Hi Bee-L members!
 
Does anyone out there have the experience of removing hives from large
trees?  Someone called me with an old Cottonwood tree in  the country
which I found two rather active hives (or one REALLY huge one - as it
spans about 10 feet from openings - one in a branch & the other directly
in the trunk of the tree).
 
The residents don't care what I do to the Cottonwood (which spans approx
7-8 ft in diameter @ the base) - though there's an 1800's shed below one
of the large 'tree-size' limbs which they'd like to see survive.
 
It looks like the entire tree is hollow.  Branches which have broken off
are hollow down to the ends.  The one hive in the branch, I'll likely
tie ropes to and lower the bulk of the branch slowly after sawing it
from the trunk.  If this succeeds, I'll move the whole branch to my
property & find a way to place Apistan inside the hive - or menthol for
the winter.
 
Q.-
For the 2n'd one in the trunk, I'm thinking of cutting a "window" close
to their entrance & remove as much of the honey & bees as possible.
Following this, I'll vacuum (bee-vacuum) the bees in crevices.  I'll
move them into a Langstroth hive which I'll leave attached to the tree
close to the old entrance.  This way, I'm expecting the remainder of the
hive will move out  & into my beehive (provided the queen is captured,
or all the honey is removed).  Anyone else have ideas of safe-capture
for this type of hive?
 
Thanks in advance,
 
Matthew in Colorado