Greg Z wrote:
 
"Now my questions, since I won't be able to retrieve the queen I imagine I
will need to put a queen into the hive I plan to set up on the step. When
should I add this queen ?  How long do I leave the hive on the step to
ensure I have most of the hive ? As the queen in the old hive will remain
actively laying, will the bees ever stop emerging from the hive ? I remember
seeing something about having the bees actually "rob" the honey out of the
old hive. How is this done ?"
 
*****
 
I am doing 5 bee removal projects at various locations in my community.  It
is an easy eay to remove bees and virtually 100$ guaranteed.
 
Here are my recommendations.
 
Instead of silicon gel (bees get stuck in this), use the expanding foam
that you can buy in a can.  It turns hard yellow right away and is easy to
fill large holes and cracks.
 
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, use a queenright bait hive.  A new swarm is a good
candidate or take a few brood frames and introduce a new queen.  However,
bee aware that sometimes there is a large field force trnsfering from the
wall colony that will now take up residence in the bait hive. They may kill
your newly introduced queen.  I have had this happen a couple times but the
bees still call the bait hive home while making a new queen.
 
Allow 6-8 weeks for the transfer to take place.  The hive in the wall needs
to cycle through the bees. Without pollen or nectar coming in the wall
queen will slow down her egg laying and the wall population will dwindle
down quickly.  Sadly, the wall queen goes down with the ship. But remember
she has helped the bait hive get a fast start. :)
 
YOu can let the bait hive bees rob out the old hive but I prefer not to do
this for fear of disease.
 
BTW I charge for bee removal projects depending on the complexity.  I do
not charge for removing swarms as I consider this "gold" hanging on
branches.
 
Good luck
 
Paul Cronshaw DC
Hobby Beekeeper in Santa Barbara, CA