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A cutout.
Firstly a little back ground history.
Last year a local beekeeper was made aware of bees that were seen entering and exiting a wall in one of our local council buildings. The entrance was just below the guttering on the 3rd floor and we now know that the bees had been had found a gap between the stone wall and where the roof joined. Access from the outside would have been difficult and they weren’t sure where their nest was.
Two local pest controllers had been contacted but their policy’s were that they did not remove honey bees, so that’s why he had been contacted. He informed the council that it was likely a swarm had taken up residence and that there was a good chance that the bees would die out over the winter.
Nope!!!
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago when I was contacted to say that the bees were still there and they knew where they were. I said to Derek who was dealing with the issue to contact the pest controllers again. So he did and they weren’t interested so beekeepers were their last resort. Years ago the council had their own staff who dealt with pests including wasps when necessary but not any more due to cutbacks. I contacted John who is now our association chairman and we decided that we would attempt the cutout this evening when the bees were all in.
So at half past 5 we met up with Derek who is also a joiner and was going to do the cutting for us. He knew nothing about bees so we gave him a veil and gloves and said if we run don’t just stand there wondering what’s happening! So we entered the office with a nuc with empty frames, buckets and a hoover which John had made bee friendly by lining the drum with soft foam.
Derek had an app on his phone which could pick up heat and he was able to pinpoint the nest which was on a sloping wall about head height and he was spot on. So the cutting began and John used the hoover to suck out the loose bees as we progressed and it wasn’t long before we came across the comb, lots of comb, which was far more than we were expecting.
We came across the store comb first which was put into buckets and then we moved on to the brood which was on 4 seems. It was cutout and attached to the empty deep frames with elastic bands and put into the nuc with some of the bees still attached. Then it was on to removing the rest of the store combs.
Judging by the amount of comb it’s possible the bees might have been there for a couple of years. Seemed far too much to have been built by a mid summer swarm.
The bees were like ***** cats and showed no aggression despite getting their home ripped apart. The cutting of the wall went well but removing the store comb was Bloody Messy with bees falling onto me and honey dripping all over me and everything else while John kept the hoover going. After about an hour and 40 minutes the job was done and more than 95% the bees had been removed. We left Derek with a can of fly spray to deal the few that were left behind. We didn’t see the queen and the chances are that she ended up in the hoover.
The nuc was moved to John’s apiary then we put an extra box on top and the wriggling sticky mass of bees (unfortunately some honey ended up in the hoover) were poured from the hoover onto the top of the frames. The nuc was closed up and John will sort it out tomorrow. The chances are that the queen might have died along with a lot bees. But there is still 5 frames with brood and a substantial number of bees that have been saved and will be united if necessary.
This was my first cutout in over 40 years of beekeeping and the bees were due to bee destroyed one way or another if we hadn’t helped out. We achieved our aim in removing everything and time will tell if colony goes on to thrive or ends up united. Three things I wasn’t expecting were, the amount of comb, how docile the bees were and the Bloody Mess!
I will update.
Start, uncovering, exposed, store comb, brood, messy, John, finished.
 

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A cutout.
Firstly a little back ground history.
Last year a local beekeeper was made aware of bees that were seen entering and exiting a wall in one of our local council buildings. The entrance was just below the guttering on the 3rd floor and we now know that the bees had been had found a gap between the stone wall and where the roof joined. Access from the outside would have been difficult and they weren’t sure where their were nest was.
Two local pest controllers had been contacted but their policy’s were that they did not remove honey bees, so that’s why he had been contacted. He informed the council that it was likely a swarm had taken up residence and that there was a good chance that the bees would die out over the winter.
Nope!!!
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago when I was contacted to say that the bees were still there and they knew where they were. I said to Derek who was dealing with the issue to contact the pest controllers again. So he did and they weren’t interested so beekeepers were their last resort. Years ago the council had their own staff who dealt with pests including wasps when necessary but not any more due to cutbacks. I contacted John who is now our association chairman and we decided that we would attempt the cutout this evening when the bees were all in.
So at half past 5 we met up with Derek who is also a joiner and was going to do the cutting for us. He knew nothing about bees so we gave him a veil and gloves and said if we run don’t just stand there wondering what’s happening! So we entered the office with a nuc with empty frames, buckets and a hoover which John had made bee friendly by lining the drum with soft foam.
Derek had an app on his phone which could pick up heat and he was able to pinpoint the nest which was on a sloping wall about head height and he was spot on. So the cutting began and John used the hoover to suck out the loose bees as we progressed and it wasn’t long before we came across the comb, lots of comb, which was far more than we were expecting.
We came across the store comb first which was put into buckets and then we moved on to the brood which was on 4 seems. It was cutout and attached to the empty deep frames with elastic bands and put into the nuc with some of the bees still attached. Then it was on to removing the rest of the store combs.
Judging by the amount of comb it’s possible the bees might have been there for a couple of years. Seems far too much to have been built by a mid summer swarm.
The bees were like ***** cats and showed no aggression despite getting their home ripped apart. The cutting of the wall went well but removing the store comb was Bloody Messy with bees falling onto me and honey dripping all over me and everything else while John kept the hoover going. After about an hour and 40 minutes the job was done and more than 95% the bees had been removed. We left Derek with a can of fly spray to deal the few that were left behind. We didn’t see the queen and the chances are that she ended up in the hoover.
The nuc was moved to John’s apiary then we put an extra box on top and the wriggling sticky mass of bees (unfortunately some honey ended up in the hoover) were poured from the hoover onto the top of the frames. The nuc was closed up and John will sort it out tomorrow. The chances are that the queen might have died along with a lot bees. But there is still 5 frames with brood and a substantial number of bees that have been saved and will be united if necessary.
This was my first cutout in over 40 years of beekeeping and the bees were due to bee destroyed one way or another if we hadn’t helped out. We achieved our aim in removing everything and time will tell if colony goes on to thrive or ends up united. Three things I wasn’t expecting were, the amount of comb, how docile the bees were and the Bloody Mess!
I will update.
Start, uncovering, exposed, store comb, brood, messy, John, finished.
Nice story. You'll be joining J P the beeman on youtube. After removal was there anything to stop reinfestation in the long term?
 
Nice story. You'll be joining J P the beeman on youtube. After removal was there anything to stop reinfestation in the long term?
Thanks.
We scraped off the comb right back to the boards and Derek said that they will try to seal any gaps with expanding foam when the wall is repaired. But it’s a very old building and I think it would be hard to make it totally bee proof. It was a school and after it shut in the mid seventies it was converted into offices. I was there when we left and moved into the new school. A couple of things to add, the office was in the roof space and the nest wasn’t beside the entrance the bees were using. Secondly we did the cutout for free and if left any longer there would have been swarms issuing from there later this season.
 
Having helped themselves to some of my uncapped honey in stored frames, the ants were ensuring a balanced diet, feasting on this greater wax moth that was in the storage area too.
 

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At another site today, and no brood at all...not even an occasional cell with a bee about to emerge. Pleasingly a fair quantity of stores at this site, I suppose because they cut back on brooding so early with the ground not wet for about seven months.
The sweet briar look fairly lifeless, but I guess they'll come back...if it ever does rain.
 

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A cutout.
Firstly a little back ground history.
Last year a local beekeeper was made aware of bees that were seen entering and exiting a wall in one of our local council buildings. The entrance was just below the guttering on the 3rd floor and we now know that the bees had been had found a gap between the stone wall and where the roof joined. Access from the outside would have been difficult and they weren’t sure where their nest was.
Two local pest controllers had been contacted but their policy’s were that they did not remove honey bees, so that’s why he had been contacted. He informed the council that it was likely a swarm had taken up residence and that there was a good chance that the bees would die out over the winter.
Nope!!!
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago when I was contacted to say that the bees were still there and they knew where they were. I said to Derek who was dealing with the issue to contact the pest controllers again. So he did and they weren’t interested so beekeepers were their last resort. Years ago the council had their own staff who dealt with pests including wasps when necessary but not any more due to cutbacks. I contacted John who is now our association chairman and we decided that we would attempt the cutout this evening when the bees were all in.
So at half past 5 we met up with Derek who is also a joiner and was going to do the cutting for us. He knew nothing about bees so we gave him a veil and gloves and said if we run don’t just stand there wondering what’s happening! So we entered the office with a nuc with empty frames, buckets and a hoover which John had made bee friendly by lining the drum with soft foam.
Derek had an app on his phone which could pick up heat and he was able to pinpoint the nest which was on a sloping wall about head height and he was spot on. So the cutting began and John used the hoover to suck out the loose bees as we progressed and it wasn’t long before we came across the comb, lots of comb, which was far more than we were expecting.
We came across the store comb first which was put into buckets and then we moved on to the brood which was on 4 seems. It was cutout and attached to the empty deep frames with elastic bands and put into the nuc with some of the bees still attached. Then it was on to removing the rest of the store combs.
Judging by the amount of comb it’s possible the bees might have been there for a couple of years. Seems far too much to have been built by a mid summer swarm.
The bees were like ***** cats and showed no aggression despite getting their home ripped apart. The cutting of the wall went well but removing the store comb was Bloody Messy with bees falling onto me and honey dripping all over me and everything else while John kept the hoover going. After about an hour and 40 minutes the job was done and more than 95% the bees had been removed. We left Derek with a can of fly spray to deal the few that were left behind. We didn’t see the queen and the chances are that she ended up in the hoover.
The nuc was moved to John’s apiary then we put an extra box on top and the wriggling sticky mass of bees (unfortunately some honey ended up in the hoover) were poured from the hoover onto the top of the frames. The nuc was closed up and John will sort it out tomorrow. The chances are that the queen might have died along with a lot bees. But there is still 5 frames with brood and a substantial number of bees that have been saved and will be united if necessary.
This was my first cutout in over 40 years of beekeeping and the bees were due to bee destroyed one way or another if we hadn’t helped out. We achieved our aim in removing everything and time will tell if colony goes on to thrive or ends up united. Three things I wasn’t expecting were, the amount of comb, how docile the bees were and the Bloody Mess!
I will update.
Start, uncovering, exposed, store comb, brood, messy, John, finished.
Thanks. I enjoyed all the detail of your story. It was helpful for me too after a very messy experience. I did a cut out last summer - but that's stretching the definition! A flat roof had to be removed for an extension and the house owner said the bees had been there for as many years as she could remember. As the builder started tearing the roof apart, the bees exploded. It involved levering up 8x4 plywood panels and that needed a lot of force. The comb was about 8 feet long on each side of an L. Later I could see there were not that many bees but a colossal amount of comb and honey. At one point, one side of the edge of the roof and the comb structure within crashed to the ground, 15 feet below. And, of course, the builder got stung. Working as hard as he did, his jacket (he declined a full suit) worked its way up his back.

The bees didn't stay in the nuc I left for a day. There weren't many and probably no queen. Although the bees and nest were cleared from the roof, I didn't really feel I'd succeeded at anything.
 
Secondly shallow on one hive, first onto two, others left as they were.

First misplacing of hive tool this season occurred. Hopefully it'll appear next week.
 
Secondly shallow on one hive, first onto two, others left as they were.

First misplacing of hive tool this season occurred. Hopefully it'll appear next week.
If like me it’s probably left on top of a hive or pallet 🙂
 
I've been planning to switch some colonies (swarms from last year) at home to double brood (replacing both boxes) since last weekend, but have used some of the time since organising the necessary linear arrangement of riparian wildfowl. The bees were flying well this morning so despite planning it for Saturday I decided that I might as well get on with it whilst the weather is still relatively pleasant. Just as well... One colony I opened was absolutely bulging at the seams. I have no idea how they have outpaced the other colonies so much in such a short space of time, but there you go. There's been so little decent weather here until this week they were practically leaving the hives in raincoats. In the process of transferring the frames I noticed a charged queen cell, probably around four days old judging by the size, on one of the frames. I didn't want to make a decision in a hurry, particularly as the queen isn't marked and I'd got the bees quite excitable by moving the frames, so I closed them back up and left them to sort themselves out for the time being.

I now need to have a think now about what my best option is if there's little chance of finding the queen. Given that I've just provided them with a load more space perhaps they might change their minds about swarming, but that seems like a major gamble and I'm far from convinced. I guess I have three days, tops, to sort it out.

James
 
I now need to have a think now about what my best option is if there's little chance of finding the queen. Given that I've just provided them with a load more space perhaps they might change their minds about swarming, but that seems like a major gamble and I'm far from convinced. I guess I have three days, tops, to sort it out.

Don't have a "plan A" yet, but "plan B" is sorted: I have deployed a bait hive 😆

James
 
Popped over to check on the @Black Mountain Honey queen in my three frame nuc. I popped the tab off yesterday and they've almost demolished the fondant plug so gently released her as the bees were very calm. She disappeared between two frames and there was a very contented buzzing from the nuc. Looking forward to seeing how she does. Aiming to clip her before the colony gets too big.
 
Had a good look in 16 hives this afternoon. Mostly very encouraging, but one had swarmed, almost certainly, and two were preparing to. I have split boards stacked above most hives so I was able to deal with that. Another had filled an empty super above the excluder. That box was an eke for fondant some weeks back, and the queen must have got through the excluder, and not been able to get back. So the bees filled the box with comb and she filled that with brood. They also filled the boxes below with honey and nectar.
 
Popped over to check on the @Black Mountain Honey queen in my three frame nuc. I popped the tab off yesterday and they've almost demolished the fondant plug so gently released her as the bees were very calm. She disappeared between two frames and there was a very contented buzzing from the nuc. Looking forward to seeing how she does. Aiming to clip her before the colony gets too big.
Sounds promising :)
 
Hide tool. I misplaced mine about half a dozen times at an apiary on Wednesday. I got dizzy going round and round looking for it:censored:
A lanyard is your ally. I use one and cannot lose a hive tool as a result.
 
Another had filled an empty super above the excluder. That box was an eke for fondant some weeks back, and the queen must have got through the excluder, and not been able to get back. So the bees filled the box with comb and she filled that with brood. They also filled the boxes below with honey and nectar.
Sounds like a good colony. Some spring honey to sell too (at a premium perhaps).
 

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