Anyone want paying for a cut out?

[enrico]

Anyone fancy an all expenses paid trip for a cut out?
I have a lady with bees in flat roof. I am too old for ladders but she really wants them out and is willing to pay. I will pass any willing person's telephone number on to her if you PM me. I think you could name your price.
Lives just over the border from Shropshire in Wales in a village near Knighton.
She will organise a builder to sort the roof out afterwards.
Cheers
E

 

[craigavonb]

Cut out

What are beekeepers turning out to be. You say you could name your price how disappointing. We read daily of cowboy builders. Travellers ripping old people off and now you comment. "Name your price" is this the next step for fellow beekeepers There must be someone in your local association who would do the cut out just for the bees alone

 

[enrico]

What I meant is that if you need to claim travel expenses she will be happy to pay, and if it involves an overnight stay for distance that might be on the cards too......
If you think I am turning out to be a money grabbing beekeeper then keep it to yourself. I have collected more swarms for free than you have had birthdays!
E

 

[Cussword]

I think most of us knew what you meant Enrico. You don't have to justify yourself.

 

[For want of a better word]

What are beekeepers turning out to be. You say you could name your price how disappointing. We read daily of cowboy builders. Travellers ripping old people off and now you comment. "Name your price" is this the next step for fellow beekeepers There must be someone in your local association who would do the cut out just for the bees alone

Just for the bees......

Last week in the Honey capital of old Kernow... Kelliwick ( Still holds an annual Honey Fair) I had a call to look at some bees that had been happily living in a cavity wall of a 90's built house for several years.

An overflow pipe had been removed from a bathroom, and not being blocked in allowed access to the bees just above head height... I looked at them last year and advised to leave them to it as not causing a problem.... and the owners did not want me to foam 'em in and kill them.

The colony had grown and the passage between the houses was filling with bees, coming and going quite a lot... and frightening children, old women and horses!

The neighbors were now in dispute... the chap who owned the house was not particularly bothered... the family next door wanted him to call in the Pesties and have them all killed to death...

I took a builder and beekeeper with me to have a look... quite a crown gathered, and we had what I can only call a sticky moment.
Most wanted the owner of the house to call in the "Council" to kill the bees...
until another neighbor stepped forward and said can they be saved? ... and offered £30 towards the cost... builder friend said it would cost at least £100 to cut out .. plus the cost of scaffolding......

Now this is what I call crowd funding... in moments others were dipping in their pockets... one little girl donated all her pocket money!

To cut a long story short the blocks ( Cornish granite) facing the wall took a day to cut out to provide a hole big enough to remove the old comb and get a bee vac in to remove the "swarm"... I should say colony.

Could not find queen ... left catch box open and all the bees had gone back into the cavity by the next morning... more vacuuming.. and around 4.0PM ( I has started at 7.00 AM) I was about to give up as the bees seemed to be moving up and out of reach.....

The Biggest, most Beautiful Black shiny coal black queen was plucked gently from the wall in front of me, and placed into a polly nuc with the qe closed.

By now even the local PSCO was attending for crowd controll....

I have her I shouted...
What do you have?
The queen !
Hoorah Hoorah Hoorah!!!!

( Twas like the Crying of the Neck an old Cornish custom still celebrates as the last sheaf of corn is cut at harvest time.. in Rilla.. just outside old Kelliwick)

I now have a very nice colony of Cornish Amm.
But the story does not end here... poor builder chap had difficulties in getting the block back in in order... fortunately I had taken photos of the wall!

Yeghes da

 

[Amari]

What a lovely story! Did you take any pics - would make a good article for a bee mag.

 

[For want of a better word]

What a lovely story! Did you take any pics - would make a good article for a bee mag.

I have lots... but can not download them on this page as will not fit!
May write it up for the Cornish Times ( in English!)

Yeghes da

 

[MartinL]

Interesting but are they Welsh bees, English ones or some sort of "non rugby" mongrals?

 

[andyphibb]

If it was closer i would do it! it would probably be cheaper to take the ceiling down rather than take the roof off but you would have to net the area off to contain the bees.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Anyone fancy an all expenses paid trip for a cut out?
I have a lady with bees in flat roof. I am too old for ladders but she really wants them out and is willing to pay. I will pass any willing person's telephone number on to her if you PM me. I think you could name your price.
Lives just over the border from Shropshire in Wales in a village near Knighton.
She will organise a builder to sort the roof out afterwards.
Cheers
E

I would do it but just too far to make it sensible. I'd suggest a written agreement before starting to ensure no post collection arguments.

 

[midnight sun]

What I meant is that if you need to claim travel expenses she will be happy to pay, and if it involves an overnight stay for distance that might be on the cards too......
If you think I am turning out to be a money grabbing beekeeper then keep it to yourself. I have collected more swarms for free than you have had birthdays!
E

Personally, I don't think it's 'greedy' to ask for a donation for all the work that 'cut outs' entail. As pointed out in Icanhopit's post, there can be a lot of work involved and time, as well as travelling expense's. Most people are only too willing to 'treat' the keeper. I have had people insist I take something 'for my trouble' by just turning up to give advice on how to deal with local bumble bee nests! We know what you meant Enrico.

 

[psafloyd]

What are beekeepers turning out to be. You say you could name your price how disappointing. We read daily of cowboy builders. Travellers ripping old people off and now you comment. "Name your price" is this the next step for fellow beekeepers There must be someone in your local association who would do the cut out just for the bees alone

Hang on. You're asking people to invest considerable time and risk for something that may be of little inherent value. Why shouldn't they ask to be compensated?

It's up ladders and isn't a swarm, but a cutout. They will need extra insurance as well as the wherewithal to execute that and I would let them charge what they liked.

If you're so offended at the thought, why don't you go and do it? For nothing.

 

[BeeJayBee]

I got asked recently how much I would pay to go and collect a swarm from half way up a conifer in somebody's garden.

I declined.

Two days later they called again, because they couldn't find anybody else willing to go and collect it. They still expected me to pay for the privilege of climbing ladders to get a bunch of bees out of a tree.

Was I wrong to decline a second time?

The media says that stolen bees are (were) worth a lot of money, they also say bees are in trouble. That individual (chancer) reckoned that anybody on the swarm list would be in desperate need of some bees, and so would pay. It wasn't worth trying to argue with him!

 

[enrico]

All sorted now... Thanks to those that offered.
E

 

[Jeff Buzz]

I am a beekeeper (hobby) and a builder (job)

If someone has a swarm at a ground reachable height I will collect for free.

As soon as I pick up my tools, ladder or any other form of equipment I charge why not???

This is one I did last year would you do this for free???

 

[einsteinagogo]

I am a beekeeper (hobby) and a builder (job)

If someone has a swarm at a ground reachable height I will collect for free.

As soon as I pick up my tools, ladder or any other form of equipment I charge why not???

This is one I did last year would you do this for free???

No - nice pictures, even if you paid me, you would not get me on a cherry picker!!!

is that a chimney liner for a wood burning stove ? so disused original chimney, are they not suppose to pack around the liner down the chimney ?

 

[Jeff Buzz]

Flue pipe was off an AGA switched off for summer it would have made one heck of a mess had it got chance to warm up and possible be a real fire hazard.

 

[einsteinagogo]

Flue pipe was off an AGA switched off for summer it would have made one heck of a mess had it got chance to warm up and possible be a real fire hazard.

I thought that's why flue pipes, metal liners needed to have vermiculite packed around them!

 

[Jeff Buzz]

No not a regulation I dont think especially on a Oil Aga its a good idea on a wood burner to stop the chimney sooting up. It helps to keep the flue gasses and creosote from condensating on the liner.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I thought that's why flue pipes, metal liners needed to have vermiculite packed around them!

If I recall correctly OFTEC regulations required the void to be sealed at the bottom and filled with lightweight vermiculte concrete then weatherproofed at the top. This to prevent condensation from forming in the flue where CO2 and Sulphur Dioxide would dissolve in the condensate and corroding the appliance and flue. Loose vermiculite would pour out if the bottom seal plate was disturbed
The later pre-condensing oil boiler installation manuals specified this. No doubt the condensing boilers now normally installed have more stringent requirements?