I've never had to kill off a beehive this way, but I do lots of yellow
jackets out of friends and relatives houses etc (I'm the designated guy
with a beesuit after all) this way every year, it's pretty quick.  I just
take my large shop vac, pull off the air filter for "wet" mode, and fill
the bottom with 3-4 inches of soapy water.  I then proceed to vacuum up all
the bees.  If I'm cutting into a yellow jacket nest I leave the vacuum on
at the entrance to pull out all the field force before I go in.  The same
is doable for a hive, though you would probably want to use more water and
possible dump partway through if it's a large hive.  Set the vacuum at the
entrance and pull out all the guard bees before you go after the rest.
They die pretty quick in soapy water, the obvious concern would be volume
of bees in a hive and capacity of your vac.  It pulls them out of the air
nicely though if you get stragglers.

Jeremy
West Michigan

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