I went to a house off of Fairway Drive in Etowah this morning to remove a colony of honeybees from a dead hollow tree that was too close to a home. A very nice young couple greeted us and we took a look at the tree. Plans were made and action begun in no time. After the tree was felled, my friend Darrell and I split the trunk open with wedges to reveal a nice section of honeycomb.
It was so hot today, I decided to see if I could do this project without suiting up in the hot bee suit and gloves. The bees were very gentle, and did not react as we pounded the hammers on the wedges and barely reacted as we opened the trunk like a good book, slowly and carefully! I started cutting out the comb with a knife and sized the removed sections to fit into brood frames. Darrell started cutting and banding also. In no time we had removed all of the comb and had it installed in the frames. I used no protective gear, not even gloves, and cut the comb out as well as banded into frames with only one sting from a bee that I accidentally mashed. Not bad, considering we completely violated their very home. A very good trait in this colony is gentleness, but that will not be passed on because I was forced to use other genetics to produce the new queen.
There was no brood in the entire comb collection. I only saw about 4 or 5 drone cells, which workers can produce, so it appears there were no laying workers or there would have been much more drone brood. It also was very clear there was no queen, or we would have seen some brood or eggs.
Darrell and I vacuumed up the rest of the bees with a special bee vacuum and I took them home to install in the new nucleous hive I used for the small amount of brood. A nuc is only five frames instead of the standard 10. I then found a hive that had a queen cell in it and shook all of the bees off of that frame. I then put that frame with a queen cell in the nuc for them to raise a queen.
All was well as I admired the new nuc colony and my cell phone began to ring. The caller had gotten my name from the Buncombe County Ag Extension office. He had a bee problem and asked me to take a look. I headed over shortly afterward and found a very nice gentleman in West Asheville with a keen interest in bees. I told him I did not think the removal would cost more than the standard fee and told him I could do it right then if he wanted. He agreed and even provided some tools as I quickly uncovered the bees behind his lap siding under a window in his living room. I began removing the comb one section at a time and fit the sections into frames then secured them with rubber bands. In no time I had the bees cut out and the comb fastened into a hive body. I left the hive near the area where I had cut out the comb and promised to return tomorrow to collect the rest of the bees and seal up the hole.
Two hives of bees gained in one day was very good and two very interested clients got an education about how wonderful and amazing our honey bees are. I love doing work for people and always seem to meet the nicest people that way. We really have a lot of very wonderful people in this world still, even if the other type is always in the headlines. I wonder if I can get 3 colonies removed tomorrow? I do have the possibility of 3 more colonies this week even if I get no more calls. I am up to 19 hives now and, if I can count my chicks before they hatch, I could have 22 by Friday. I love helping good people and saving the bees at the same time. All in all, beekeeping is rewarding for me all the way around.
No comments:
Post a Comment