[Hobie]

I've been in contact with someone locally who had a swarm move into their yard and set up housekeeping in the open. He sent a photo, which I have inclded below, but it is not very clear.

The colony is small, comb is located at about head height and intertwined among the branches of an arborvitae hedge. The colony survived torrential downpours last week. It is so far being a good neighbor, and has not been bothering anyone.

The property owner is not being bothered at all, but is concerned they will not survive the winter (true.) I'm short on spare equipment, but may consider taking them anyway. But how? My record for getting the queen in a cut out is not very good, maybe once in 3 attempts. And this looks, well, "not easy."

Any and all advice welcome!

 

[Iddee]

If you can find a hive, treat it as a cutout by banding the brood into frames and feed, feed, feed. If you don't have a hive available, I would make a wooden box the size of two deeps and treat them as a bee gum until spring and then do a cutout. Trim all the outer branches and place the twigs and all in the box. Let them build odd comb the rest of this year.

 

[G3farms]

That little hive may not be as small as you think. You would really need to go and look at what they have built, and cut it out of the branches. It might be a big mess and then again you might be able to cut the twigs that are running through the comb and get it apart. If you can get it apart just rubber band it in some frames and set them up in a hive body and feed. If it is just a big mess of comb you might try cutting it all out intact and as iddee says put them in a hive body, if you can spare a frame of brood from another hive put that in there with some frames of foundation. In other words try to get them off of the existing comb and pulling wax on the other frames. Once they have moved onto the other frames you can pull the old hive out over time. Just be careful with that new wax or it will crush and you will loose everything.

Good luck with it and keep us posted.

G3

You might try cutting the whole thing out and sitting it on top of a box with frames and foundation, and then smoking them off of the existing wax into the new hive, then cutting the comb apart. Apair of scissors to reach inbetween the combs to snip the twigs loose might work good.

 

[Guest]

From the looks of that picture it looks like it would be hard to cut and tie that comb into frames, I like G3's idea of laying in some frames and trying to get them off the old comb.