Beehive, what's easier to do?! destroy or relocate!?

[jalegre0]

In all my years I've encountered a

Beehive in a Tree

[/ATTACH I usually have to remove it.

​

I usually spray the shit out of it, get stung, sucks. Last weekend We encountered one in the trunk of a 25in. X 5ft

Section of the Log

.[/ATTACH] So I got together with

Bartlett Tree Service

who found a local bee farmer who gave the hive a new home. Awesome; wait still had to cut section out and put on his trailor.(did not get stung once, note also was cold out bees don't bother as much). We wrapped opening to beehive with screen and taped it securely to trunk.Set up G.R.C.S. and pulleys in adjacent tree, let bee farmer smoke em' to calm them down. [[/ATTACH] After cut,we lifted log off stump, screened bottom and lowered hive onto a cart. Put On Trailer and waved goodbye. Bye

Saving the Beehive

it only extended the job 3hrs. on a Saturday, 2 people the day after tree was cut.[[/ATTACH

 

[stig]

Nice.

Smoke dosn't actually calm them down.
It makes them believe the forset is on fire , so they fill their bellies with honey in preparation for an escape.
With full bellies they can't easily bend their bodies into position for stinging.
In order to jam the stinger into a human they have to curve their backs. Not easy when you are full of honey.

So the calming effect is simply that they get busy filling up with emergency rations.

 

[jalegre0]

now you said that I remember the bee farmer saying the exact same thing

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Always cool to save a hive... Unless they are those nasty Africanised buggers

 

[rumination]

No Africanized bees in New Jersey, I don't think. Too cold for them.

Well done on saving the hive. Bees are precious these days.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

None here either for the same reason Leon... But a tad further south west.........

 

[woodworkingboy]

Nice.

Smoke dosn't actually calm them down.
It makes them believe the forset is on fire , so they fill their bellies with honey in preparation for an escape.
With full bellies they can't easily bend their bodies into position for stinging.
In order to jam the stinger into a human they have to curve their backs. Not easy when you are full of honey.
So the calming effect is simply that they get busy filling up with emergency rations.

Has that completely been substantiated? I was asking my brother about it, he raises bees. There are various theories, that being one of them, and probably the most widely accepted, about gorging with honey. Another is that the smoke confuses them, and when confused they are in a less aggressive state. Another is that smoke affects alarm chemicals or pheromones that are released in the bodies of bees, covers what would normally be the effects. Theories seem to have regional differences as well. The true answer could be a combination of factors. Looking on the web, though different theories are expressed, it doesn't seem yet to be completely understood.

 

[No_Bivy]

Smoke helps to mask pheromone communication . Some people can smell the panic pheromone ......smells like bananas

Next time , be sure to transport the hive the exact same way it was. The comb can collapse inside log, killing bees and drowning them in their own honey....

 

[MasterBlaster]

Around here, no one wants to take the time to save them and they get destroyed. I think it outta be against the law!!!

 

[Cobleskill]

I had a tree that had a colony up about 30 feet in a Red Oak. The tree blew over. I cut the 2 foot diameter section out chained to my loader and stood it up on the ground. They survived, died out, repopulated, died out, and repopulated again in the last few years. You would wonder where the swarms come from.

I can smell the alarm pheromone. When you smoke bees you can watch them sucking honey up. The instinct theory about forest fires makes sense.

They sure are remarkable little insects. Hope they can survive whatever it is that is killing off colonies.

 

[No_Bivy]

Lost all my bees last winter.....damn 10 hives down the tubes. Hopefully get some free bees next year
Most folks in this area lost at least 50% or % 100 like me

 

[MasterBlaster]

Humans need to get their shit together!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Pure honey is a valuable commodity. Here in the honey selling shops, apparently unscrupulous sellers will often cut the honey with sone kind of sugar solution mix. You'll be getting less honey for your money. Most of the honey sold in super markets is out of China. Cheap, but I wouldn't trust it.

 

[cory]

China sucks.

Great work saving the hive!

 

[rumination]

Lost all my bees last winter.....damn 10 hives down the tubes. Hopefully get some free bees next year
Most folks in this area lost at least 50% or % 100 like me

That's a serious bummer. I lost my bees, two winters ago. I haven't had the motivation to start over again.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Bee keeper up here told me something I never knew about bees.
If they take nectar from our Buckeye trees (Aesculus californica) here in spring first thing, it wipes out the hive.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I guess that happens to non native species of bees. Natives seem ok on it. By what I looked up.

 

[woodworkingboy]

People that raise bees are really lucky to not have to deal with the giant wasps that can decimate a hive quickly. Certain times of the year they are a real problem, you have to set out traps. Still, you can lose a hive to the aggressive predators.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I guess you couldn't get a giant hornet for me? I are with sadz...

 

[rumination]

Those giant wasps are SCARY. Thankfully, we don't have those in the States where I was keeping bees. There were years when the yellow jackets/hornets would have a population explosion, though, and they could do serious damage to the hives.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I have one, MB, still waiting for another to show up. Getting a little late in the year.

 

[Cobleskill]

That's a serious bummer. I lost my bees, two winters ago. I haven't had the motivation to start over again.

I have tried to hive swarms and have had an awful time. They end up leaving or queenless. Last year I had a hive. They made it through the winter and were collecting pollen. It was such a nasty hive I didn't open them to check. When they seemed to be slow I did check and they were quenless. Frustrating.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Yeah. Leon is right ... the little ones do enough damage.

 

[woodworkingboy]

When bees swarm, don't they ingest a lot of honey first to have nutrients for their travels and relocation? After awhile when they relocate, you can still smoke them. They don't have much honey in reserves at that time do they? If not, what does that do to the theory of smoke causing them to gorge on honey and then being able to distend their bodies to sting?

 

[Cobleskill]

Bees in a swarm are generally docile as they do not have a home to defend. If they have been hanging on a limb for a while in nasty weather they can be hostile. If you get suited up good they generally can't sting you so you just don't bother with smoke when you are hiving a swarm.