Hi John,
 
I did a similar bee project to what you are doing last year.
 
In one project, I found out that it was easier to use a bait hive/wire cone
method on the outside of the wall and draw the bees out over several week
period. I leaned a 20' extension ladder set against the building and put a
3 frame nuc bait hive on a platform.  The bait hive helped dwindle the bee
population to zero inside the wall and made it much easier to deal with
removal of the remaining comb/honey from the inside exposed area. Without
the bees,  cutting the combs went very easy despite the cramped and hot
temperatures of the attic.  :)
 
However, if the hive is too high up the side of the building and since you
have exposed it from the inside then there is the second approach - direct
removal from the inside.
 
In another project, it took me three days to get the hive out of an
abandoned guest house.  I ripped off the drywall to expose the upper corner
of a room.  The colony filled a space between 3 studs and extended 5 feet
from the ceiling.   I filled one large brood chamber with bees and could
not find the queen. I left the hive balanced on a ladder, entrance towards
the colony which had settled in the soffit.  I came back the next day and
with a little smoke and tearing out some more materia, I chased the bees
outside onto the roof.  I relocated the hive to the the roof and had to
tear a few shingles off before I found the last cluster and the queen, she
marched into the hive.
 
The queen sure likes to hide and will move to a different part of the wall
or into hidden pockets of the wall.Make sure you have exposed ALL of the
hive and enough of the surrounding wall to make sure she does not move into
a hidden part.
 
Since you are inside a building,  don't use too much smoke.  You might get
asphyxiated and it will drive the queen outside waiting for you to use the
ladder.  :)
 
All in all it is a messy job no matter wich way you do it.  Lots of dead
bees and dripping honey.  Would be nice to have a bee removal vacuum to get
the bees of the combs before you cut them out.
 
I recommend rubber bands to hold the combs in place.
 
Keep the lights off at nite or you will have a lot buzzing around and end
up dead on the floor in the morning.
 
Don't worry about the temperature unless you are in snow conditions.  The
bees can keep the colony very warm even if exposed.  Work on a warm day and
keep the windows open.
 
You should locate a temporary location to move the bees 2 miles away.
Leave there for 2-3 weeks and then bring back to the farm.
 
As a rule I stay away from used equipment and buy new.  Whay take the risk
of diseases??
 
Good luck.
 
Paul Cronshaw DC
Hobby Beekeeper in Santa Barbara CA USA
 
>I've had a request to remove bees from the wall of a house.  After
>searching the Hive and The Honey Bee and submitting searches to
>[log in to unmask] on  three sets of keywords: bee wall , bee
>house,  bee removal house,  I think I'm ready to remove the bees.
>There were a few things I don't quite have all the answers for . . .
>
>The bees are in the lath and plaster wall of an old farm parlor.  Fire
>damage was concentrated at one spot in the wall.  Lath and plaster
>were removed to the ceiling at that area.  About 5 feet to the right
>of the main damage, they were removing lightly damaged lath/plaster
>when they encountered honeycomb and bees at about four feet above the
>floor.  They stopped removing wall material.  With nine foot ceilings,
>the comb may be anything up to five feet long.  It runs parallel to
>the studs, in seven strips, where I can see it.  The room is unheated.
>There is an outside entrance located about 20 feet above ground level
>outside.
>
>My plan at this point, since the lath and plaster will be removed
>anyway, is to expose the entire hive, cut the comb into pieces to fit
>on a frame and wire or rubber band them in place.  I can see where
>there might easily be enough to fill two full hive bodies.  Plan from
>there would be to leave the hive in the room, hopefully with the
>window open, and get them used to the hive body then block the door
>with screen and move them out in the night.
>
>Questions/Problems:
>
>Should I wait for a warm day so I can open room windows while working
>and maybe let some of the bees get out of the room during this
>process?  I can see where they might not be too happy about this
>forced move.  Or can I heat the room with a space heater and hope for
>the best that way?  I know that bees DON'T like to be messed with when
>it is cool.
>
>The owners father was a beekeeper and left somewhere between 50 and a
>100 hive bodies, bases, lids, tops, frames for same in an old honey
>house and garage.  He really wants to save the bees AND would like to
>have them on his property.  He also says his father _thinks_ he may
>have had problems with AFB.  The equipment has been sitting since
>sometime around 1930, or earlier.
>
>Since Hive & Honeybee says the spores may "live indefinetly" I see a
>problem with using the standing equipment.  Could scorch and wash the
>insides of boxes, tops, bottoms and some empty frames and put bees in
>that . . .  There is also an ethylene oxide sterilization place
>locally . . . however I see dollar signs mounting and him not wanting
>to go to that length.
>
>He also has no area that is over three miles away - I've read you can
>move bees less than three feet or greater than three miles.  What is
>the likelihood that the bees will stay put anywhere near his farm once
>the hive is relocated?
>
>Thanks to any for help.  This will be a first time for recovering bees
>for me.  I feel somewhat comfortable with the idea after reading BEE-L
>for the last year and a half.
>
>
>-- John Taylor --
>(Remove NOSPAM for e-mail)
>Wild Rose Creek Apiary
>Southeast Missouri
>
>When in danger, or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!