# First cut out (tree) should be simple?



## Moots (Nov 26, 2012)

Gilligan,
Not to rain on your parade, but could you recap for me what's going to be so easy about this? 

Granted, the fact that you are at ground level provides some good news...However, that looks to be a HUGE tree. We could have used a few less close up and a few more wide angle shots...We all pretty much know what bees look like, the tree is kind of the important part of this equation. LOL! 

Anyway, who will actually be falling the tree? You are someone else? I think it's probably safe to say the bees won't be real happy with whoever is doing it. Probably no real good way to know just how high up they are in the base. If you could take it down relatively high and then work your way down to where they are at. I'm thinking there may be a pretty big hollow in that tree, but I'm thinking it's one of those things you'll have to get it opened up and then game plan on how to best approach it.

Good luck! Should be fun....Probably not EASY, BUT FUN!


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

In my experience, tree removals are the worst. Comb everywhere at odd angles, tiny cracks and small openings for queenie to hide in, not to mention all the saw work, sawdust all over the comb. 
Take pics and vids if you can.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

You are right... I should have clarified.

I assumed when I got the call that there were bees in a big oak tree, that I assumed that they would be high up. This would mean that it would be difficult to get the bees before the taking down of the tree and who knows what if they just said "well, we will just take it down and you can get the bees after"... so being at ground level was a huge relief from what I was anticipating. That is the only reason I say "easy"... I should have better said "easier".. 

Sorry about the pics... I never intended to post the pics when I took them... it was just for me and my buddy who knew enough already that this kind of spells it out for him. Then I figured why not ask the experts. 

I will NOT be falling the tree. I just ordered a borescope (inspection camera) that I'm thinking we will be able to drill some holes in the tree and slide that sucker in there to see what might be going on in there.

On a plus side, the tree is still alive, so it can't be too hollow right? I'm hoping we can have them just cut it down at around the 10' or less mark and then from there the construction company could just bulldoze whatever is left after we figure out what we need to figure out. Granted, I don't think anyone we know has a chainsaw that large. That might be interesting.

Here is a google street view of the tree... the over head shot shows a house that isn't there any longer and there is a second smaller (but still big) tree behind it that makes it look bigger from over head. Not to say that this isn't a big tree!

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=30.1...=USt-k8eCO7cwJqxernrkMg&cbp=12,175.6,,2,-0.88


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Oh, did I forget to mention that the parking lot it is next to is for a McDonalds.


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## tuzserhu (Dec 8, 2013)

When you look into what this tree could bring in as cash value to the owners as quality furniture grade lumber you may change your mind about how you or others are wanting to cut this tree. 
Please contact a local mill, sawyer (woodmizer.com has listed their sawyers on the website) and work together as a team to not only save the bees but the tree too. 
The tree can be hollow - 75% of a tree can be dead and the tree still would stand - or the bees could be underground. 
In case this is your first removal I would team up with a couple of experts since it is my understanding that these kind of removals the most challenging ones. 
Good luck!


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

tuzserhu said:


> When you look into what this tree could bring in as cash value to the owners as quality furniture grade lumber you may change your mind about how you or others are wanting to cut this tree.
> Please contact a local mill, sawyer (woodmizer.com has listed their sawyers on the website) and work together as a team to not only save the bees but the tree too.
> The tree can be hollow - 75% of a tree can be dead and the tree still would stand - or the bees could be underground.
> In case this is your first removal I would team up with a couple of experts since it is my understanding that these kind of removals the most challenging ones.
> Good luck!


I did mention that they could easily have that tree removed for free given that it is oak.

But that is a good point if we make it contentious to working with us it could save us some trouble as well.

I also have a concern about it being underground... I think we saw a bit of drones and it really hasn't been warm around here... So maybe they were either sheltered enough to easily stay warm or maybe the earth helped in that regard. But we don't have basements around here due to only being 30' above sea level and basically a swamp.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>On a plus side, the tree is still alive, so it can't be too hollow right?

I can be hollow a long ways. If you can see comb in the crack, then it probably doesn't go too high. If you could figure out how high and have them cut above that, you might be able to take the whole trunk home in one piece and deal with it at your leasure. Assuming some heavy equipment to get it in the truck... then slide it out and set it up at the same time. To get them out, you would either have to let them move up into a box or split open the trunk. Wedges and sledge hammers or a chainsaw being the normal method for that. Either will upset the bees a lot and make a mess. Not saying it's not worth it, but it is a lot of work.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Michael Bush said:


> >On a plus side, the tree is still alive, so it can't be too hollow right?
> 
> I can be hollow a long ways. If you can see comb in the crack, then it probably doesn't go too high. If you could figure out how high and have them cut above that, you might be able to take the whole trunk home in one piece and deal with it at your leasure. Assuming some heavy equipment to get it in the truck... then slide it out and set it up at the same time. To get them out, you would either have to let them move up into a box or split open the trunk. Wedges and sledge hammers or a chainsaw being the normal method for that. Either will upset the bees a lot and make a mess. Not saying it's not worth it, but it is a lot of work.


That was a thought we had as well.

My ultra breeze jacket came in today, inspection camera is coming in tomorrow, rounded up some 2' long 5/8" spade bits that I inherited from my father. Need to see if that will be enough for us to manipulate the camera and then also pick up some dowels to hammer back in the holes we make (my buddy thought of that one!)

What we are thinking now is, either a bee vac at the entrance mostly blocked off or just a tube letting them pour out and into a screened box with some sort of quasi larger bee escape to keep most of them from coming back out. As we work let them pour into that box or suck them in and hopefully get most of them trapped like that before we even get to the comb.

Any thoughts on how/why this wouldn't work?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Any thoughts on how/why this wouldn't work? 

Reality is never as simple as you think.


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## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

What ever you do keep me posted I have a VERY SIMILAR situation here in Lizard Creek Louisiana however; tree is full of bee's but not coming down:}

It's located on an AM Vet Hall property went by there again today however I'n to nee to know how to best attract them as to get them into a box and back to my hives

Any feed back greatly appreciated:}


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## KPeacock (Jan 29, 2013)

Michael Bush said:


> >
> Reality is never as simple as you think.


This is information you should take to heart...or at least tell us why it is so true when you're done with this cutout


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Oh, I have no doubt that it will not go as we "plan" on it.

I'm just happy it's not 10' plus in the tree!

Snookie, you could just catch swarms out of it. Or maybe the hogan style trap and lots of patience and luck to get the queen.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Went try to run that borescope in their today... Couldn't get through the crack deep in there.

Started running a 3/4" spade bit into the tree about chest high... Went from both sides 16" in and never hit a hollow spot... So I think it must be down low or in the ground.

I was there at dusk and into dark... Ran the cam in there again... They checked it out but stayed bundled up inside... Kind of windy and cool, wind blowing right into the crack.

Thinking about running the drill bit in that crack to allow me to get the camera in there... Think that will piss them off too much?

I definitely need to have a meeting with the owner as they think that I'm getting the bees out before they are taking the tree down. They were out of town today when I went by but I spoke to the book keeper that passed that message on.


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## Teal (Jan 30, 2014)

I'm very interested in the outcome of this! Good luck and keep us posted!


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

Gilligan

Really enjoy your enthusiasm and see that you are a smart guy and just nuts enough that you're going to make a great beekeeper, but trees make for very hard cutout removals with low success rates even for very experienced guys, and are not something that really should be taken on as a guys very first cutout. You could be putting your client, the tree service guy and maybe neighbors in a very bad position if you are not able to get all the bees and complete the cutout. 

How about you quickly sell 2 or 3 easier vertical wall cutouts, do them in the next couple of weeks and then come back and tackle this one?

Don


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

Good luck you are going to need it. Hate anything to do with bees in trees,and trapping or cutting them out.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

D Semple said:


> Gilligan
> 
> Really enjoy your enthusiasm and see that you are a smart guy and just nuts enough that you're going to make a great beekeeper, but trees make for very hard cutout removals with low success rates even for very experienced guys, and are not something that really should be taken on as a guys very first cutout. You could be putting your client, the tree service guy and maybe neighbors in a very bad position if you are not able to get all the bees and complete the cutout.
> 
> ...


I'd love to. Not sure I could find the gigs or have the time before this needs to be done.

I fear the worse case scenario here is that if I don't get these guys out that they may just kill them. I think they are possibly handing this over to me because they know me and its easier to do this then to deal with it themselves.

So my question to you is, what is the worse case scenario if I do get in there. Assuming I'm able to get the queen won't the remaining ones just die off? If I don't get the queen and ruin the hive, won't they just likely abscond and find another place to live?


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

Sounds like you are running out of time thinking about it. Yes, I think raid is their only other future. Are they leaving the stump and how much? If they are worried about the tree falling and were willing to leave the 4 feet you might have more time.

Pretty easy to make a trap out by foaming in a 2 inch pipe, if nothing else you could screen the pipe to let them top the tree in peace, if they do not hit the nest while cutting. I'm guessing next week will not allow full trap out anyway, comb removal with chainsaws running is going to bring out the Raid, no matter what the plan is. Best outcome may be just LBs of bees without comb or queen.

Put an extension on the drill and find the top of the cavity if they will leave a stump, makes it a slow trap out then.


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

Gilligan said:


> I'd love to. Not sure I could find the gigs or have the time before this needs to be done.
> 
> I fear the worse case scenario here is that if I don't get these guys out that they may just kill them. I think they are possibly handing this over to me because they know me and its easier to do this then to deal with it themselves.


Wanting to save the bees is good of you, but you're assuming a lot of risk if the job goes south. Worse case scenario is not the bees dying, it's creating a dangerous situation. Do a google search on "car crash bees" and see the story from a few days ago that happened in Los Angelous. 




Gilligan said:


> So my question to you is, what is the worse case scenario if I do get in there. Assuming I'm able to get the queen won't the remaining ones just die off? If I don't get the queen and ruin the hive, won't they just likely abscond and find another place to live?


Yes, if your get the queen and they don't have the resources to make a new queen any remaining bees that are left behind will die off over the next 6 weeks, but depending on their temperament they could be very unhappy campers just hanging out in the general location of their old colony in the mean time. 

If you don't get the queen and she survives the tree coming down and being cut up (doubtful), then yes they would probably abscond after a few days, agian probably not in the best of moods till they leave.

Now if the tree is in the middle of nowhere with no people or pets around, than have at her. The worse case scenario then is that the tree guys will just walk off the job till all the bees are either dead or gone.

Lots of variables and scenarios, that's why a little experiance under your belt will go along way. 

I do 15 - 20 removals yearly, some of them 3 stories high off of 40' ladders and scaffolding, but every year there are a few that I turn down because the risk to others getting hurt is just too high. 

These folk will respect you a lot more if you go to them and just say "hey this one probably a little over my head right now", then if you put them in a bad predicument.

Your call, we aren't their and can only give you our best advice from what we know. Good luck with what ever you decide.

Don


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Saltybee said:


> Sounds like you are running out of time thinking about it. Yes, I think raid is their only other future. Are they leaving them stump and how much? If they are worried about the tree falling and were willing to leave the 4 feet you might have more time.
> 
> Pretty easy to make a trap out by foaming in a 2 inch pipe, if nothing else you could screen the pipe to let them top the tree in peace, if they do not hit the nest while cutting. I'm guessing next week will not allow full trap out anyway, comb removal with chainsaws running is going to bring out the Raid, no matter what the plan is. Best outcome may be just LBs of bees without comb or queen.
> 
> Put an extension on the drill and find the top of the cavity if they will leave a stump, makes it a slow trap out then.


I am hoping they will cut it and leave, like you said, a 4' stump.

This is a future site for a parking lot of a shopping center/commercial space that is going up. I don't know what my total time is... I just know they wanted to get the tree down next week. 

I just called them... I'm gonna go talk with them right now. I'll report back in a few.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

Most guys want a stump left to use when removing the roots, gives some leverage.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Ok, they planned to just bulldoze the tree.

I told them I'd need them to cut it at about chest high... they have a tree guy going over there for other trees on Monday and I said I'd be glad to meet with him and discuss it.

This isn't a heavily populated area (immediate)... it's an up and coming commercial area... there is a McDonalds about 150' away. I'd leave a box of brood around after the cut out for any stragglers if I got the queen. Shouldn't they all go into that? I'm only going off all the stuff that I've researched in the past few months.

They will be bulldozing the entire property after this is all over so I don't know if the stump being left is an issue... they had a massive backhoe/excavator out there just today on the other side of the property... they will be laying in a road (parking lot drive) right where the tree is now.


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## jredburn (Feb 25, 2012)

Gilligan,
In order to get the bees out of the tree before the chainsaw people show up to take the tree down you will have to take a chainsaw to the tree and cut off enough of the trunk to get into the hive area. This may cause the tree to fall.
You can forget smoking or vacuuming the bees out. You will get the older foragers but the house bees are not going to leave the comb as long as the queen is in there. 
Smoke, bee-gone or even mothballs will not get them out before the tree people show up. They are not going to be happy campers when the bees are still in there and really pissed.
Depending on how Africanized they are you may have a problem with the McDonalds. A hive of really pissed Africans will attack anything that moves in a hundred yard radius. I can tell you that is not a lot of fun.
I do cut outs for a living and under the conditions you are in, I would walk away. 
Sometimes the hardest thing to is to say NO.
Regards
Joe
Regards


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Thanks Joe.

We don't have Africanized bees around here and I've already spent a little time in front of the entrance (about 5 mins), one stung me on the back of my neck, I guess I lingered in his way too long.

I already explained that we can't get them out till the tree is felled. I'm having a meeting with the tree guy Monday. I'll let him wear my jacket if he wants while he cuts the trunk... the tree SHOULD go down pretty easy as it's weighted the way I think they would want it to go down. If there wasn't a parking lot within reach I'd just say I'd take it down. But being I've never done such a thing before and I don't want a tree smashing into a pretty new parking lot, I'll let the tree guy do it.

From there I may have to walk away... but we can at least take a look at it at that point.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

New files added!!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oxfz3lcgwmq4vih/-H2ZEg6L5B

Tree is down!!

They paid my buddy $500 bucks to come drop the tree... of course I go to watch and one wonders in my hair and I get stung... he never got stung.

Now, to get in there and get them out... gonna go and try the borescope down the center hole that was left... bees started crawling out of it so it must go down... just don't know how far or in what way... might drill some more exploratory holes as well.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Ok... did some more exploratory holes.

If you look at video 20140320_203546.wmv at around the 3min mark (until about 3:30)... does that look like I drilled into some brood? It felt like I hit a hollow but then the camera never got anywhere. After looking at the vid a bit I think I see a Pupae. I captured a frame and highlighted what I think is it.

1 Eyes
2 Antennae









What do you guys think? Is this accurate?

In the video before that, I think I really pissed them off!


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

No opinion of brood or not. Trap out would seem best if you have time, see dozer in background. Next would be trying to split out a wedge using the rot as a split point. keep stuffing paper down the top hole to contain the bees as you remove 3 inch layers from the top. You may reach a point where you can pull out rot and comb from above.
I would also think about one cut below the nest and flipping stump up to get at entire nest, that would require a machine operator willing to flip it over.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

That stump is 3' wide at top and probably 4' wide at bottom.... We don't have the means to do that. Also the entrance (at least) goes under ground a bit, so we don't know if hive extends down there as well. I think it does and that helped contribute to them overwintering so well.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

If you remove pie pieces from the top in thin layers you can do that with any chain saw. I would stuff all openings while cutting.

Hogan trap out is first choice. How much time before dozer, now that tree is down.


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

Bees have a nice temperament, that's a huge plus. (You should throw a board over the hole to keep any rain out till you get to them)

One of the hardest parts of saving the bees while doing tree removals is that you don't want to get saw dust, chips, and honey all over the bees and comb.

I've found the best way to avoid this is to start at the bottom and work up. I do this by cutting and removing pie shaped wedges out of the tree below the nest till I reach the bottom of any comb and then using a 90 degree skep knife I reach up into the hole and cut comb out above the previous saw cuts thus keeping the comb and the bees relatively clean. The comb pieces containing brood and a frame or two of pollen and capped honey are immediately transferred to frames, all other comb is discarded or thrown in the honey bucket. My skep knife has several notches to help me cut the comb depth into frame size pieces for easier transferring. 

After I remove all the comb I can reach with my skep knife I repeat the process by sawing and removing another wedge from the tree below the new bottom of the comb. This way I'm always removing comb and bees above any saw cuts. It's very slow, tedious and hard to see what your doing when removing comb, but I find it gives me the best opportunity to find the queen and save the colony. 

Couldn't find a picture of my 90 degree skep knife but this is what they look like:








Good luck, now the hard part starts, be diligent. 

Don


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

They want it done ASAP... I told them with the rain coming this weekend it might be later than I was hoping... but I'm hoping and I'm sure they are hoping to have it done in about a week.

They have already demolished that tree with the excavator (quite impressive actually). They were already working the ground getting closer and closer and they were calling me. SUPPOSEDLY the bees were bothering them on the tractors... though, they are all enclosed air conditioned tractors, so I HIGHLY doubt that. 

They have seemed very gentle... but man those in that one hole that I drilled, they seemed PISSED at that camera. Hard to read through just a camera and I didn't take a chance of letting them out. Maybe there were pissed because I pushed some saw dust on top of some comb or something when I slid the camera in.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oxfz3lcgwmq4vih/-H2ZEg6L5B#lh:null-20140320_202322.wmv

Am I right in seeing those bees as angry? Specifically at about the 4:20 mark I pull the camera back to get an idea of how deep I am and when I push it back in one of the bees is charging down that hole at the camera and then her friends come in and they don't leave the camera alone. Now this was at about 8pm and it has 4 white LED's on the front of the camera. This is before I potentially smashed some brood in the next video.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Well... I think we are going to get started on it today!

30% chance of rain and probably cloudy most of the morning. inch:


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Ok... it's done... 

New files uploaded:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oxfz3lcgwmq4vih/-H2ZEg6L5B

Didn't get to take much as we were in the thick of things with no bystanders to take the photos.

Problems... there were many.

First, no way we were going to be able to hack away at it with a small chain saw. We called in the excavator operator to try and rip it apart. He was having problems... but we were able to expose enough of the cavity to get a plan of action. We saw where we could make a surgical cut(s) and then have the excavator come back and rip that 1/3 of the stump out.... none of the come was attached to that section.

Success... but of course right then my wife called with an emergency and I had to run an errand... but came back just in time.

Bees, exposed. Very dirty due to all the chaos of ripping it apart and being so tied into a rotting tree.

First sheet of comb we see is drone comb. No problem... pull that out. Next one same... it's not looking good. Finally find some regular brood but it was semi collapsed and there was no young larva or eggs. Older drone larva uncapped and of course lots of capped drone. Capped honey, nectar and pollen. No clustering going on. They abandoned the comb and retreated to the back of the cavity that you can see in the photo (this was after removal).

When we did get to more brood we started to find LOTS of hive beetles. All the wile, we are also noticing at least 40% of the bees are drones, probably 90% of the comb/brood is drome. We are basically tossing everything at this point. I did save a few frames just to try and no bees clustered... I'd dump bees on them and they would just get out of the box, no clustering again.

Then, we found a few "deformed" bees (see pictures). No body and it didn't look like it had just happened, found several like that. Very strange, they were walking around like nothing was wrong.

So we vacuumed them up anyway... LOTS of bees... figured I'd test out the bee vac if nothing else.

Tossed ALL the comb... gonna melt it.

Now I have to go out and burn the stragglers that we couldn't get since there was no box to lure them into.

I built a Bushkill style vac... so I don't know how many bees I have, but I have it in three 8 frame Mediums (no foundation). I screened off the inlet and they were picking at it constantly... even after pulling the top off just to give them all screen... still at the bottom gnawing at the #8 mesh. Put a feeder on them with a 2:1 mix and left them sealed up for now.

Guessing I'll open the bottom "inlet" up tomorrow morning?

Any ideas on best plan of attack for this?

I essentially have a LARGE queenless, drone heavy package of unhappy bees.

Any ideas are completely welcome!


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## txbeek (May 21, 2013)

Create a package and sell it on ebay under the heading, "not working- for parts only."


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

txbeek said:


> Create a package and sell it on ebay under the heading, "not working- for parts only."


Lol.. I like it.

Well just burned out most of the remaining.. genius me forgot that they had been clustering on the entrance and didn't get it from the outside... but I had a can of denatured alcohol in the van... sprinkled a little of that magic on them and got most them... guessing about a hundred or so that were deeper the crevice that I missed. I assume they won't make it much longer... That was a pretty intense blaze, between the newspaper and entire bottle of lighter fluid and some leftover trash comb... it got roaring pretty quick.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

Mites ,beetles and probably laying worker, not much of a reward. Well, I had fun watching, hope you had some fun with the challenge.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Definitely a lesson in failure. Lol

Fun? Not sure about that... Lessons, tons.

As has been said, you can never have enough buckets.

Rubber banding comb into frames is not nearly as easy as you [email protected] make it look on you tube. Didn't help that I was wearing clutzy gloves because I was intimidated by the amount of bees and they were very angry at points.

Beevac worked... But we are desperately in need of our version 2.0. Had to fix so many leaks in the field just to get adequate suction and that was with a 6.25 hp vac.

Learned that I'm a pretty poor carpenter and a GOOD table saw is more important than just any table saw!

I need a box building jig to hold things square!

In the end, my buddy got paid $500 bucks to fall that tree and I got my first experience messing with bees. We are still gonna spin it into good publicity with the real estate company and maybe get some positive exposure for us and bees in general.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Oh, and I thought laying worker... But why were they constantly building drone comb?

How long will a hive "thrive" in this state because they were pouring out of this tree for weeks now?


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Gilligan - My only tree cut outs was educational for me as well. JPTheBeeMan sures makes it seem simple, LOL, of course you are getting the edited versus. 

I had drone laying worker go for at least 5 weeks this fall when I missed the queen on a cut out. Had another 2 in the same hive earlier this spring. Got rid of one and the second started. Just kept freezing the capped brood of drones. If you have a hive to steal a frame of eggs and comb from, trying it. I am in Beaumont area and just had that hive make a nice queen cell within the last week. You have plenty of drones to mate with.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Gilligan - My only tree cut outs was educational for me as well. JPTheBeeMan sures makes it seem simple, LOL, of course you are getting the edited versus. 

I had drone laying worker go for at least 5 weeks this fall when I missed the queen on a cut out. Had another 2 in the same hive earlier this spring. Got rid of one and the second started. Just kept freezing the capped brood of drones. If you have a hive to steal a frame of eggs and comb from, trying it. I am in Beaumont area and just had that hive make a nice queen cell within the last week. You have plenty of drones to mate with.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

marshmasterpat said:


> Gilligan - My only tree cut outs was educational for me as well. JPTheBeeMan sures makes it seem simple, LOL, of course you are getting the edited versus.
> 
> I had drone laying worker go for at least 5 weeks this fall when I missed the queen on a cut out. Had another 2 in the same hive earlier this spring. Got rid of one and the second started. Just kept freezing the capped brood of drones. If you have a hive to steal a frame of eggs and comb from, trying it. I am in Beaumont area and just had that hive make a nice queen cell within the last week. You have plenty of drones to mate with.


You are right about that!

No other hive, but I've had a couple volunteers, so I may just try a split from them and then maybe give this box a queen cell or two from the split.


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## Gilligan (May 8, 2013)

Just to update this thread with all that has unfolded (via other threads).

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwdPJ7c6eSh6eGZ5MHYxYXpjV1E&usp=sharing

First inspection on day 3 after bringing them home.

They are quiet and busy working on building comb. Taking the feed (2:1) for comb building purposes, seem to be bringing in pollen and storing the sugar water. I THINK I saw eggs but hard to tell in that white new comb with all those bees on it. I will look this weekend (day 7 or 8) and I should be seeing larva if I'm right abou the eggs yesterday.

So maybe I found the needle in the haystack and miraculously vacuumed up a queen... maybe the hive beetles were eating all the eggs... maybe they were getting the queen into flying weight to abscond from the hive beetle infestation? Or maybe I just have a laying worker and haven't seen the signs yet.


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