Question regarding Escapes?

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Druse

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I am considering using an cone screen escape to get bees out of a dwelling (house) and am wondering what would happen if there were no adjacent hive placed near the escape? Would the bees find a place to relocate or would they die?
:thanks:
 
I am considering using an cone screen escape to get bees out of a dwelling (house) and am wondering what would happen if there were no adjacent hive placed near the escape? Would the bees find a place to relocate or would they die?
:thanks:

they will find there way back through the cone escape and casue mayhem with congestion

forgot to put a sealed crown board on a stack of uncleaned supers,with a flat roof no problem...changed it to clean the flat roof with a gable roof with cones.......two hours later mayhem...robbing bees
 
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Druse, in the absence of a suitable new home, they will tend to aimlessly hang about the mesh and ultimately die.
The cone I made (of galvanised zinc) was about 12" dia next to the cavity hole and tapered 9" to a single bee-escape at the exit tip - this big porous surface area avoids the problem MM suggests.

Anyway, it makes sense to establish a colony near to the cavity entrance because you can then ultimately use those bees to rob out all the honey from the abandoned nest....

PS

Georgia, Ru or Georgia, US ?
 
Thanks for the advice, one more question

I'm in US. Can you tell me, does the queen have to be removed prior to the new colony being able to go back in and retrieve the honey? If so how do you get the queen out?
 
I'm in US. Can you tell me, does the queen have to be removed prior to the new colony being able to go back in and retrieve the honey? If so how do you get the queen out?

There's a very slim chance the queen may follow the colony out but usually she'll just be left in there to die once all the brood has emerged and been trapped out. The bees you have trapped out will then be queenless - you can then either unite them with another Q+ colony or try and introduce a new queen.
Another trick is to place a frame of brood and eggs in the new hive you have placed next to the trapping cone - the bees will instinctively cluster and protect these when they're trapped out and may build an emergency queen cell and raise their own new queen.
 
Druse,

Hi y'all !

You won't be able to get at the Q in the cavity - in my case she never turned up so I presume she just stayed and "languished" after all the bees and emerged brood had left.
As the Welsh gentleman rightly suggests above- i also put a frame of brood/eggs (with nurse bees) and a couple of drawn frames in the 'bait' hive to make it more attractive, the emergency Q cell failed so I grafted one in which worked - q.satisfying . It took over two months before being certain enough the cavity colony was 100% kaput and taking off the mesh.

I.ve since read that it's v. important to finish by leaving the cavity wide open to ensure bees/wasps rob out ALL the honey or that will become a future problem.

Good luck - can you take some pics preferably with some Magnolias in the background

richard
 
Thanks, that's great information. I'll see what I can do about the pic.
 
You have not stated that you intend to rehome the bees and are maybe hoping they would just move on.

If the bees are not going to be relocated into a hive, isn't this an occasion where destroying the bees is to only real and fair option.

If the queen does not leave the brood area, the problem will still exist and the evacuated bees will die a prolonged death and may become agreesive.

I would suggest that this is handed over to a beekeeper to try the recovery, if not over to the pest controllers
 
Hope I haven't missed something here!

Druse,

I do assume you are now planning to put an empty hive near the mesh escape for the evicted bees to set up home in?

rich
 
... It took over two months before being certain enough the cavity colony was 100% kaput and taking off the mesh.

I.ve since read that it's v. important to finish by leaving the cavity wide open to ensure bees/wasps rob out ALL the honey or that will become a future problem.
...

It would only be fair to mention that there is a two-edged sword there.

While bees might rob out the honey, there is a significant risk that a new swarm will discover the old bee nest and recolonise it.
Old wax is a very powerful swarm lure!



Druse, to a great extent, the queen IS the colony.
Worker bees have a lifetime of only weeks to months - whereas the queen can live for years. Without a queen, the bee colony evicted from your cavity is doomed.
 
Tear out is most likely

Need to remove the bees first. Any other ideas, suggestions that may be worthwhile?
 
Druse

Best suggestion I can make is that you secure the new hive box firmly and so it's easily accessible before putting the mesh cone on.

Have you got a source for a frame of brood?

r
 
Successfull removal, now what???

About 65,000 bees, and the same # of brood were removed successfully and are going to a new home. I was happy to be able to dress out and assist with the process of cutting combs and tying them into new frames. Wow what fun!!! Got a couple of small jars of honey to keep. Now the area where the hive was in the soffett of my house has been scraped, cleaned, can anyone tell me how to make sure to not have bees again?
 

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