This colony in Miller, MO had taken up residence in the floor joists near the fireplace. The colony was very large and not easily accessible.
Because of the construction of the home the bees had found a large cavity around the fireplace and had been in this location for a very long time. Normally we like to cut into the hive parallel to the comb and in a large enough opening to give us room to easily remove the comb and bees safely for the best rescue. In this case we had only one choice in the removal, we had to work in the 14” space between the floor joists in the basement to protect the structural integrity of the home.
If that doesn’t sound difficult enough, the hive went almost 6 feet deep. We had to be very inventive and create tools for this removal. Unfortunately we were a lot harder on the bees than normal. This removal took two days and the bees got very angry with our efforts. One of the few times that Jeff and I were both were suited up to be able to finish the work. #savethebees #bees #afuturewithbees
Click any image to see a bigger image:
