.0
http://books.google.com/books?id=d2MTAAAAYAAJ&lpg=RA18-PA16&ots=iW2jx1RWtU&dq=farmers%20bulletin%20961&pg=RA2-PA61#v=onepage&q=farmers%20bulletin%20961&f=false 

A regular tapping would drive them up into the hive body, place an excluder under it, and come back in several days to check for brood.  If you see the brood, you would just leave it until all the bees hatched out from the tree, moved into the box, and so on.  If no brood, the bees would be drummed again.

[Michael Bush]

You can get some to come out with smoke.  You'll never get anywhere near all of them.

[joebrown]

You can get some to come out with smoke.  You'll never get anywhere near all of them.

I was thinking, If you drilled a hole big enough for a shop vac hose below the bees and used the blower portion to blow air up through the hive while spraying a little bee quick or bee go in the suction portion if this would run a lot of them out. Bees seem to hate that stuff and that could be a way of blowing it up the tree through the hive. Could cause a swarm?!?! Thoughts??