Greetings!  I have been asked to remove the occupants from
several bee trees (oaks) near playgrounds and parks.  The bees
are residing in cavities within venerated, veteran Garry oaks
with their nest openings approximately 40 feet above the ground.
 
Comments (e-mailed directly to me) on any of the following
options are welcomed (and if anyone is interested I'll post back
the outcome):
 
  *  Of course the easiest option, as I see it, is to poison the
     bees |-( and then seal up the nest opening.  I'm wondering
     what, if any, detrimental effects may be caused by the honey
     left within the cavities that would I'm fairly certain,
     eventually begin to ferment, burst the comb and drain into
     the tree-- possibly encouraging internal rot.  Does anyone
     know if this might be a problem?
 
  *  If the possibility of contributing to rot does seem to be
     worthy of concern then funneling the bees into a hive (using
     a bee escape and comb with larvae and queen in the hive to
     prevent bees from attempting to reenter the original nest,
     as discussed recently on Bee-L) may be more feasible.  Some
     of the honey would be consumed by the hive bees left behind
     until they reached foraging age and began to leave the nest
     themselves-- but I don't really believe that the remaining
     bees would put much of a dent in the stores that would
     normally carry the full colony through the winter.  Any
     contrary thoughts?
 
  *  My feeling is that if getting the honey out of the tree is
     really important, again, it would be more expedient to
     simply poison the current occupants with a non-residual
     pesticide and then position a colony (ideally up out of
     reach of vandals) with few stores of its own nearby so that
     it will rob out the stores of the killed nest.  The problem
     with this approach is that placing a managed colony on
     parkland requires assuming liability if anything goes wrong
     and someone gets stung or bonked by falling hive parts
     during heavy winds (if the hives are positioned on platforms
     secured to the trees).  Any brighter ideas that would yield
     the same end result?  Any ideas for an appropriate
     pesticide?  I know that sulphur was traditionally used to
     kill bees in skeps but how the heck is this done?  Would I
     just toss rock sulphur into a burning smoker?  Would herbage
     in the mouth of the smoker be sufficient to trap stray
     sparks (don't want to burn down the trees) or is burning
     sulphur going to burn so hot that I'll need special
     equipment?
 
  *  The last idea I had was to simply supervise the use of an
     industrial vacuum to suck out the comb, bees-and-all, and
     then poison and seal up the nest openings.  This would
     probably be the most effective but also the most expensive
     option since it would require paying the vacuum company.
     Any caveats for this approach?
 
Any and all suggestions gratefully accepted.
 
Bee well,
 
        -              Conrad Berube
       "  `            ISLAND CROP MANAGEMENT
       "   `           1326 Franklin Terrace
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