PondSite <[log in to unmask]> "Walt" wrote:
>Ted, I just read your tree story and it was a good one.  I was going to
file it away when I happen to notice a >house removal in progress.  I have
plans to attempt this removal for the first time this week-end.  I am going
>to try the funnel method with a deep super nest to the hole.  Will the
bees coming out of the funnel go to the >hive if I put some drawn comb in
it. Must I also have to put bees and a queen in it. Can it bee
accomplished >without a Queen?  WALT  tnx for any help that you can give.
 
I am swiftly learning that this is not an easy undertaking.  It takes
patience and tenacity.  You will need a hive with at least a queen cell to
attract the estranged workers from the hive being removed.  My queen cells
all didn't make it so I ended up putting a queen in the hive and things got
better.  Without a queen in the "bait" hive, you will not attract the
foragers from the house into the "bait" hive.  They'll just group around
your screen cone.
 
My screen cone is only about a foot long and the opening at the tapered end
is about 3/4" in diameter.  Some have told me that it must be 3/8" but mine
seems to work fine.  Take along a caulk gun.  You'll need it to plug up all
the other ways the bees will find back into the house.  Even after you've
plugged up every alternate entrance you can find, the bees may find a way
back in.  I found bees squeezing between the screen cone and the house.
They would start pushing their heads into a crevice and push with their
little legs like mad.  Then they'd get their head in and have to go through
another round of pushing to get the next segment of their body in, then a
third round of pushing to get the third segment through.  It was real cute.
 Meanwhile all the other returning foragers would cue up in line for their
turn to push through.  I'd recommend training the homeowner or someone
there to watch everyday to see if the bees are getting back in.  I had to
stop by my bee removal effort every other day to check.  If it were way out
of the way that could get real inconvenient.  Preventing the bees from
entering their hive is really fighting their instinct.  You'd better be
prepared for a battle as most oldtimer beekeepers will tell you about
fighting the bees instinct.
 
While the bait hive had viable queen cells the foragers eventually ended up
in my bait hive.  When it was apparent that the queen cells weren't viable
they had no motivation to enter my bait hive.  Once I put that queen in,
they didn't wait long at all to give up on the house and join the bait
hive. So I recommend using a queen.
 
Keep in mind that it takes about 21 days for workers to gestate.  Then they
normally work in the hive for about 19 days.  So it takes about 40 days for
the worker eggs layed the day you put up your screen cone to become
foragers.  That's about 6 weeks!  Meanwhile the queen in the house is
laying more eggs.  As you attrit the hive in the house this time will get
shorter.  The hive in the house will lose its foragers and housekeepers
will have to pick up the slak.  I've noticed that the foragers leaving the
house seem to be smaller as we've gotten further along in this effort.  Do
bees get larger when they take on foraging duties?  Do they continue to
grow after they've left their brood cell?
 
When all is said and done, it's probably cheaper and less time consuming to
just hive a swarm or purchase package bees.  I'm doing this be removal for
two reasons.  I want the experience and the homeowner is a friend who wants
rid of the bees.  Several on the list have warned me that bee removal from
a house is a real pain.  I agree, but I love bees and beekeeping too much
to let a little inconvenience and time consumption stop me.  Besides, it's
spring and I have bee fever!  It doesn't have to make sense<grin>.
 
Ted Wout
Red Oak, TX