I'm looking for advice in successfully removing and relocating a colony
that is occupying space in the attic of a very old house. The owners called
me as they where aware of my apiary.

I initially observed the colony last week and have been formulating some
plan of action.  The entry is about 30' up in the lower corner of the eves.
The comb area (all inside the house) is in the inner corner of the attic
and is hanging between rafters but is also against the outside wall. It
appears to be about two cubic feet in volume and there are bees on all wood
surfaces up to a foot from the comb.  It has the sound of a good month of
June 'power house.'

You can approach the colony easily - the attic is 6' high and a walk-in
style.  At the corner where they are located, the attic roof is about three
feet high.  These bees consider the attic their 'Hive body' and went after
my light and the home owner standing behind me during my investigation.

To get the queen, the brood and many of the workers, I have considered
using a putty knife and starting in the early evening, trying to separate
the comb from the attic walls and placing the whole 'ball of wax,'
undeformed, in a large plastic storage bin with tight cover and then
quickly carrying it through the house and off to my apiary 10 miles
away.  But I'm sure over half the bees would still be flying around in the
attic and likely many in the house -- the home owners will wish they called
an exterminator.

Is a shop-vac a solution to this extraction?  Can bees survive that sudden
stop at the end of the shop-vac ride?

Are there other non-invasive ways of gathering this colony successfully?



PlumleyFarms                                              [log in to unmask]
3188 Sentinel Heights Rd.                                       or
LaFayette, New York  13084                      [log in to unmask]
315-677-7743