Dang Bees!

[Missouri Frontier]

Ok folks I need some opinions. I have a 60ft dead standing cottonwood I want to take down. 30 ft up the trunk there is a 12 inch branch with a massive( very active) honey bee hive in it. My neighbors are suggesting I leave it alone until winter cold. So what do you think? Are these bees going to kick my butt or are the neighbors over reacting? Just thought I'd check with the experts. Thanks

 

[Get Wood]

Ok folks I need some opinions. I have a 60ft dead standing cottonwood I want to take down. 30 ft up the trunk there is a 12 inch branch with a massive( very active) honey bee hive in it. My neighbors are suggesting I leave it alone until winter cold. So what do you think? Are these bees going to kick my butt or are the neighbors over reacting? Just thought I'd check with the experts. Thanks

I would try to find someone that handles bees and have them come and move the hive. He should be glad to do that for free.

 

[Missouri Frontier]

Hey Marvin that's not a bad idea. Hadn't thought about it.

 

[Coal Reaper]

They will not like thier home being being bothered and will protect it. Try to get in touch with a local beekeeper through a state or farm assosiation. If not luck with that and you gotta go at the tree do it on a warm sunny day. Most of the bees will be out in the field collecting nectar and pollen. Smoke em to confuse them. Def best to have somebody come in to preserve the colony tho.

 

[ScotO]

Honeybees are a VERY beneficial part of our ecosystem....they are responsible for pollinating a lot of our vegetables and fruit...
I'd do my best to preserve the hive. Having a beekeep or an expert come in to move the hive is not only a good thing to do, I think it is the right thing to do.

Honeybees can be VERY aggressive (especially the ones who've hybridized with African bees). And they can have MASSIVE hives too. I've heard stories where entire walls of two story houses were completely FULL of a colony of honeybees......

Either way, be careful....and we'd love to see some pics! You know how we are around here....

 

[Backwoods Savage]

By all means, do try to save the bees. Only then tackle that cottonwood. Do you plan on burning it?

 

[Missouri Frontier]

Yeah Dennis I'm going to burn it hopefully this winter. It's probably going to be some of my only (mostly) dry wood. I'm going to take the tree and I will try to get someone out here to move the bees. Scott I'll try to get pics but, I've tried up loading pics from my iPad and I guess I'm doing something wrong but I can't make it work. I got this iPad from the kids for Christmas. It's great but I'm a pretty low tec kind of guy.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That cottonwood will burn well for you but not long fires.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Save the Bee. Saw a bumper sticker with this and a smiling bee. I agree, look at the clover when mowing. There are yellow and black fuzzy bumble bees
but not many honey bees.

 

[bogydave]

+6,

Get a bee guru & Save the bees

Save some of the honey too

 

[HDRock]

A queen bee had left , and a big swarm landed in a tree in my yard, thousand's of bees.
I called a bee keeper , he came and scraped them into a paper bag, then put them in a container, no charge, he was happy to get them

 

[Nick Mystic]

I certainly endorse what others have said regarding trying to save the bees. However, most beekeepers I know are more accustomed to working with hives on the ground and you might well have trouble finding one who is willing to go 30 feet up a dead tree to try and remove a hive inside a dead limb! Better make sure he has some good liability insurance! And I suppose you better have even better insurance!

 

[Applesister]

Im with everyone here. Setting up a hive is expensive, beekeepers are happy to get a healthy active hive for free. Finding someone should be pretty easy. Ask an extension agent if there are any beekeepers associations in your area.

 

[Coal Reaper]

if you can get a hold of an experienced beekeeper they can do a funnel extraction. i have tried this once with great success. have to make it so there is only one way in or out and put a funnel over it. set up an empty hive box right near that opening. the bees leave the funnel and try to return to the base of it but cant get in so they eventually start to set up shop in the new hive. eventually the queen leaves when she realizes her field workers are not returning and she is running out of food. takes time though. 3 weeks for me to get this queen out and another 3 weeks for the rest of the larvae to emerge and leave the old hive. then you can take the funnel off for a week or so and the bees go back in to get whatever honey is left so it doesnt attract ants. i had no bees return after sealing up the wall even though the wax comb was left in there. they were getting into a block wall next to a pipe where the seal had pulled away. south facing wall next to a railroad track loaded with wildflowers. perfect location for a beehive. this was a small colony of about 10,000 just getting started in spring. all in all pretty interesting i think.

 

[swagler85]

I've tried up loading pics from my iPad and I guess I'm doing something wrong but I can't make it work. I got this iPad from the kids for Christmas. It's great but I'm a pretty low tec kind of guy.

for uploading pics ther has rcently been a change on the forum that let you upload pics. Just click upload a file, it will take a second and then give you an option to choose an existing file or take a new picture. click "choose existing" then scroll through your pictures and select the right one. the upload takes a little time but hang on and it will pop up. Then you have an option to display as a thumbnail or actual size. Good luck

 

[Paulywalnut]

Nice pics coal reaper. Great idea to boot. thanks.

 

[Missouri Frontier]

Upload a file from your computer (Max 2.9 MB):

Accepted file types: zip, txt, pdf, png, jpg, jpeg, jpe, gif
Max image width: 1,400 pixels
Max image height: 1,400 pixels
This is the pop up I get when I try to post a picture. I think you all get this except when it comes up for me the choose file button is dark and seems to have no function. Anyway I'll keep trying. Any tech advice would be appreciated.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Don't get that popup at all. It goes immediately to the picture folder.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

As a general rule, save honey bee colonies if at all possible. Bees are in a bad way lately. Really bad. They say it is a newer pesticide that is decimating populations here. It's literally heading for a crisis- there are just not enough bees now, and many food crops for humans rely on pollinators like bees. We humans are literally facing the very real possibility of mass starvation because of this problem. We are at a tipping point... By all means, save them. Get a bee keeper to get them.

 

[blades]

Not what I heard about Honey bees. Some type of virus or similar. Not discounting pesticide, but this was a fairly recent find.

 

[ScotO]

Not what I heard about Honey bees. Some type of virus or similar. Not discounting pesticide, but this was a fairly recent find.

Yes, supposedly a fungus or something.....
But as cluttermagnet said, we need honeybees as badly as we need water or oxygen. Their survival means our survival in the grand scheme of things.....

 

[smokinj]

My honey bee's are kick butt. Wish I was closer I would take off your hands. Never go in with out smoke.

 

[ScotO]

My honey bee's are kick butt. Wish I was closer I would take off your hands. Never go in with out smoke.

Are the hives being productive, Jay? Any honecomb yet?

 

[smokinj]

Are the hives being productive, Jay? Any honecomb yet?

Oh yea, there is 12 big combs and I just gave them another 1/3 of the hive. Not a lot of room left in there already. Total length is 4 foot.

 

[ScotO]

Oh yea, there is 12 big combs and I just gave them another 1/3 of the hive. Not a lot of room left in there already. Total length is 4 foot.

That's awesome, brother! Sounds like you got off to a great start and you're bees are already kickin' azz!! The clover is starting to come on here in central PA, won't be long til the good honey is flowing at the local beekeeps'....