bees in an old tree

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4sausagedogs

New Bee
Joined
Dec 30, 2018
Messages
33
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0
Location
West Sussex
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3
Hi advice is needed!

I have been asked to rehome some bee's that are in an old tree.

It is a fallen tree.
What is the best way to go about getting them out?

Many thanks
 
eek! sounds like a tricky one, if I were to tackle that I'd be thinking chain saw, hand saw, empty frames, rubber bands, drawn frames and definitely a bee vac.

have you tackled a cut out before?
 
No, I have never tackled something like this.

I will have a forestry manager with chain saw with me, but will take a look tomorrow, then ask people from local bee keeping group to help

Thanks
 
If you have a guy with a chain saw get him to cut above and below nest and take that bit with the bees home with you.
 
If you have a guy with a chain saw get him to cut above and below nest and take that bit with the bees home with you.

Once the bees have all gone to bed.
Then you can do the messy bit in the comfort of your own garden/yard.
 
To be honest its a lot of work, ive done a few over the years and 1 late last autumn only because the tree/log was going on the fire if i did not remove them and it was a very big chunk. I would suggest cutting the log each side of the entrance until you exspose the top and bottom of combs/colony, this is a bit of guess work and will depend on width of cavity as to how long the combs are. I would take a say 1 metre each side of entrance. Sometimes top or bottom of log are soft in the interior so a little poking may give you a clue if you cut short. Once top or bottom are exsposed you can take a guess at average thickness of trunk and then cut 2 horizontal cuts into the cavity the lenth of trunk. The idea is to be able to access and remove combs down the lenth of cavity. Cut bigger than you think as curve of cavity ruduces as you get in...if you can move the log just cut in half LENTH WAYS. Your aiming to to send the point of chainsaw just far enough into cavity and not into combs, pretty impossible to get right but thats the idea. You will need club hammer/sledge and spitters or crowbar to remove the cut out.
Now at this point any bee worth their socks will be running in all directions so in an ideal world replace strip you have cut or cover with sheet and return next day if time/distance allow. This will allow the bees to return to the comb and more importantly the queen, i find a big issue with cut outs is queen will often disapear into some corner if theres been to much disturbance. Then its a case of cutting out the comb, dont bother trying to save honey and just concentrate on the brood comb with as little honey as poss it just complicates the whole process....Pm me your mobile number and i will send a pic/vid if i can dig it out
 
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I had a call a few years ago now from a greenkeeper at a local golf course who found bees in a felled tree . It was mid January with a covering of snow so all the bees were back in when I arrived .
I cut a couple of feet below the entrance hole and got lucky and missed the bottom of the nest . I did the same above the entrance and ended up with a 5ft length of Lime tree which I stood upright . I wrapped clingfilm around both ends and across the hole to seal it all in and took it home .
I then cut an old floor to allow access to a brood box above it . Blocked the original entrance hole and left it to colonise the hive . Once the queen had started laying up on the frames I cut an old excluder to cover the bottom of the floor and moved everything to a ‘normal’ floor once all the brood had hatched . The colony still survives to this day , several generations down the line .
 
If you have never done one before then I advise you to get help. Three beekeepers are better than one. Two of us did a huge cut out and it took hours.
Good luck.
E
 
I did this on a fallen tree back in Feb. Poor buggers had managed from December till the warm spell in Feb. Try and get as many bees and existing comb in a nuc box and leave over the next day. Hopefully the queen will be in them.

We mainly used handsaw and big bar to separate the tree.

Good Luck
 
Hi 4sausagedogs.
I'm near Midhurst if you fancy someone else having a look.
 
Well I had the best day today with bees.

With the help from the kindest person Newbeeneil, we managed to get the tree split and opened and filled a nuc of 5 frames of brood.

The bee's were so gentle even after their cosy home being torn open.
We have left the nuc there overnight to get as many as we can, then take them to the orchard in the morning.

Many thanks for all of your kind advice, it has been a great day :)
 
Nice 1 glad it went well, take a mist spray if you have 1 not uncommon to return and find a clump or all the bees outside box if queen was not put inside. It’s happened to me!!!!
 
And once again the forum triumphs, beekeepers brought together for a common purpose,, to give bees the best chance possible. Congratulations to you both, and admin for making it all possible.
Thanks for the update too
E
 
Good job I didn't tell 4sausagedogs I'd never taken a nest out of a tree before :icon_204-2::icon_204-2::icon_204-2::icon_204-2:
It was great fun tho...... I'm pretty sure we got the queen as there was plenty of fanning and the ones we didn't put in the box we're marching in when we left them.
 

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