Greetings to all
 
I have been attempting a similar project over the last several
months.  The bees are in a stone hous without a cavity wall;
they nust be in the joist area between the 1st & 2d floors.
 
I closed off the entrance with a Porter bee escape and ,
because of limited space next to the entrance area, have been
trapping the bees into nuc boxes, which, when full, I remove
and replace with another one.  Early in the spring, I added
queens to these nuc boxes and started new colonies at home.
Lately I've been uniting the bees (newspaper method) with the
aforementioned colonies.
 
Seemed to me like a good idea.  However, the bees are amazingly
talented at finding ways to get back into the house and I am
constantly closing up new entrances they have found -- some at
a good distance from the original one.  However, I have gotten
quite a few bees.
 
I am fortunate that the homeowner is in no real hurry -- The
bees have been there for a few years and though he wants them
removed he is not "pushy" about it.  I'm not charging him for
the work as I have a lot of free time in the summer and I
consider the bees and the experience to be enough compensation.
An exterminator would cost him several hundred dollars and he
would still have the bees' stores in the house.  If this works,
they should consume all their stores before the last ones
expire, right?
 
Then, of course, it will be necessary to seal up all the
openings, but by then we should know where they all are.
No guarantees were given and the owner understands that if the
procedure does not work he will still be where he is now, no
worse off.
 
Any input / suggestions will be welcome.  Our location is in
Virginia
 
Fred L. Hollen ([log in to unmask])
According to Rees, Simon:
>
> Hi all,
>
> A couple of weeks ago I asked you all for your views on how - & if - one can
> remove bees from a cavity wall.  Here's a synopsis of the replies:
>
> There seem to be two possible ways of removing the bees - by removing the
> bricks and cutting the comb out (the messiest job in the World?), or by
> setting up a small colony nearby and using a one - way (e.g. Porter) bee
> escape to allow them out.  The principle is that the bees come out, can't get
> back in, and join the other colony.  There was some scepticism about this
> working, however - not least because bees tend to find another way in
> somewhere else in the building.  The only other suggestions were to leave
> them be, or to destroy them (for which I was recommended whitefly powder).
>
> Many thanks are due to all who contributed (most of whom, as it happens, were
> from the UK) - I'll let you know what happens when (if!) we muster up the
> courage to do something!
>
> Simon Rees
> (almost a Twickenham beekeeper)
> [log in to unmask]
>