# Removal from balcony floor - big ending regarding queen



## PatBeek

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*Just did this removal two days ago.

Does the queen make an appearance? 
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## Mr.Beeman

By the way the bees were acting, I'm thinking the queen was in your second "ball" of bees that you placed on the frames.


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## PatBeek

Mr.Beeman said:


> By the way the bees were acting, I'm thinking the queen was in your second "ball" of bees that you placed on the frames.


I believe you are correct because they were marching in that direction.

So here's my dilemma as a foundationless nut: 

The queen probably made her way into the hive before I could spot her. Given that this cut-out didn't have much comb and I refuse to use foundation, it's very tough to spot the queen in a hive with no comb. Also, since my hives at home are coming out of winter, I walk a fine-line with pulling supplies from them until the flow starts heavily.

It's just a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, however. 

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## Mr.Beeman

Well Pat, you are making the transition from TBH to Langs, albeit very slowly, it is only a matter of time that you start running foundation. lol
You MUST have some comb from your TBH's that you can band into the lang frames?


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## PatBeek

Mr.Beeman said:


> Well Pat, you are making the transition from TBH to Langs, albeit very slowly, it is only a matter of time that you start running foundation. lol
> You MUST have some comb from your TBH's that you can band into the lang frames?


Yes, I have done that extensively already. But once I get a good slew of Langs off the ground this spring, I will no longer have to resort to such drastic operations to shore up weaker Langs.

And by the way, I'm not making a full transition to Langs. I still plan on using both, especially due to customer demand. It's just that right now, I'm extremely deficient in my Lang stock and have been using those exclusively for cutouts lately.

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## aunt betty

Build a bee vac. You need one of the stanley shop vacs. The small yellow one.
Get a shop vac drain hero for the bottom. (big box lumber store)
Get one of the mesh trash cans from Bed Bath and Beyond. (it nests into a 5-gallon bucket).
Use a 1/2" shim to "jack the waste can up from the bottom of the bucket. 
Drill a hole in bottom with a hole saw, forget what size...2" will do.
Glue the drain hero onto the bottom over the hole so you can attach your shop vac hose there.
Cut a hole the exact size of your hose connection into the lid. That's the working end.
After you fill a bucket you staple or tape a piece of bug screen over that hole in the lid.
Make two or three buckets as described because sometimes a colony is so big it takes three.
Pictures in next post.

Hint: cut the rim off the waste can. Then try and squeeze it onto the bucket from the outside. This stretches the mesh and makes it fit perfectly.
Another hint: shop around at garage sales and craigslist for shop vac hoses. You'll want the big ones if possible.
Yet another: Get where you can tell when there is about 3# of bees in the bucket. Over-fill it and they'll die.


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## aunt betty

Here you go.






























Now about finding the queen. If you smoke them during the cutout generally the queen runs and hides. Almost every single cutout I've done the queen was found after nearly all the bees had been sucked up in the bee vac. It's the usual thing. (if you use smoke)


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## PatBeek

aunt betty said:


> Build a bee vac.


Aunt Betty, Aunt Betty, AUNT BETTY !!!!!

Haven't you seen my previous removal videos?

YOU. ARE. KILLING. ME.

:lookout:

I do have a cheap Buckethead Vac. It serves me well.

I opted not to use a vac on this removal. I thought it unnecessary.

Your homework tonight is to go back and watch all my removal videos and see how often I've used my vac in the past.

Quiz tomorrow at 8am.

By the way, thanks for those vac directions. I will look at them and see if it's an improvement on mine. I'm always open to new cheap designs.

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## PatBeek

aunt betty said:


> Now about finding the queen. If you smoke them during the cutout generally the queen runs and hides. Almost every single cutout I've done the queen was found after nearly all the bees had been sucked up in the bee vac. It's the usual thing. (if you use smoke)


I didn't smoke them until 99.9% of them were in my hive and after I scoured the inside of the structure for the queen trying to hide.

And yes, often times I find the queen in the vac bucket.

I appreciate you watching and commenting as always.

I'm not a know-it-all. I'm just tryna explain what happened if the video didn't make it clear enough.


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