Honey bees forced abscond 2-19-18

[hog_down]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing and the detailed info, learn something new every day.

[whiplash]

Aww Dustin, that was too easy. Its only fun when you get swarmed and have to run for your life.

[Quackerbox]

Good for you for saving the bees. They are very necessary in our world today. This was very interesting to read.

This.

I had no idea the state of our bees till my brother started messing with them. I dont swat at or try and kill them anymore

[junkmanhunter]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing

[Jason85]

Awesome stuff!! I will be getting a few nucs this spring. Cant wait!

[GarGuy]

Good read. I grew up finding and helping rob bee trees here in east tx.

[Coup de Grace]

Yes sir, awesome.

[rjtkdplus]

Good job!

[JonBoy]

Were you able to save any of the comb? I've taken comb from removals and used rubber bands to center & secure them inside of empty frames and the bees will attach and finish drawing them out. Plus you potentially save the brood that was left in it.

I've never done a forced abscond from a tree but seen a few videos. Was there a hole cut in the bottom of your bottom deep that allowed them to crawl up & in? You mentioned they overflowed out of the queen excluder...I'm guessing it's that entrance excluder and not the traditional wire excluders?

Oh and great write up!

[Tryton]

I'm thinking honey pecan barbecue wood for my smoker. Bring on the ribs.

[MASTERS]

Good read. I grew up finding and helping rob bee trees here in east tx.

I did the same around Limestone county, maybe 10% of the wild hives we messed with were Africanized and too aggressive to handle there. Its crazy to think how in roughly 300 miles the frequency in finding wild Africanized hives increases that much down here than up there.

[35remington]

they are dealt with accordingly and usually have their genetic potential erased by fire under the cover of darkness....

This is poetic justice! I take the same approach with wild hogs.

[meltingfeather]

so cool!

[MASTERS]

Were you able to save any of the comb? I've taken comb from removals and used rubber bands to center & secure them inside of empty frames and the bees will attach and finish drawing them out. Plus you potentially save the brood that was left in it.

I've never done a forced abscond from a tree but seen a few videos. Was there a hole cut in the bottom of your bottom deep that allowed them to crawl up & in? You mentioned they overflowed out of the queen excluder...I'm guessing it's that entrance excluder and not the traditional wire excluders?

Oh and great write up!

Thanks and yes I mentioned above there was a 4'' hole cut in the bottom board that I re-use on every forced abscond that allows the workers, drones(if there are any), and the queen climb up into the bottom brood box with 10 frames. That entrance excluder you see in the pics was originally a traditional full bottom excluder that got cracked and I cut up to make entrance excluders. I use frames with black foundation now ad even though they may set the bees back a couple of weeks it ends up being much cleaner frame of drawn comb. I tried to reuse comb before rubber banded into open frames that ended up causing several frames to be drawn together and a pain to deal with.

[MASTERS]

Aww Dustin, that was too easy. Its only fun when you get swarmed and have to run for your life.

Lol I'm not a fan of those Afro-cans!