# Bee removal



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

What is your intention? To get rid of them? To hive them?

There are several problems. One is the bees. You can keep the bees out by simply closing up all the entrances, but the bees inside will die. You can put a cone on the main entrance (made of screen wire) and close off all of the small entrances and the bees will be able to get out but not back in. Now you need a beekeeper to take them or you need to kill them.

Your next problem is that the eaves are now full of honey and wax. Without the bees to care for this it will melt and run down the wall, atract ants and moths and make a general mess.

Another problem is the simple logistics of dealing with a hive a bees while high up a ladder. It's easy to get stung, panic and fall, or have some bees get in your veil and panic.

If you remove the bees and then open up the entrances you blocked, another hive of bees may discover the honey and rob it out. If they find it, this cleans up the honey in the eaves. A hive could be BROUGHT there just to accomplish this.

If you can find a beekeeper who knows how to pull it off they could be removed by the cone method, a strong hive could be left to rob out the honey and then you could seal it all up. It will, however, take some time to accomplish this and there will be a lot of bees around the apartment house.

While I hate to see it happen, the most direct solution is to hire an exterminator to kill them and a contractor to open it up and clean it out and repair the eaves. It should be filled with foam or something so a future swarm won't smell the old hive and try to move in.

For detailed info on how to remove bees with the cone method, Brushy Mt. Bee Farm has a video, "Free bees for you" that tells how to do it. ABC XYZ of Beekeeping by AI Root also has instructions on this method.


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