Hi all,

Someone called me last week to come out and remove a feral beehive from
the storage bin of his camper.  When I arrived we found VERY few bees -
and larvae was squirming out of their cells, falling to the floor of the
storage compartment (alive).  The few remaining bees  looked like
freshly emerged nurse bees and plenty of brood remaining.  Fresh eggs
were all turning shades of gray and drying up.  A few wax worms were
working their way through one of the combs.  It looked as if 100% of the
bees absconded in the last day or two - leaving plenty of honey behind
(not robbed as there were no torn cells).

The homeowner said he had backed his diesel truck up to the camper a
couple days before.  He left the engine running and returned to notice
all kinds of bees flying 20-30 minutes later.   It looks as though the
exhaust flooded the hive since the tailpipe was probably a foot away
from the bee entrance.

Was it the exhaust or wax moths or ?? which drove ALL the bees away?  If
exhaust works, perhaps this would be a good method to force bees out of
hard-to-reach cavities - as long as it doesn't damage them in the
process (?).

Matthew Westall - Earthling Bees, Castle Rock, CO - USA