Gotta run for shelter, gotta run for shade

Kool & the Gang had it right. It’s too hot. Too hot, lady. With temperatures at or over 100 degrees this week, my only refuge was to work in the early morning hours.

This past week I scheduled a removal from a cemetery. A couple of weeks ago the tornado came through and tore up some parts of our town, leaving some downed trees. One of those trees, a cedar in the City Cemetery, had a nice hive of bees in it. I have done this before, and generally speaking, bees that were once up high in a tree are NOT excited about the prospect of being lower on the totem pole. And they are typically ready to let you know.

Not these girls. They were as chilled out as they could be. Flying in, flying out, not concerned with anybody that came through. I visited a couple of times, and decided how I was going to approach it, and got started.

Option #1: Log relocation. Log jobs are easy. I get the tree trimmer to chop the trunk on either side of the hive, I stuff the cracks with steel wool, and I load it on the back of my truck.

The tree at the base was about 4-foot in diameter, and even at the height of the hive, the width of the tree was larger than I am able to relocate. Soooo… simple log-hive relocation is not an option.

Option #2: Tree cutouts require considerable effort and facility with a chainsaw. I have done such work, despite my limited experience with using a chainsaw. It is NOT FUN. And…personal safety is a consideration, and I am reluctant to pursue that option.

The trap out is often the simplest approach – to reduce the entrances and place a one-way escape cone at the remaining entrance, forcing all bees to congregate adjacent to the entrance, where they can be collected. The trap out, however, takes considerable time – weeks or months, sometimes, and there is a need for expediency so that the remainder of the cemetery clean-up can be undertaken.

So I tried something of a combination approach. On 20 June, I began the process of trapping out the bees, sealing the original entrance to the hive and drilling a new opening that can be used for a vacuum. The sealing of the entrance made the bees re-direct their approach to the hive, and forced them to remodel slightly their internal comb.

Then I would finish the seal and proceed to use the vacuum at the new location to draw the bees out. Essentially, plan was for the trap out to become a ‘force out’, with vacuum suction removing the bees prior to the opening of the log. The bees could be removed and relocated to a beeyard in my backyard.

Then with the bees evicted, I could leisurely (and without the suit) cut open the hive, remove comb and brood, and relocate them. Easy peasy.

Best laid plans.

I can’t say I was surprised that the bees resisted being drawn into the vacuum. Sure, some did, but after getting the generator and the vacuum system set up, I sat and enjoyed the 90+ temperatures from 5:30 am to 8:30 am… and only netted a handful of bees.

For the record, I have never once dealt with bees as chill as these. They were calm when smoked, calm when vacuumed, calm when a chainsaw was running right next to them. THIS IS UNHEARD OF. Bees that have fallen from a height and are now vulnerable on the ground are notoriously hostile to invading forces.

These girls were just as relaxed as they could be.

I spend the next three mornings alternating between vacuuming and sawing away to open the central cavity. And on the 3rd of July, I opened it up, despite the presence of a LOT of bees.