Vanity: I have a large hive of bees in my wall, and want to transplant them (no-kill): HOW!?

18 JUN 09 | dcbryan1

[DCBryan1]

Freepers:

As usual, I try to find "experts" on certain issues here before I go searching for the "googled" or "wiki" answers.

I have a large hive of honey bees (non-african) in my wall of my house. I have tolerated them for a wile (they have been there for four-five years), but this year they are much, much more numerous and I fear that the mold/mildew inside of my siding will be detrimental in the long run.

I want to safely remove them without destroying the hive and transplant them to a bee box.

Beekeeping has been one of my "learn how to do" hobbies and I think this is a great opportunity.

Do any of you have any experience, techniques, or known methods to safely remove a hive from within an exterior wall, and then transplant them to a bee-box?

Thanks for your input!

[DCBryan1]

I am going to put the beehive box next to my garden entry gate as kind of an alarm, so if anyone walks in the backyard (posted), will get a nasty suprise when the door hits the hive box.

[Tamar1973]

If you have a local honey producer in your area, call them and they can help you.

[ClearCase_guy]

Two words:

Gasoline
Matches

[dead]

I have a large hive of honey bees (non-african) in my wall of my house.

[shadeaud]

I have no serious reply, but you could ask the president to visit you house and swat them one by one.

[DCBryan1]

Gasoline and matches on the side of my house? No thanks.

Please read before posting....thanks.

[b4its2late]

LOL

[Lurker]

Step 1: Cover yourself in honey.

Step 2: Stand near the entrance to the hive.

Step 3: When you're completely covered in a mass of wriggling bees figure out Step 4.

[Revelation 911]

so if anyone walks in the backyard (posted), will get a nasty suprise when the door hits the hive box.

unless youre in the 'hood, this is kind of a prickish thing to do - what if a kids ball goes back there and the kid is allergic to bees? - hope you have an umbrella policy

[GOP_Party_Animal]

Ask a beekeeper. Supposedly, smoke disorients the bees and keeps them calm enough to work with.

[1rudeboy]

I think this might be a seasonal thing, and now is not the season.

[ASOC]

Ditto

Bee keeping is just one of those “Don’t do this at home kids” sort of things.

Most beekeepers will be happy to help if they keep the bees.....

[ClearCase_guy]

Please get a sense of humor before replying...thanks.

[Mat_Helm]

Call a bee keeper. They will safely remove the hive usually at no cost because they obtain a free hive.

[mysterio]

Stand over by your gate and make a noise like a flower.

[b4its2late]

Yeah, a beekeeper type will locate the queen and move the whole hive I think. I ain’t no expert, but one Freeper used to refer to me as the bees knees.......

[tet68]

Try calling your county extention service, they can probably
give you advise and the name of someone to help.

[Revelation 911]

didnt you know this is an insect forum?

[mgstarr]

My next door neighbor is transplanting a hive that formed under the gutter. Basically he got a bee person to seal around the hive and put a one-way exit tube. Then a new empty hive was put next to it with queen bee hormones. After about 3 weeks the new hive will be removed. I don’t think the old queen is very pleased however.

[DCBryan1]

LOL....classic!

[ClearCase_guy]

It’s one of the things that bugs me about the place.

[Beckwith]

Call a beekeeper.

He’ll be glad to take them off your hands.

[Revelation 911]

yeah - it bugs me too LOL

[constitutiongirl]

Thanks for the laugh:)

[Suz in AZ]

Call your local fire department. Many of them do swarm removal or may be able to point you in the right direction.

[ArrogantBustard]

A: (The sane solution) Find a beekeeper, and ask for assistance. Find a supplier of beekeeping kit (since you're interested in learning the art), and ask for assistance. Either way ... this is the sort of thing where I think you'd do well with hands-on assistance.

B: (The insane solution) Take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Gator113]

LMAO

[Deb]

Do you have toast?

[DCBryan1]

Hmmmm...didn't think about the bee sting thing/liability.

Point taken. Thanks.

BTW....yard is posted No Tresspassing. I also have "Tresspassers will be shot, survivors shot again posted".

[Just another Joe]

You do know that you will have to tear out the exterior wall, don’t you? Especially if they’ve been there 4 to 5 years.

[null and void]

Gasoline and matches on the side of my house? No thanks.

Good point.

C-4

There are few problems in this world that can't be solved by the judicious use of C-4...

[theDentist]

Let us know what you ultimately do. In the meantime, may I suggest:

[Petronski]

You need to find a local beekeeper or apiary society. Here are a couple of leads:

http://www.mdbee.com/

http://www.virginiabeekeepers.org/

They’ll probably need to cut a hole in your wall, so a carpenter will be involved too, I should think.

[calex59]

There are beekeepers who specialize in this sort of thing. However, they usually want to keep the bees for themselves. I am sure you can find one who will transplant them for you if you can find any in your area.

[Cboldt]

I googled ... you are going to be impressed with the scope of work that accompanies the chore. Good luck! I’ve been tempted to do beekeeping, from time to time, but now live on a small plot in a cold climate.

[KYGrandma]

Had a huge hive in my kitchen ceiling and called a bee keeper as the exterminator wouldn’t do it. The bee keeper came in with many cans of bug killer and zapped them. He said if the ceiling had fallen through someone could have been stung to death before they could get to the door. Don’t mess with them.

[nikos1121]

Unless you have the proper equipment you should avoid doing this yourself. Pest exterminators specialize in this, but some demand that they keep the honey. I don’t think they charge much, but you’ll have to open the wall and remove the large, and I mean large combs.

[w1andsodidwe]

Best solution yet. At least he appears to have the qualifications for this job.

[antceecee]

You really should call someone who specializes in removing bees. I know they have a method for vacuuming them up and then releasing them into another area.
The bees are unharmed by this method.

[Holicheese]

I would cover myself in honey and run into the middle of the bees and start swinging your arms wildly... get back to me on how that works out!

[Dubya]

I used to raise bees. I bet you will like doing it. I would look it up a search eng. You will end up with many hives as time goes by.

[rickomatic]

For some quick "how to" information look at these 2 websites.
beemaster.com
beesource.com
Both have a wealth of information.
Try to find a contact for your local beekeeping club (most communities have one) and you should be able to find either someone to come get them from you, or to mentor you into using them to start your own beekeeping adventure.

[allmendream]

The calming effect of the smoke on bees is that when they smell smoke they gorge themselves on honey and get very calm.

This is because bees in a forest fire need to eat up, calm down, and then get ready to move the hive.

So if YOU want to move the hive, smoke is a good first step towards getting them all well fed, calm, and amenable to the idea of the hive moving.

[T bench]

Carefully. Use smoke (drill a hole and use nonlethal smoke {check with a bee keeper on this}) while having a shop-vac taped to another hole-use a liner in the shop-vac of course (I have actually done this). You will then need to deal with the Queen issue (whether to kill the one in the hive or to rip your wall apart to keep the bees from going back in). I think that you should just have a bee keeper come remove the hive and kill the queen, but the thing with attack bees carding your garden seems like a cool idea.

[T bench]

Carefully. Use smoke (drill a hole and use nonlethal smoke {check with a bee keeper on this}) while having a shop-vac taped to another hole-use a liner in the shop-vac of course (I have actually done this). You will then need to deal with the Queen issue (whether to kill the one in the hive or to rip your wall apart to keep the bees from going back in). I think that you should just have a bee keeper come remove the hive and kill the queen, but the thing with attack bees guarding your garden seems like a cool idea.

[Danae]

Look for a local honey maker, they will know all the bee keepers and they will be able to help you.

[hoosiermama]

Call a professional bee keeper they will willingly take the hive.....If you don’t know of a bee keeper call your local extension office of the state agriculture school and they can help you find one.

[US Navy Vet]

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php

[Tamar1973]

Someone beat you to it.

[Tramonto]

The bees return to the nest at night and are more docile. Don’t do anything during the day.