Several years ago we went to a house in Manoa, HI. and removed bees. We have been back to the house four times over the years. The house is a pole house, built on stilts so there are many places for the bees to get in. They also have A LOT of steps to get into the house. We just finished another hive in a wall in the house. I expect to get a call next year to remove more.
Tag Archives: hive
9 in one structure
This is the movie set for the D Rex enclosure at Koalua Ranch. We keep bees at the ranch and remove the bees they have for free. However, we didn’t expect this many in one place though. We were told there were “only” three in the structure. We got there and started looking around, the guy who helps us kept saying “oh, there’s another one.” I told him to close his eyes! There is a weed called Job’s tears, the bees love it! As we were walking around it sounded like we were in the middle of a hive. They were everywhere and you could hear them buzzing everywhere. We had to use the high lift to get to the bees. I don’t like heights, but I had to suck it up and get it done. There were 9 hive in the final count. We expect that we will be called back for more because of the way this thing was built. However, we did get 30 pounds of honey out of the hives.
She is such a help
My granddaughter is such a help! We were told about bees in a trash can. We lifted the plywood lid and saw a small hive. My girl got the nuc, the rubber bands, and the frames ready. When she was ready she said, “Ok grandpa let’s get the girls.”‘ I moved the top to where she had the frames and cut them out. She put them in the frames and put the rubber bands around them. Then she wanted to smoke them into the nuc so we could move it to where the hive had been originally. She has the technic down! she used just little puffs of smoke to get them to move from the table to the nuc. Then when most of the bees had landed on the nuc she smoked them into the box so we could close it and get them home. She did good.
God is real and is Great!
We are Christians and believe in God and his son Jesus. It had been raining off and on all week. The day we were supposed to do this removal a tropical storm was supposed to be moving by. Since we have been kind of busy we couldn’t reschedule it, so we headed out. We had prayed that God would let the rain hold off till we could get this done. The place is in the middle of the forest and was muddy and slippery. It rained until we got about 1 mile away. Then the sun came out, the birds were singing and life was beautiful. It was still muddy and slippery, but at least we didn’t get rained on. This was at least the second time bees had been removed from the area. Hopefully we fixed it so this is the last time, but I doubt it.
The one we went for
This is the call we went for when we found the two hives. This was a shed built into the side of the hill. The hive was small and fairly easy to remove. When we got the call the son of the owner had been out to take a look. He wasn’t sure if they were bees or wasps, and he wasn’t going to get close enough to find out. We had been to this little housing area before to remove bees from a shop vac. These were kind of stubborn girls. I smoked them very hard to get them to leave once I had removed the comb. But they weren’t having any of it. They stayed right were the comb used to be. Finally when neither the bees nor I could stand the smoke any longer they moved outside, but wouldn’t go into the nuc. After a little bit it started to drizzle, you never saw bees move so fast! We just had to wait a little while for everyone to move into the nuc.
Wasn’t ready for that
We went to remove a small hive that had taken up residence in a shed. When we got there the people told us there was another hive in a tree nearby. We thought they meant a swarm, but when we took a look there was a real hive being built in the tree. We had to remove that one first, then go back home to pick up another nuc because we were planning on only one. It looks like they will be doing fine in their new home and new spot.
They only want to kill them!
A young woman called on Friday evening and asked if I could remove bees from a cabinet in the carport. Since it was already getting late I couldn’t do it then. I told her we had other things planned for the weekend and couldn’t make it out till Monday. She wanted to call around to find help. Then on Monday she called back. She said she had called several different places and all they wanted to do was kill them. Since we are a live removal company she wanted us to come out. She and her dad said almost the same thing, the wife/mother saw the bees go into the cabinet and started spraying insecticide. They both told her to stop! It is nice to see people starting to care about bees.
Is there a doctor in the house?
When we have a job that requires a carpenter we give the people a discount because they have to supply one. We are not carpenters, but we do know a lot about it. There was a miscommunication with the person on this job. Her neighbor came over to see what was going on. She told him the situation, his eyes lit up and he says “I’ll do it!” I lent him my suit and he went to work on the column. Most times the bees are docile and don’t come out till we start removing the comb, not this time! They started buzzing us even before we got close. After he pulled open the column I asked him what he did for a living. “I’m a doctor,” he told me. He was thrilled to help and work so closely with bees. He had never done anything like that before.
By Jove I Think She’s Got It
We got a call about bees in the storage seat of a gazebo. My 8 and 10 year old granddaughters went with me to help. My 8 year old looked for the bees, when we found them we moved the comb to a table. I cut the comb out and my 10 year rubber banded them in. Both of them have been out with me a bunch of times. I think my 10 year old has got the idea of how to do it. My 8 year old is still working on it. The owner of the property wants a hive on her property.
Not an exact science
Sometimes bees go in somewhere and walk to the hive. This was the case with this hive. They walked into a hole on the side of the house. I used my thermal scanner and thought I had found them. The condo’s carpenter removed some of the siding and trim. We couldn’t find them. So my wife tried the porch roof and there they were! We had the carpenter cut a hole and we removed the hive and bees. Knowing exactly where they are is not an exact science. We use what tools we have and the knowledge we have gathered over the years.