In a message dated 1/5/01 7:18:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< I am going to try to get them out using a screen cone and a bait hive. I
 read many of the posts on BEE-L and I have a few more questions. >>

   The procedure gets rid of the bees for the owner, and you can then let
them rob out the wall cavity, which gets rid of his more serious problem of
honey in the wall. But the worker bees you gather are of little value to you,
so your pricing should reflect the fact that you are primarily providing a
service to him.

   If you want something of value, you need to get the queen. Any feral bees
that are surviving and healthy without varroa treatment, could possible
harbor some genetic resistance to varroa (I haven't found any yet, but the
potential is there) and that could make the queen quite valuable. The cone
method wastes that resource. Better to open the colony and physically remove
it. Of course you have to do that safely, and you have to assess that
situation yourself.

   Here's a slide show of transferring wild bees and their brood comb into a
hive. The wild comb was simply placed above an excluder and the queen put
below:
http://pollinator.com/wildhive/index.htm

    I would not attempt this until you have a nectar flow. It will be more
sloppy for you to do, but the bees will handle the transfer stress better.
Lacking a flow, I'd be sure to be generous with syrup, but it's definitely
second best.

Dave Green
The Pollination Home Page:  http://pollinator.com