Remove a hiden bee colony

[dubbySwords]

Hi
A friend of mine has a wild colony stuck in a chimney, now for a number of years.
Is there any way to lure out the queen and hence the whole colony?

If I can do this I think I have a friend for life

any help greatly appreciated,

Declan

 

[jimmybee]

Yes I've done about 20 odd firstly what's the chimney like if its capped then they will be on the under side of the chimney or in the pot. You will need to remove comb and put into frames then drive the bees from the chimney with smoke in to a hive with cut out comb. I do them off cat ladders its hard and heavy work and you need to know what your doing some have been half an hour jobs some have taken 2 days repointing and catching returning bees

 

[pargyle]

Not a job for the inexperienced I would suggest and not one that can be achieved without some very serious considerations as to personal safety ... stinging bees may not kill you but falling off a roof will !

To answer your question .. there is no magic bullet or super bee attractant. As Jimmybee suggested the only way is to completely removed the comb including any combs of brood and stores and ensure that the queen is caught. Get the queen and she will be the focus of the hive and the bees will follow where she is put - getting the queen is the key. It's not going to be like collecting a swarm - they ain't gonna like it and will let you know in no uncertain terms.

There are also methods whereby a box is put in the way of the entrance ... look up 'Trap out' on the search bar or google it. Again, not easy, not always successful and working at chimney height potentially lethal.

 

[jimmybee]

Pargyle has summed it up, planning and safety. !!! Go have a look at access, and take photos. Report back I can up load photos, so you have an idea of how its done. And I'm sure you will get sum help on here as a few of us have done them in the past.

And are you handy at brick laying ???. Because you will need to repoint and rebuild if the bricks are shot.

Or

Trap outs have worked in the past but I've only done them on trees. They take a long time and you will end up buying a queen, as I found I had laying worker and drone laying queens, plus it may be late in the season when its finally worked and bad weather for mating flights.

I'm sure someone did one last year and took sum really good photo's have a search. Good luck!