# Can a hive be removed from inside a tree?



## TNredhead

We live in a small town our house sets on 1 1/2 acre lot. We just noticed that we had bees in a tree that our kids have treehouse in. It`s about 8-10 feet above the tree house. The bees don`t seem to mind us BUT the kids haven`t been playing around the treehouse since we notice the bees. The openning of the tree to the hive looks to be about 4ins high and about 2ins wide. Tree is huge. Our house is about 100 years old and I`m not sure of the age of the tree. O.k. getting to the point now...can bees be removed with out cutting the tree? If we don`t remove the hive how long will they stay? My DH is very allergic to stinging insects. Really thats my biggest concern. I would hate to see the tree damaged. SO all you beekeepers what are my options.


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## beeman97

TNredhead said:


> We live in a small town our house sets on 1 1/2 acre lot. We just noticed that we had bees in a tree that our kids have treehouse in. It`s about 8-10 feet above the tree house. The bees don`t seem to mind us BUT the kids haven`t been playing around the treehouse since we notice the bees. The openning of the tree to the hive looks to be about 4ins high and about 2ins wide. Tree is huge. Our house is about 100 years old and I`m not sure of the age of the tree. O.k. getting to the point now...can bees be removed with out cutting the tree? If we don`t remove the hive how long will they stay? My DH is very allergic to stinging insects. Really thats my biggest concern. I would hate to see the tree damaged. SO all you beekeepers what are my options.


Redhead,
There is little to no chance of taking the bee's out of that tree short of cutting it down, there really is no way to judge the size of the hive or how far up or down the tree it goes without cutting it down, If you are of a mind to get rid of the bee's you could seal up the entrance to the hive permently & that will solve your problem, but that will kill the bee's & feral hives are getting harder & harder to find.
If the hive entrance is well above any level you or your children or DH are likely to go then i say just let them bee. They will not bother anyone unless you harrass them 1st & usually that only happens when one messes with there house.
It would be a real shame to kill the tree or the bee's just to be sure someone won't get stung, seeing as that can happen on any given day in any given location anyway.
Like i mentioned earlier the honey bee's are getting more & more scarse as it is ,
acouple of things you may want to keep in mind is 1, don't leave water pans left out & about during dry spells in your area & 2, also don't leave fruits or soda cans where the bee's can find them, they will be drawn to that kind of thing if there is not a honey flow going on & that is usually when someone comes accross the rare sting from a honey bee.
Good Luck
Rick


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## Judy in IN

TNredhead, 
You can take the bees out of the tree....takes about 3 weeks. Do you have other hives or have a neighbor who does? How high from the ground is the entrance?


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## TNredhead

Thanks guys, I don`t have hives. But I`ll ask our Ag-Ext for a name of a bee keeper in this area. If some wants to get them out the slow way I`ll leave that up to experts. Otherwise I`ll guess we have new neighbors. I don`t want to kill the bees, that`s not even an option. Cut the tree?...I don`t want to do that either. Thanks guys...sorry I`m just getting back today.


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## Bouncenhumble

Judy in IN said:


> TNredhead,
> You can take the bees out of the tree....takes about 3 weeks. Do you have other hives or have a neighbor who does? How high from the ground is the entrance?


The only way I have ever retrieved a hive from a tree, is to cut the tree also. If there is another way I would be interested in knowing how also. 

When you cut a tree, it is wicked hard to find the queen, and make sure she dosn't get hurt. So the most of the times, when I have done it, I get as many bees as I can (not really looking for the queen) put them in a hive with a frame or two of brood and eggs, and a frame or so of honey. That way they can make a new queen if they need to or they will just get a good start.


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## Beeman

As a beekeeper I'd like to know the way to remove the hive from the tree also. I currently have a hive in a good tree right at my driveway. They were doing so good they swarmed and I'm trying to remove the remaining hive. i've gone as far as building a platform at the hole in the tree level and placed a hive there. I have even made a cone with screen wire that leads to the hive. The only thing I haven't used to lure them out yet is brood which will be the next thing I try. After that I will give up on them as I like my tree better then the bees where I don't want them.


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## Judy in IN

Beeman, you're almost there! You've got the cone of screen where the bees come out right at the hive, and they can't get back in. Now, put a young queen with a few frames in that hive, and the returning bees will join the weak hive. As the new bees hatch out, they will join up too. The old queen in the tree will die eventually, and you can seal up the hole. Otherwise, you'll have another swarm in that tree.


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## Beeman

The bees will not go up the screen cone and any where near the hive body. I've baited with honey and still no go.
If I was going to bother with a new queen and a few frames of brood I would start a nuc on the ground not playing like a fool up in this tree. This started as an experiment and I can now conclude that bees might be smart in some things but not in others.


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## Judy in IN

Beeman, 

Do you have the screen secured over the entrance to the hive so that the bees CANNOT re-enter? This hinges on the fact that the screen funnel being about 3' long, and the final escape hole being small enough that only one bee can exit at a time. When they can't return to the original entrance, and with a weak hive right at the end of the funnel, they join that hive. I've only done this on houses, but it should work in the tree also. Of course, if you don't like to work up in trees, you can just leave the nest alone....Sounds like you have plenty more.


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## East Texas Pine Rooter

Brushy Mountain has a video on taking down trees to get bees out. It also shows how to put cones over the openings, how to do a bee line (finding ferral bees). A very interesing video I highly reccommend. The title is , "A Free Bee for You". Has a lot of good techniques. Have fun with this hobby. Go get em.


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## woodspirit

One other thing to consider is that the tree that your kids are using is hollow. not a good place for kids. you said that tree is about 100 years old. think very seriously about getting that tree removed before it comes down when and where you don't want it. bees are the least of your worries. get somebody down there rom local gov or get pro opinion. Rochester has an arborist that works for the city. we have had alot of very bad ice storms and wind storms in the last 15 years and now the power companies and cities are fast tracking getting old and dangerous trees down. A lady was killed by one last year here as she was driving to work. winds clocked in at 90 miles per hour.


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## gobug

I'm an exterminator, and in Jan05 a school called me with a bee hive in a large cottonwood. They had just cut it down and the exposed nest was in easy reach. I went out at 11pm when it was -5 outside and removed everything I could. It was too cold for the bees to fly. I used a thin saw blade to sever the comb from the tree. I carefully placed the combs with bees into a hive, and put the rest in a large plastic tub. 

In mid-February, on a warm day, the bees were really out and about. I still didn't know if I had safely gotten the queen. I started placing chunks of comb and honey on a table and they were taking it. Then, in March, the bee count dropped. I got brave and opened the hive. NO bees. I thought for sure the queen had died or perhaps the whole colony moved.

Late April I was working in the garden and noticed I had more bees around the yard than ever before. I assumed they relocated near by. It was then I noticed that the colony had moved from the hive into the electrical connection box that it was sitting next to. There is no way for me to open the box, and I don't plan on telling the city. 

They are still busy, I just hope the city won't come out for a long time.


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## Michael W. Smith

TNredhead, if the hive entrance is high enough that the bees aren't bothering anybody, I'd leave them alone. Wild bees are almost a rare thing with all the diseases and mites they can get. Please also be aware, that with bees living in the tree, the tree is hollow. Make sure your kids know that during windy days, the treehouse is off limits!!

Beeman, why do you want to remove the bees from the tree you have? Why not leave them alone, but leave empty hives around so when they swarm, they have a new home to move into? You get free bees in the swarm, plus the wild bees in the tree get left alone!


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## Beeman

Michael W. Smith said:


> TNredhead, if the hive entrance is high enough that the bees aren't bothering anybody, I'd leave them alone. Wild bees are almost a rare thing with all the diseases and mites they can get. Please also be aware, that with bees living in the tree, the tree is hollow. Make sure your kids know that during windy days, the treehouse is off limits!!
> 
> Beeman, why do you want to remove the bees from the tree you have? Why not leave them alone, but leave empty hives around so when they swarm, they have a new home to move into? You get free bees in the swarm, plus the wild bees in the tree get left alone!



The tree is along my drive and right outside my shop door and also in a large bed of plants. my daughter got stung while working in the bed last year. I keep bees and want to keep them where I want them. I've placed an empty hive on a stand in frt. of the opening of the tree. unfortunately I guell these bees have never lived in a hive body so they went looking for another tree. They must not have had time to read all of the bee books and surely don't have the internet because when I tried the screen cone they would walk to the end and then turn back. I would sit and watch while they walked back and forth but none would come out of the opening. I even made the opening larger and larger and they still would only walk to the end and turn back.


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## WayneH

I realize that this a late post to your original and I apologize.

Did you find a solution to your bee hive problem?

If you haven't, I would recommend that you cut into your tree. I would put money on the fact that your tree is sick and there's is a lot of room inside for the bees to make their home. 

I just took a hive out of a tree last Monday (the 15th), and the tree looked great. When everything was over, we ended up cutting the tree down. It turns out that the beautiful walnut tree was completely hollow and the walls of the tree were actually only about two inches thick. That tree needed to come down anyway!

Well, good luck.

Wayne


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