# Good or bad idea? Catching feral bees



## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

Danameric:

Forget the mothballs Bad, Bad idea. The best way is to make a coned bee escape out of screen material and secure it over the main entrance. Pull some of the screen off so when you roll it into a cone will leave little strands of screen will enable the bees to leave and not re-enter. Place the nuc box with drawn comb, better if you have some brood and eggs and some bees form another hive. Place just a little higher and near the cone. The bees will fly out of the mother hive and not be able to get back in and will enter the bait box. The process will take several weeks. Eventually the mother hive will be empty of workers and the bait box will have raised a new queen if you have provide the bait box with brood old enough to raise a queen.
If you are new to beekeeping you might want to find a more experienced beekeeper to help you this will probably increase your success greatly. Brush Mountain Bees sell a video called “Free Bees for You” it shows several methods of trapping feral bees form walls and trees along with bee-line methods.
Do I think feral bees are good you bet, what I like best about them is they are free.


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## wade (Apr 1, 2006)

Brent Bean said:


> Danameric:
> 
> Forget the mothballs Bad, Bad idea. .


Can you please explain that more, like how it worked or not, when you tried it? How did your cone extractions work for you?


danameric,

Forcing bees out of a cavity can be tricky, and a lot of it you will have to learn first hand. However you get them out, there is a lot you should know about bee behavior before attempting it. Maybe you're ready, maybe you're not.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

I just successfully finished my first trap out. So I am not an expert or anything, but I can give you the benefit of my experience. 

In my case the bees were between the wall and a brick chimney. I could not (of course) break up the chimney and the owner had built in bookcases on the inside of the home around the fireplace, so no way in there either.

I used a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe coupler and placed it in the entrance hole. I used great stuff foam to foam closed all around that pipe coupler. I then caulked up all of the rest of the entire chimney so there is no way the bees can get back inside.

I then gave the bees a few days to get used to the new entrance. Meanwhile I fashioned a mesh cone about 18 inches tall and mounted it to a board with a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe going into the bottom edge of the cone. I used foam around that to be sure I had a bee tight fit.

I then took this back to the bee house, and slipped the pipe into PVC coupler in the wall and screwed the base plate of wood into the side of the house. Now the only way out for the bees is into the cone and out the tip.

I then set an empty hive with next to the old entrance for them to congregate in. I let them gather there for about 3-5 days meanwhile making sure the bees did not find their way back in the house (and they did at least twice). Once I was sure the bees were in fact trapped out, I gave the box a frame of brood.

They made two queen cells and I know they hatched, but......

Anyway after some 8 weeks or more and about a dozen trips over there I got the bees, but no queen.

I finished the job and moved the hive and a few weeks later I ended up with laying workers.

So in the end I did a lot of work and collected some money, but barely enough to make it worthwhile. I got laying worker bees which is quite worthless, and a lot of wasted time. If time is worth money, I wouldn't do it.

If you want to try to capture the survivor genetics in that hive, then you'll need another method.

One thing I want to try is to use fishers bee quick and blow it into the bottom of the hive via a puffer and tube and drill a hole in the wall. This may entice all the bees out maybe even the queen.


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## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

Wade: 

The mothballs could kill the bees, as far as the cone trap I have trapped many feral hives out of trees and one out of a house. It works great but it is a lot of work and takes a fair amount of time. I have never used anything to drive them out as the forgers leave with a load of honey in there stomach it will denude the mother hive of honey. On one occasion. I was called to a house to catch a swarm, when I arrived the swarm had departed but I noticed the hole in the tree that they had swarmed form. I installed my cone trap then I screw a couple of brackets that will support a Nuc to the tree and came back three weeks later. After I had moved the Nuc which was heaver than I expected when I came down the ladder. I found a laying queen in the box. After a little thought I realized I had trapped one of the virgin queens that had gone on her mating flight. 
I have heard other beekeepers using honey robber to expedite the bees from the tree but I have not done this. I plan on trying it in the future.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

On the one hand, I'll say that starting beekeeping by doing a cutout is a pretty rough start. On the other hand it's how I started. But I sure could have used more experience before I did it. You're doing something most beekeepers find intimidating and you're doing it with no experience at all.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesferal.htm


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

I started with a cut-out. People were cutting down a tree and exposed the hive, they were doomed anyway, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Long story short, I had full access to the comb, but all I got was a lot of comb and house bees. I missed the queen, and all the foragers were flying about and I had no idea how to get them. I took what I had, and they lasted for a while, but eventually absconded. When they left the comb was completely empty: no stores, no brood, nothing. They apparently had no foragers, and never raised another queen. It was a good experience, but I feel bad that I destroyed a colony. I don't think I would have done it if the colony hadn't been doomed to start with.


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## Ruben (Feb 11, 2006)

I did one back in June, it took me a week to get all the holes sealed up so they could not get back in. Once I got it all sealed up I had all of the bees out in three weeks. You won't however get the queen out and will have to get a queen. What I did was put the cone trap on and set up a hive beside it. I took two frames of brood and bees from one of my hives and put in the hive beside the trap for them to make and raise a queen. I put a feeder on top of that. After 1 month I sealed up the chimney and brought the hive home. You have to check it almost every day to make sure the trap hole is not clogged with dead bees so it is time consuming. I think I have a picture of it in my link below. Good Luck!


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## danameric (Mar 11, 2007)

Thanks for all the advice! This was my first post and I really appreciate it. It looks like the cone method would probably be the best then. You guys are probably right about not doing this until I have more experience. I might just try to catch a swarm with a trap near by or talk to some of the locals and buy two of their swarms. I'm pretty sure I want to start with two.


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