removing colony from soffit ?

[greengumbo]

Okay - never done this before but a pal of mine has some bees living in the soffit above a patio door and wants me to remove them. Lots of people walking along a path outside so they want them gone but are reluctant to destroy.

They are happy to get a joiner in after to fix any (all) the bodging I do if I attempt it. Its only 7 feet of the ground so should be accessible.

Any hints, tips recommends ? Is spring the wrong / right time ? Colony should be quite small so more manageable ? Best time off day etc ?

Read about making a bee vaccum but that sounds like a lot of chewed up bees at the end.

[Greengage]

If your working at height are you insured or does your friends insurance cover you, I kid you not but I have been involved in an incident where a friend helped another friend remove ivy from a six foot high wall and it cost €10,000 after a fall and the court case also know of man who refused to pay a tree surgeon cut a branch off a laylandii tree said he would do it himself, he fell broke his neck and is no longer with us. So my advice you appear to be doing a friend a favour and are unsure what you are doing reading the above my advice woould be leave wel enough alone get the experts in, but then the previous two would not listen to advice either.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi GG it sort of depends how long they have been there I suppose
I had a swarm down one of my chimneys (not a pretty sight)
Anyway I was going to try and drive them out with Bee Quick which is used for clearing supers
I nipped off to Thornes to buy some
Brian asked me what I was using it for (I think he knows how little honey I get :) )
Better suggestion he said find an old brood comb or two , string them together , hang them down the chimney
With luck the queen moves on to them anxious to get laying you pull them up gently next day or so
If she is on there you are sorted
( he sold me the Bee Quick anyway lol! )

So perhaps you can trick the queen onto a drawn frame by leaving one or two in there
Slide them out gently and capture her thats job done

[fatshark]

Are the 'in' the soffit or are they entering via the soffit and the comb is actually yards away and completely inaccessible? I was once asked to do a cut out from an extension soffit when the colony was actually above the ceiling of the adjacent room. The steady trickle of corpses through the light fitting was a giveaway.

[Mellifera Crofter]

I've never tried this, or needed to try this - but can you perhaps use a one-way trapping box in front of their entrance? If there is more than one entrance, then reduce them to the main one. The problem with that is that the queen might not follow the rest of the colony - or maybe she will when she gets a bit lonely on her combs. If you want to try this, then I think it is perhaps better to wait until it's warmer and more bees leave to forage.
Kitta

[alclosier]

Beevac?

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[madasafish]

Okay - never done this before but a pal of mine has some bees living in the soffit above a patio door and wants me to remove them. .

err: that is where he thinks they are.


I would run away unless you are an experienced jobbing builder.I refuse to do such jobs as a swarm collector..Once you start, you are obliged to carry on.

It may take days. Have you got spare time, and the tools.?

[The Drone Ranger]

My neighbour had bees between the slates and the wood roof in his house
We went into the loft and tried to pin down where they were
Couldn't decide
He wasn't keen on getting the pest controller so we left them be
By the next spring they had gone for one reason or another
He blocked the entrance hole to stop another lot taking residence

He must have had my ladder standoff and stabilisers for about a year before I got them back
If I had them I wouldn't have tipped the platform over and fell onto the bonnet of the Suzuki Jimmy
A fair sized dent ...... Anyway I digress


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[greengumbo]

I'm going for an exploratory reccie tommorrow. If its too much hassle I'm going to leave it. Thanks for the advice !

I bet they are further in than I think.

[RDMW]

Years ago I tried to get bees out from behind the plaster of an older house. We made a right old mess and the bees stayed there. I have another friend who's had bees living and his roof space for years without problems and enjoys having them. I would say either leave them be or kill them using a wasp killing foam. Removing them is likely to be impossible


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[greengumbo]

Years ago I tried to get bees out from behind the plaster of an older house. We made a right old mess and the bees stayed there. I have another friend who's had bees living and his roof space for years without problems and enjoys having them. I would say either leave them be or kill them using a wasp killing foam. Removing them is likely to be impossible


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Removing was impossible.

So they asked me the recommended best way to destroy humanely :(

Wasp nest biocide stuff then patch up all the entrances is what i've heard ?

[Samsalar]

Sounds like the bees overwintered well in your pals house, better than mine did in beehives. I agree probably would have been a mess trying to recover them, and even then you would not catch that many.