Bee Folk,
 
I asked for you alls advice, carefully proceeded and did the deed.
The hive is in a locust stump with multiple entrances thru rotten sections
near the ground.  We approached the hive with brood chamber, chain saw,
honey super, and full coverage.  To me this was a real adventure.  My goal
was to save the queen and have the workers rob the stump.
 
The stump was about 5' tall and oval shaped (4 1/2' by 2 1/2').  I carefully
cut with saw in layers of 3-4" per cut down to the honey level.  We slowly
cut out sections of comb on each layer until we found a larva.  This was
after about 5 slices through the tree.  This is a really sweet hive, because
they are working like gangbusters and ignore the saw chewing up their house.
They would crawl right over my hands while I was sawing to get into the door
and treat me like a peice of tree.
 
I cut a nice, flat platform on the stump top and did not need a board
because the tree was so big.  I put on a brood chamber with no bottom and a
honey super on top of that.  The larva we exposed was old and thus near
hatching, so she will be laying eggs there very soon and I hope she will
move right on up to the box above her.  Then I can treat for mites and put
an excluder below her.  Having created a lot of sawdust, we heaped it over
the old entrances and left the brood chamber entrance as the only access.
Soon the entrance was covered with bees.
 
This is a really big hive and is mostly below the ground.  The morning went
smoothly till the sun shone on us.  The hive is sitting out in the middle of
a pasture about 1/2 mile from the nearest building.  I am really excited
about getting this queen in a box and working with her.  Thank you all for
your input that enabled me to do this thing in a reasonable manner.
 
##################
From the desk of,
 
Bruce Kemp
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1-540-626-4677