Hi Group,
 
I am a second year bee-keeper with a challenge.  I lost all of my bees this
spring to the woes of beekeepers and am looking for other hives to start
over.  You all were most helpful on the last question and I thought I would
try again.
 
I shoe horses also and tell all of my customers to tell me if they see any
wild hives or swarms.  I got one of those great calls that someone found one
and I went to see it.  The very large hive is in a locust stump, 4-5 feet
tall and 3 feet in diameter.  I guess about half of the bottom of the stump
is sound and half rotten.  The bees are going into the root area and the
hive appears to be partly below ground level, partly above.  Since the
mites, etc have killed about everything around here, this would be a
resistant hive and it would be good to save the queen.  I can leave the hive
where it is as long as I want, but they want a reasonable time for it to be
moved.  Next spring is OK with them.  Here is the plan I have devised;  tell
me if it sounds good.
 
1.      Suit up completely and saw off slices of the stump until I expose
the hive.  This         will give me a flat table on which to mound the rest.
2.      Punch a hole through the honey  at the top to give a clear path from
the hive to         air above.
3.      Put a brood chamber on top with drawn out comb and put in Apistan
and some of         these grease patties to protect the hive from parisites.
They are still in         danger of being killed from the mites eve though
they are alive now.
4.      Next spring go out and tend the brood chamber weekly (?) till I see
the queen up         in the brood chamber.  Then put a queen excluder below
the brood chamber to keep         her up there.  Let the hive develop and
move it when the brood is laid enough to         give her a good hive.
5.      I could probably then move her during the day and put a new brood
chamber there         with another queen in it for the existing workers to
follow for another hive.
6.      The last step would be to cut up the stump and see whether there is
any brood         down there, especially with queen cells and take
everything out for the farmer to         be happy.
 
How does this plan sound?
Are my ideas about the queen being a source of resistant bees accurate?
Any suggestions?
 
Thanks,
 
##################
From the desk of,
 
Bruce Kemp
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1-540-626-4677