# Bees in a log...



## XCricketX (Jun 7, 2006)

Here they are... now what? Would like to keep them... but how to get them out? 
Pics are of the log all the way around, the hole we found, and we tried to get actual honey bee pics. They are very docile bees.. we were not attacked and we flashed them with the camera.


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## barelahh (Apr 13, 2007)

Thats going to be fun! LOL

Uhmmm maybe and i am no professional at this you can chainsaw down the length. But your going to disturb them and get them defensive. 
THen wait til they calm down and pry the log open. The problem is getting the queen. Being that the log is mostly hollow and rotted, you might take a pair of splitters and go from the end and whack it and split the log. Maybe Capture the queen and bees and put them in a hive body, then take all of the brood comb and set it in a frame somehow?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

There are a couple of ways to get the bees into a bee hive.
The easist is to fix a stand over the opening to set a bee hive on with frames of foundation. Close all the openings to make them go into the hive. Once that is done you can just sit back and wait or you can drum on the log to get them to move out of it upinto the hive. Once they are up in the hive set it on a bottom board and feed them as you would a package or nuc of bees. 

The second way Is some thing I do not recommend to some one that has never worked bees.Get the measurement of the thickness of the logs wall. Mark that on the bar of a chain saw. cut into the log in two spots to remove a chunk of wood like a watermellon. From there it is just scopeing the bees into a hive body and banding brood comb into frames to hold the girls in the hive.
I do not recommend the above method if you can do the first method. It is messy, you may miss the queen, may not have the right age eggs/brood they can raise a queen from, 

 Al


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

# 1.... Pick a sunny, calm day above 70 Fahrenheit.

#2...re-read #1.

Number 3. Do as alley says, except use an axe and wedge to split the log, rather than a chain saw. A hollow log will split easily.


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## XCricketX (Jun 7, 2006)

Ya know... I kind of like the "build a hive over top of it" idea! LOL!!!

Thanks guys! ^_^ We will have to get situated first then try to give it a go.

Cricket


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## justgojumpit (May 5, 2003)

This looks like fun! I vote for the slower method. Once you have the queen laying in your hive body above the log, you could put a queen excluder between the log and the hive body to keep the queen from going back down. Then you could wait a few weeks for any brood and eggs to hatch. Then I'd take the hive off the log, and set it in the position of the log. Move the log 50 feet or so from the hive, and let the bees rob it out to recover any stores that the bees may have in the log. After the bees are done robbing it out, you can take the log at night, when there should be no bees in it, and THEN split it open to examine!

justgojumpit


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Normally the drumming will drive them up into the hive body. you check it by pulling frames and watch real close for the queen. the queen will look some thing like these.


















Some logs will not split right with a slege and weges, like this gree maple that came down in a storm.









Tie the brood in frames like this.I use rubber band made from tractor tubes. I have also used big rubber bands and even masonery string. the string many times is removed by the girls before they finish hooking the comb to the frame. 









 Al


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## justgojumpit (May 5, 2003)

Wow, that queen is sure a beauty! great pics, I enjoyed seeing them!

justgojumpit


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## XCricketX (Jun 7, 2006)

With it being oak, I would think nothing but a chainsaw would work. It's like cutting steel... we've seen the chainsaw spark on this stuff!
We went out to visit the bees today... looks like the combs go pretty deep in there. I will definitely disect it when I get the bees out.

Should I connect a whole hive box to the log somehow, or should I just put frames on a stand and wrap it up in plastic around the log?

Cricket


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I would put the whole hive over the entrance. Make it so they must use an entrance at the top of the hive. Even if you are going to drum them out you want them to have to use the hive as a excape from that drumming log.

Oh I for got to mention the Black Carnoloina queen is'nt really to be taken with a grain of salt. She is on honey and all the books say that queens won't go onto honey.

If you are going to use the chain saw to open the log with bees in it smoke them before you start.

 Al


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