I am appealing to the collective wisdom of "The List".  I have my
suspicions that it may be a lost cause, but one can always hope.
 
I received a call this evening from someone who cut down a rather large,
hollow tree and discovered a hive of honey bees.  He called me to see if
they could be saved.  According to his description, they are located in
a ten foot section of tree which is about to be reduced to potash.  He
wants to know if the hive can be saved.
 
The weather in southern Wisconsin is moving into late Fall.
Temperatures have been in the 40s during the day and upper 20s at
night.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to possibly save the
hive?  It is about the size of a basketball according to the property
owner.  I can think of hauling off the hollowed out log and attempting
to hive the swarm next Spring, if it survives the winter.  I also
thought of cutting out the comb, wiring into frames and then hiving the
swarm on that.  It sounds pretty labor intensive.  The third option I
thought of was to let them meet their maker but it seems a waste of
bees.
 
Thank you in advance for your words of wisdom and experience.