Hi Michael & BEE-L,

Let me suggest there ARE feral bees alive in your area.  Each summer bees are
constantly being dusted by local pesiticide outfits.  For my area(~Denver,CO)
this past year has been the slowest in recent years with only 20-25 hives but
feral bees ARE alive and I'd like to encourage other beekeepers to help save
their potential genetic favor, if any.  Removing bees can be profitable ($300+
for 2-4 hours work, +wax, +bees, +honey) and doesn't have to be messy or full of
stings.  On the average removal I get stung on average 4-5 times - some upwards
of 30-40 but usually when I make a mistake or am too hurried.  If you want to
give a try at removing bees, call your local pesticide outfit.  Most respectful
outfits are happy to send the easy removals your way and do their part in saving
helpful insects.

Most bees taking residence within a home end up in a soffet since it is an
uninsulated area usually with plenty of entrance cracks.  Most soffets are easy
to dismantle without harm to the house.  To encourage other beekeepers to save
more feral swarms and hives, Barry Birkey & I went to the trouble of placing
plans for my beevac on his website:

http://www.beesource.com/plans/beevac/index.htm

Michael here are some answers to your questions:
    1) Do the removal in spring (absolute!).  Less trouble from robbers and the
hive rebuilding process will be easiest for the bees.  Removing and relocating
is stressful on bees.  Why make their survival chances harder?
    2) If you really want to do your friend a favor REMOVE the entire hive if at
all possible.  The cone method, IF successful, will only remove the workers and
honey leaving behind the queen and later a great attraction for another swarm to
find entrance to.  Most of the feral hives I remove are old hives killed by
pesticide the season before.   Let me suggest that your friends' description of
bees unattended for five years is no gaurantee that hive has held the same bees
for that amount of time.  Unless he monitored bee-activity each spring, it is
more likely that hive has been replaced by a new swarm at least once.

There are lots of details on finding and removing bees and I welcome any e-mail
from Michael or other beekeepers with particular bee removals in mind.  A little
information can make the job a whole lot easier.

Matthew Westall
     //        Earthling Bees
 >8(())))-     "Take me to your feeder"
     \\        Castle Rock, CO,  USA

"Sullivan, Michael" wrote:

> 1. When is the best time to attempt this? The hives are in California, so
> 2. How long should I wait to get a queen? Should I have one as soon as the
>