Bee Tree

Found this bee tree this past weekend. Anybody have any ideas aboud capturing the colony. Not going to cut tree down so I guess my best bet is to wait till spring and try to capture when they swarm. We need to keep all the honey bees living that we can, as there is a lot dying out around here.

as a bee keeper in florida it is just about impossible to capture them they may swarm may not they do make a swarm trap that you can hang up near by they may move to it may not do agree they need to be kept alive they do from time to time just move out as i have had a few in the past few years just leave the best way to keep them there in the winter is fed them sugar water a gallon jar with very small holes in the lid filled with very thick sugar water is good hang it upside down with a place they can land on and still get to the feed we have to feed ours from nov throughfeb to insure they do not run out of food when you have a lot of hives it gets exspencive but they honey is nice in the spring and summer good luck

Great pic! I"ve never seen a bee tree. We have lots of trees with hollow spots, but never had bees move in.

You"re absolutely right to try to keep them alive. They are necessary for our agriculture.

We have been called to remove bees from storm damaged trees, especially if they have landed on a house. About the only way is to split the tree with a chain saw, hopefully not your own, and vac up as many as you can. Yes you can buy bee vacs. Most of the time we kill more bees or wind up killing the whole hive. That is not what we set out to do. If they arn't bothering anything leave them alone. You can set another hive close buy and use a lure to attract swarms from this tree into the new hive. Swarm attractant is available from any reputable beekkeepping supply house, as is the wooden ware for the hives. If you need to get rid of them, contact your county extension service or if I remember right Carolina has a very good state beekkeepping organization.

I used to raise bees when I was in high school for a FFA project. I only had 7 hives but I really liked them. Then I got drafted out of high school and got away from keeping bees. Now I want to get 4 or 5 hives but keeping bees today requires a lot more care than they did in 1965. You didn't have to worry about colony collapse, or virus's back then. I will wait until spring and see what happens. This colony is real strong now but may feed this winter as they are only about 4 feet off the ground. DH

Nancy This is the second one I have found. Walked up on this one by accident, heard a noise and turned around, there it was. By the way I spent a year at Fort Hood and used to drive to Texoma to buy Coors beer. Texas didn't sell Coors than. DH

If you capture any bees now they will have to be fed through the winter and have a queen added to them.
One prodedure is to wait until spring. make a funnel of screen wire. Big end over hole in tree. Set up a hive close to the tree with a frame of brood in it and a few nurse bees, no queen. Direct the small end of the funnel,which should have a 3/8 inch opening, into the hive. The bees in the tree can get out but will have difficulty getting back in. When they return from foraging they will be attracted to the brood and take care of it, hopefully raising a new queen. If no sign of queen rearing, buy queen and install. Several days will get most of the bees out of the tree and you can leave the rest to hopefull recover and keep things going but don't bet on it. Fold a small piece of screen wire and stop up the hive entrance at night. You should already have stapled the hive together with 2 hive staples on each side, angled in the opposite direction to hold things together. You don't want the hive coming apart, ask me how I know. Move the hive at night to a new location at least 2 miles away and remove the screen wire.

KEH

Well #1 when they swam they are not leaving but making another hive as they fly off and start a new colony which is you do much of any bee keeping you should already know. The old hive/swan will still be there unless the queen dies and then if they have enough brood they will do what is needed to make a new queen. If you want to truly capture that swam of bees you have to completely remove them from that tree which is not easy. Bee keeping is something I wish I could still do but some how 150 stings plus has it so I can no longer do it

I'm hardly a bee keeper but wouldn't they find a new home if you kept a smokey fire close to the tree.

I was told.....

that if you put a nice hive system underneath it, they will move in on their own.

this was told to me by a bee keeper i used to run around with.

I asked why, and he said if you live in a tent and all of a sudden there is a modern home, empty, five feet away, the bees fiqure it out on their own.

dont know how true????

May try that. Got nothing to lose!! Thanks DH