We got a call from a person who had recently purchased a farm.  (The
acreage was wonderful, 96 acres, part pasture, part old wood forest, 14
acre fully stocked lake.)  This farm was a fixer upper, with at least 6
buildings, all in modest repair but needing some refurbishing.  The
gentleman tells us they paid US$250,000 on a land contract.
 
There was one building, two story on a hillside, that used to have a bait
shop on the bottom floor with a full apartment on the second floor.  The
second floor was level with the entrance on the hill.  TO THE BEES.  The
reason we were called is that there seemed to be a lot of bees in the one
room of the apartment.  We were given full permission to remove any
drywall, etc., make holes, whatever, because the whole building was to be
gutted and refurbished.  Apparently the downstairs had been flooded in the
spring of 1997.
 
We loaded up our bee vacuum, knives, hammers, prybars, ladder, bucket of
soapy water and lots of clean 5 gallon buckets, and headed over for the
HUNT.  Dave was working right in the wall so he had his complete suit on, I
was handling the vac, buckets, flashlight, so I just wore a helmet.  Long
sleeves and pants.  We pulled the nails from the drywall and pulled it out
about 3 inches at the bottom and smoked the bees.  Let the smoke permeate,
then started pulling the drywall away.  (Ended up being the only time we
needed to use the smoke)  THE BEES WERE SO CALM, NONE CAME OUT AT US.  The
comb began at the top of the wall, 8 feet up, and extended for about 6 feet
down.  There were five layers of comb within the wall space, the space was
24 inch centers full 2x4s.  The comb was flat to the wall, 24 inches wide.
The entrance was on the outside of the wall at the eave (top of the wall).
 
The bottom 4 feet of all 5 layers was all capped honey.  The next 10 inches
or so was pollen.  The brood was from the top down for about 12 to 15
inches.  There was no brood in the outer 2 layers of comb toward the inside
of the building.  There was brood in the comb toward the outside wall.
 
We put the comb and honey into buckets.  We took some of the brood comb and
placed it into frames that we had crisscrossed with cotton twine, then
crisscrossed over it.  We placed these frames into a deep bee box we took
with us.  The bees that were on the comb were left on it.
 
There was some wax comb, no brood, pollen or honey in the next wall space.
Only about 12 inches hanging from the top.  This comb was sited
perpendicular to the drywall.  In other words, it was 4 inches wide, with
about 6 combs hanging down.
 
We were able to vacuum most of the bees into our box.  Unfortunately this
process took about 8 hours.  Think some of the first bees into the box
didn't make it.  Ended up with about an inch of dead bees.  We had to
vacuum as we exposed each new layer of comb.  Don't know if we got the
queen or not, we were not able to spot her.  It was dark in the building
and the flashlight gave out after 6 hours or so.
 
We ended up with 6 5-gallon buckets of comb honey, one bucket of wax.  We
came home and dumped the bees from the vac into the bee box with the brood
comb and additional foundation in it.  We placed an empty super on top for
space to dump.  We began feeding 1:1 sugar as soon as the bees were in.  I
got one sting because I trapped one lady between my ungloved hand and the
edge of a bucket.  Dave got about 4 stings through his gloves from trapping
the ladies when he was holding the comb and putting it into the buckets.
 
I have a whole lot of questions.  Why was the empty wax comb sited
differently than the stores and brood.  The brood was above the honey and
pollen but right by the entrance at the top.  There was insulation in both
wall spaces next to the bee space, the space with the empty wax had the
insulation down about 3 feet.  Had the bees removed the insulation?  There
were about 6 holes in the drywall spaced from the top on down.  They were
all propolized except the bottom hole.  The bottom hole was just beginning
to be propolized.  The holes were from 1/2" to 1" in diameter and did not
appear to have a recognizable shape, like from a hammer.  Why were these
feral bees so docile?  There was very little odor of aster or goldenrod,
even though that is what is in bloom.
 
It would be wonderful if this was May instead of September.  Maybe we saved
these ladies from the exterminator, maybe we just extended their lives for
a few weeks.
 
The whole experience was wonderful.  Would have been perfect if we had
remembered to take the camera.  (We are going to share the honey with the
owner)
 
Loving these bees,
Judy
Kentucky, USA