>
> Time-scale is important here.  Often people expect you to wave a magic
> wand and remove everything instantly.
>

Very wise question to ask. It will dicate many of your options.

I responded to a call about a "swarm" in a tree a few years back. Rolled up
to the house to find the "swarm" was a colony, and the "tree" was already
felled. They cut the tree down, then found it had a colony in it about 20'
up. It was lying about 10 feet from the back door of their home. And the
bees were not pleased about the situation, which made the owner not happy
about the situation. The owner said they wanted the bees gone immediately.
I offered to take the section of the trunk that had the colony home with me
that night (I offered before fully thinking, as the weight of the section
would have been very challenging to move). The owner told me I couldn't
have the wood, as he already sold it to someone else. So I offered to split
the trunk and salvage as much as I could. The colony likely wouldn't live,
but then again the alternative was a can of raid which would have ended
poorly for everyone anyway. The owner refused, saying if I split the wood
it decreased the value of the wood. So I offered to leave the section
there, and I'd do a trap out over the course of a few weeks, at the end of
which the buyer could take the wood. The owner refused, again going back to
the main issue in that he wanted the bees gone immediately. I told the
owner those were his three options, I didn't have another. The owner told
me to "just stick your hand in there and get them out, it's not that hard."
I told him was welcome to try, and to have a nice day.

Sadly no one left happy out of that situation. The owner picked up a few
more stings than they were expecting, I wasted a few hours, the buyer of
the wood found a special "gift" in the wood they purchased, the colony
likely got a can of raid (assuming it was even a viable colony at that
point), which would mean the buyer got contaminated wood, and the owner
likely got less from the sale than they expected. But then again it's
always about expectations.

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