WILD bee hive!!!

Cobleskill · Oct 28, 2010

I know of 5 bee trees in the woods around me. One was a big old Red Oak on my property that tore out the root ball and tipped over. I cut the bee section out and set it up and guyed it off. Got some pictures I will post when the stepson will show me how.

sotc · Oct 28, 2010

interesting stuff

Bermy · Oct 28, 2010

Neat...
I saw an exposed hive over here in the summer...I didn't think much of it, but sounds like its not that common?

CurSedVoyce · Feb 18, 2011

Bump......

How is that hive doing John ??
I know it's only February ....

Mr. Sir · Feb 18, 2011

That's awesome! Brian, you're better of eating local honey; healthwise, that is.

thattreeguy · Feb 18, 2011

got a big ball jar of honey from a job awhile back
my bil drained several thru cheesecloth
natures candy

Ol' Hickory · Feb 28, 2011

No_Bivy said:
rainy bid day here.....few peeks of sun. I got a call for honey bees....I laughed, no way......hornets nest for sure! I ate crow on that one!!!!check it out!

totally exposed comb on the bottom of a oak 6"dia oak limb. Wierd! fellow beekeeper warned of africanized bees!!!

Any who.... climbed up and vacumed bees and cut the comb. Headed home for the transfer.....sunny one minute..pouring rain the next.

Bee inspector came along to see.......bees tested for"african" genes

bees have been "boxed". I rubber banded the comb into a normal frame

crap shoot for the winter though.....................

Nice pics.

Why would you keep them if they're africanized? Or do you think it's inevitable?

What state are you in?

Ol' Hickory · Feb 28, 2011

I started with one hive and I'm up to five now.

SkwerI · Feb 28, 2011

Cool, another honey bee guy on the forum.

John is in N.C., a bit south of you.

Ol' Hickory · Feb 28, 2011

Thanks Skwerl, I hope we never get the africanized ones.

cory · Feb 28, 2011

I found my first hive a couple days ago, in a red maple hollow that I didn't know was there till the crane landed it and I was cutting. Didn't see any bees anywhere. If this happens again, and I see some bees, what do i do to save them?

2011/DSC01761.

MasterBlaster · Mar 1, 2011

Is that YOU, C?

Edit = no, you're fiddy tree.

brendonv · Mar 1, 2011

Hey, Pat looks a little different. :|:

cory · Mar 1, 2011

No, that's The Mik

Ol' Hickory · Mar 18, 2011

cory said:
I found my first hive a couple days ago, in a red maple hollow that I didn't know was there till the crane landed it and I was cutting. Didn't see any bees anywhere. If this happens again, and I see some bees, what do i do to save them?

2011/DSC01761.View attachment 31126

I don't have any experience with rescuing feral hives. I would just keep the hive in as large of a piece as you can and call some beekeepers. http://www.ctbees.com/ Probably stuff the ends with a rag or something too.

Mr. Sir · Nov 10, 2011

Urban Beehive

CurSedVoyce · Nov 10, 2011

That is really cool..... But kinda makes my skin get the heebee jeebies :lol:

stig · Nov 11, 2011

Great idea.

It would have worked really well about 20 years ago, before beekeepers managed to spread diseases and parasites around.

Back then beekeeping was relatively easy, today just staying ahead of the Varroa mites is a lot of work.

Frax · Dec 2, 2011

We don't have wild honey bees here. Too cold. The open comb colonies are very cool to see. Thanks for the pics.

But we have plenty of vespid wasps. This is the biggest wasp nest i've ever seen. Right on top of a fence post. No zoom lens so I had to get right up close. They were not interested in me in the least though.

huge wasp nest by altacal, on Flickr

CurSedVoyce · Jul 22, 2014

Our first bee removal went fine.
I went back last night and stapled some screen over the entrance. Could not find another opening and went with it.
Some stragglers were all over it this morning and checked me out some.
I had finally got a hold of a bee keeper from our local conservatory office (ag) and he came out wiht his little flat bed to pick them up today.
I took the rest of the brush (crispy) off the tree, then rigged down the wood and hive.
We were going to try and set the hive vertical (turned out to be quite the log for his little truck :lol:

) and due to the small diameter of the cavity, and the fact his place was close by, he opted to transport the log horizontal and up right it at his place.
We tried to trim down the log some and lost a small portion of the hive. But the main part was saved.
These have got to be the most docile wild hives I have ever run into. The hive was about 2 years old. The only thing stopping them from being more like 15 plus feet of hive was an old squirrel nest that blocked them from going further south. I had the hive about figured out though. Top cut and bottom cut were right above and below prior to rigging the log down.
Here is some fodder. We are probably the only tree service that has taken the time to save a hive up here from the sounds of it...

CurSedVoyce · Jul 22, 2014

Made a couple of curf cuts to be sure and try to down size the log.. But they were all the way through it... Then swung the log out to his truck.
I have visitation rights (bring a hive here for the garden pollination) ...

If the hive survives, I will probably end up with one if he makes more from it.
Scored some honey

Probably more work ...
Kids learned a lot about bees.....
No one got stung even once in two days... Really docile hive.. Amazed the heck out of everyone..

MasterBlaster · Jul 22, 2014

That is awesome. Any treeco I've ever worked with always opted to kill the poor things. Good on you!!!

rskybiz · Jul 22, 2014

Nice, love the fodder also!

Bodean · Jul 22, 2014

Nice work,Man.

We're doing one this Friday/Saturday. Three nests, Super punky large oak.
Not really looking forward to it. Either way.

CurSedVoyce · Jul 22, 2014

I am looking forward to doing this again if a situation presents itself. Kind of wild sitting there in a small swarm of bees trying to suppress the instinct to swat at things. Having them on the face netting was a tad weird. But it was not all that bad. And if they make it, the feeling I will have from pulling this off is incredible. Bees are so vital and in such a bad state of late. This hive could add stronger genes to a species that are very much needed.

WILD bee hive!!!

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