>I am a beekeeper of Central Texas, I currently have 10 hives by the end of >Monday I would like to have only 9. I've been keeping bees for 5 years now, >So what do yall( told you I was from Texas) think I should do >about this colony??? > Mark, You and I have about the same years of experience with bees. I'm just north of Dallas (Allen, TX). I'm the treasurer for Collin County Beekeepers club; do you belong to any of the Texas clubs? (I used to live in Austin). I would tell you to look at Steve Pearce's note about killing bees (the use of Vodka). It seems reasonable to me (but I have never tried this). However, let me tell you our ways up here; the use of "soapy water" (i.e., dishwashing liquid soap, like 'Dawn') This technique smothers them. It involves spraying them and they can't breath so after a little while, they die. You could spray inside the hive w/o causing damage to the hive parts but better than this would probably be to "chase" them outside the hive with "Bee-go" and then spray them. We use a plastic (quart or so)spray bottle with one of those spray trigger heads. Also when you spray them, since they're wet, they can't fly (but spray fast!) Good Luck to ya - drop me a note sometime. I once had a VERY hot hive from wild bees! But you are in the "killer bee" area, are you not? My best to ya -Larry Farris