# I have feral bees



## Rowdy (Jul 9, 2004)

Well, I have at least two feral hives on my place, at opposite ends of the property. As that the land is 208ft wide by 1250ft long, with patches of brush that are impossible to walk through, there may be more I guess.

I found the first hive this summer when clearing fence line with a dozer(without a cab). I kinda rubbed past it with the corner of my blade, and suddenly realized there were flying things all around. As that I have knocked over a tree full of AHB in winter on a dozer with a cab and have them follow the dozer a mile, it did not take me long to realize that I needed to get way from this tree. Long story short, I found a hollow tree with a hive in it on my place. The entrance is about head high. As that I only got stung four times, and they didn't swarm the dozer (which as soon as I was several feet from the tree I put in neutral, left running and ran like a little girl) I've assumed they are not AHB had have been content to leave them be. (though when I forgot to tarp my boat before it rained, and it was covered in bees for the water since it was the only standing water around, I though other wise.. ;-)

Now I have found another hive. It is about 70 feet from the house, the entrance is about chest high. I've not had any trouble from them yet, and have walked quite close (perhaps ten feet) to the hive without getting stung. Unfortantly, they are quite close to where I had planned to use my chainsaw and a logsplitter for my wood piles. I'm going to try it anyway, hopefully they are as docile as the first hive. This hive is quite close to where my garden will be this year, so I do not want to destory them unless I have to... anyway, thoughts, comments, ideas?

Rowdy


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Rowdy;
When I lived in town I had my bees withing 4 feet of the back of the house and about that close to my garden. I mowed and tilled around them without a problem, but I did have paving stones under them so that I did not have to mow closer than a foot to the hives. 

I think you will probably be OK with your bee tree next to the woodpile.
Ox


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## skruzich (Jul 23, 2003)

Kool, I wish i had a couple ferals here. I would put them in hives. They tend to handle the mites better than the domesticated.
AHB's can be handled too, just have to make sure you have protective equipment. While i will work a domesticated beehive without anything but a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, i wouldn't even think of it with AHB's.


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## fourwindsranch (Oct 12, 2005)

I also have feral bees. They are in a very old wood sided grainery. I bought this place (central Oklahoma) in mid 2000. It is my understanding from locals that these bees have been in residence for a long long time. Locally kind of famous actually. I had a bee keeper remove (or so I thought) the hive. It took a couple of years but they are back and have split into 2 groups on opposite sides of the building. They have never been aggressive so I assume that is a good sign re: AHB? It is so cool as I can see honeycomb between the interior and exterior walls of the building. Guess at some point I need to decide what to do with these guys. Currently I don't use the building but if I need it...
Michelle


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## nypete (Oct 23, 2005)

Rowdy, We've had alot of fun this past summer capturing feral colonies. Its not hard to do and its surprising how docile the bees are even when you are removing the comb from their hive. we got a hive full of bees from a tree this summer and it was no trouble and no one got stung!! If you are a beekeeper and have the equipment you can get them out of the tree. Set up a hive body with ten frames, bottom board,cover etc right next to the entrance of the feral colony. You will need of seal up all other entrances to the hive except one. Make a screen cone that is about 1/2" in diameter at one end and the other end big enough to fit over the opening of the feral colony.set your hive body (preferably with a queen and some brood but not too many bees) up so that the entrance is right next to the end of the cone. As the bees exit the hive thru the cone and can't get back in they will start to go into the new hive right next door.leave it there for several weeks so all the brood can hatch and exit the hive. The queen will slow her egg laying rate way down and will eventually stop altogether as her hive number dwindle to next to nothing. You can then seal up the hole in the tree to keep out future swarms or leave it open and let another swarm move in as they will be attracted to the comb left behind.
You can get them out of a building the same way or if you can get the siding off and get right to the hive you can cut the comb out and tie it into some frames without any foundation and put the frames into a hive body With the proper protective equipment no one gets stung and the bees don' t get to angry as you relocate them. 
We've captured 6 coloies this summer and hope to get several more next year.


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## lewbest (Sep 25, 2005)

Hey Michelle

If you decide you want them removed (even just half of them) I'd sure like to try to get them next spring. Very possibly swarms from the original (parent) colony. I'm in TX but if fuel ever gets half reasonable again I'd love to have some survivors like that to try to raise some queens from!

If you'd like to try beekeeping contact me back channel & i'll try to help you get started & hive one of those colonies.

Lew Best [email protected]


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