I'm trying to get some bees out of a tree. The
homeowner wants to save both the bees and the tree.
The entrance is about 8 feet up, maybe 4x6 inches. I
checked the archives and got some local advice, and
here's what I've tried:

I wedged a hive body in a crook in the tree about a
foot below the entrance. In the hive I put a queen
with brood, some pollen and a frame of honey. I put
window screen over the entrance with a 1.5" clear
plastic tube about 3 feet long leading into a
telescoping cover. Below the cover I put a wooden bee
escape, the screened kind that you put below supers to
evacuate them, so they'd find their way down into the
hive but not back up. I covered most of the screen
with duct tape to reduce ventilation in the hopes of
encouraging them to leave the tree. I also wrapped
duct tape around most of the tube as the bees in the
tube were trying to get out like they do in the back
car window.

After 3 days I hadn't gotten anywhere -- I figured
either they weren't going thru the evacuator or they
were finding their way back thru. So I tried one of
the small plastic escapes that goes into the hole of
an inner cover, only I attached it to the end of the
tube so there would be no going back once they came
out of the tube.

Next day there were a few more bees in the air and a
few more in the hive body. I went back at dusk, in the
rain, and found a few bees still flying around and a
few hundred clustered on the tree screen. This would
suggest there is not a second entrance to the tree,
but it seems they're not too thrilled about moving
into the hive either.

Anybody got any suggestions on what else I can do to
get them out of the tree?

Thanks,
Eugene Makovec
Kirkwood, MO

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