> I may have an opportunity for taking a colon from a tree this spring. Northeast US. Property owner wants the tree removed. Considering that, any thoughts on taking the entire trunk, wrapped in mesh/screen, vs. trying to extract the bees on sight?

Trying to extract the bees on sight is an option if you can do a complete cutout by splitting the tree open - that's usually a big headache out in the open on someone's property.
Here's how I have had some success in the past. I've surveyed the entrance to make sure I located them all.  The night before the removal, I climbed and screen the entrances with #8 hardware cloth secured with roofing nails. The next day I figured out the size of the cavity by drilling small holes with a long drill both above and below the entrance looking for solid wood all the way through the tree. That way you can gauge the length of the cavity.  Once you know the length of the cavity,  you can leave a safety factor above and below to determine the location of the chain saw cuts.  The rest is just hard work.  If the person wants the tree removed, I've worked with their tree crew to section out a large part and then trim it to size around the colony once it's on the ground.  I've made mistakes judging the colony's location, but if you saw slowly bee will leak out of the cut and you can seal up that location and continue the cut lower or higher. 

The last one I did was about 600 lbs of the trunk which I left intact in my bee yard.


Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT 

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