May be of zero interest, but I figured a little publicity could maybe save a hive?http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/zip/5038146940.html
Probably won’t happen. Removing bees from structures is difficult, and usually costs $100’s. I have a friend that specializes in this, and a normal wooden-wall removal would be $300+, and the homeowner would be responsible for the reconstruction afterwards.
Removal from a brick chimney (assuming not wooden) would be even more difficult.
I have done swarm captures in the past, and have removed hives from water meter boxes on two occasions. Took a class on bee hive removal from structures as well. Even a simple water meter box removal takes a good two hours. Structures can take longer, depending what your get into once you open up the wall.
I removed a hive from under a friends outbuilding: took two of us about 3 hours to open up the foundation, removed the comb, place it in frames, remove the bees via a bee vacuum, scrape the floor joists to clean them, spray everything down with soapy water to discourage return, box up the frames, clean up and prepare to leave. I spent about 2 hours on my back under a cinderblock foundation in a beesuit in the sweltering heat, removing comb, etc. while bees swarmed about. Got stung by 6 bees. Ahh, good times!
We did get some honey for the owners, but the hive itself did not survive beyond 6 weeks and we ended up having to combine the hive with another.
Of the swarms/hives I’ve successfully removed, I’ve only had about a 50:50 success rate of keeping the hive beyond 6 weeks. Sometimes the queen is injured/killed during the removal. Sometimes the swarm absconds (leaves) the new hive box days after you’ve installed them. Sometimes the swarm is too small, or simply doesn’t thrive, and you end up combining them with another hive instead.
There is an old saying:
A swarm in May is worth a bale of hay
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon
A swarm in July isn’t worth a fly
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I expect you’re right, but maybe…
I don’t know if this is the same home or not, but there just was story on Fox 4 News about a local home being cleared of honey bees by this group.
As usual, they were pretty thin on details, and the story has yet to appear on their website, but a little fishing about on the organization’s site uncovered the “request for removal” form which I suppose could be used by the homeowner or concerned citizens…
So, if you feel like donating, I’m sure The Bee Czar Walter Schumacher and his silly haircut will appreciate it, but seriously, seems like a worthy cause. At the very least, they appear to have stepped up in at least this one very visible event and appear to be working very hard to try to do a good thing…
Bumbled across this, so I wanted to put it out here with my other “things I noticed for people looking for this service”.
Not an endorsement, but looks interesting if you have need for bee removal…
Anybody actually know Joseph Norred?
We have a freebie shelf… <running and ducking>
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I did some bee removals with my dad many years ago. We had a farm at the time and had quite a few hives. I agree with you Mike, removal from walls or under buildings is usually, hot, sometimes dangerous and almost always not worth the trouble to recover a hive. We had much better success taking them from trees or other areas outside of the home.
I had never heard the old adage,
but I do recall many of the recoveries we did were in the summer. I always hate to see the exterminators called to remove them so any effort to recover them is applauded by me.
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You mean free-bee shelf, don’t you?
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