TBH Bee Keepers

[rjtkdplus]

I just did my first wild hive harvest. A water meter box. It went NOTHING like what YouTube said it would go like. I’m pretty sure I got the queen but pretty sure I left half the hive behind. It started raining right after I broke into it. Comb was soft and full of honey. It was super messy. My rubber bands didn’t fit my frames. My dumb self brought a medium box and frames cause I didn’t have any deeps available. I will be getting more deeps. That sucked. But I didn’t get stung!

I’m doing a couple of water meter removals this week in the San Marcos area, if you’d like to tag along. Usually my method works pretty well. Shoot me a a PM if you’re interested.

[Biggs]

I’m doing a couple of water meter removals this week in the San Marcos area, if you’d like to tag along. Usually my method works pretty well. Shoot me a a PM if you’re interested.

A bit far for me to get away. But if you could bullet point your tips and methods for the green screen, I would appreciate it!

[rjtkdplus]

A bit far for me to get away. But if you could bullet point your tips and methods for the green screen, I would appreciate it!

[RiverRat1]

If any of you bee guys are ever near Austin, Lampasas, or San Saba and can spare some old comb I'd love to get some.

I think that's all I need at this point to get started.

[rjtkdplus]

My method for removing a hive from a water meter.

1. Cardboard on the ground next to the meter. This is so you can shake the bees onto it and find the queen easily if she’s not obvious when you look at the hive.



2. Tools ready. Small pry bar to pull the lid, queen clip to catch her and a couple of frames with rubber bands to hold brood comb.

3. Pull the lid and look for the queen first.

4. Break off comb one piece at a time. Until you find the queen. I used to cut it off with a pocket knife until I gutted a queen once.

5. Catch the queen. Ain’t she purty!

6. Put the comb in the frames and hold them in place with rubber bands.

7. Put the queen in the box with the frames.


8. Put a couple of handfuls of bees on the porch. They’ll start signaling to the others where the queen is.


9. Be sure to put a piece of queen excluder over the entrance so she can’t leave when you release her in the hive. I keep it on there for a few weeks.

10. Leave the hive next to the meter til dark. Most of them will be inside by then and you can move it where you want it. I usually leave the cardboard there but I needed it for another removal.


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[sharkhunter]

There is just something about a water meter box bees just love. I think I’ve had 4 or 5 in my area alone.

[hog_down]

great writeup, rjtkdplus.

I tried to do one this week, and completely butchered it, and wanted to get your thoughts/opinion on what I did wrong or right.

Homeowner says that there have been multiple hives in the water box in the front yard. Homeowner said he left the lid off the water box on purpose, so a new swarm of bees wouldn't move in. This particular one showed up after the freeze in mid Feb, so I didn't think it would be a large hive, I was completely wrong. Water meter box was jam-packed with soft, wet comb that broke into pieces when I tried to remove it. Lots of honey, which I put into garbage bags and fed to my bees. I didn't find the queen, don't have a bee vac, and forgot my flashlight, like a dummy. I was on my hands and knees (mostly knees) for better part of a few hours, and ended up soaking wet with sweat. Everything was sticky with a mixture of sweat and honey, and I had 1 junk towel to wipe off. It was getting dark, and I called it a day. Let me know what you would have done differently.

[rjtkdplus]

Yeah those that are full like that you have to go at like a cut out.

After removing the lid, I'd pull out each piece of comb, check it for the queen then set it aside. Best to have a bucket of water handy to rinse off your gloves after each piece. If after removing all the comb I haven't found the queen, I'll scoop handfuls of bees onto my cardboard and look for her. Most of the time I catch her that way. I have a bee vac but I don't use it unless I have to. If I don't find her that way, I'll smoke her out by smoking one end and watching the bees as they crawl out the other end. If you don't see her crawl out, She could be in the hole where the pipe comes in. After catching her, I'll trim the honey off the top of the brood comb then rubber band it into frames the same as pictured above. I don't like to put honey in the new box because it's messy and seems to invite lots of small hive beetles. Leave the honey comb 15-20 feet away from the new box and leave the hive there for a couple of days. They'll get most of it.

It's like anything else keep doing it and you'll improve each time.

[arrowslinger]

Found someone to help me out. Said they needed up with 10 gallons or so of honey. There was alot more than this. Every draw in the camper was full!

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[lovemylegacy]

I am jealous! I haven't hardly any bee removals this year at all!!! What is going on round here?!

Love the pics.

Bees like those water meter boxes, cause the temp is easy for them to regulate....I guess.

[Biggs]

TBH Bee Keepers

I did a cut out today and realized that I need to make a bee vac real bad. I bet I’m only leaving with 1/4 of the bees and the queen. I just couldn’t sweep them up or collect in any way on this one.

[rjtkdplus]

I did a cut out today and realized that I need to make a bee vac real bad. I bet I’m only leaving with 1/4 of the bees and the queen. I just couldn’t sweep them up or collect in any way on this one.

If you can go back today, the rest of the bees should be balled up like a swarm and you can collect most of them, provided you can reach them.

Bee vac is easy to make, I’ll post some pics of mine, very simple and works great.

[rjtkdplus]

Cricket cage on the inside to prevent bees from being sucked into the shop vac.


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[Biggs]

Nice and simple!
I’m looking at doing a Colorado Bee Vac clone. I’ve got extra medium boxes sitting around

[rjtkdplus]

Nice and simple!
I’m looking at doing a Colorado Bee Vac clone. I’ve got extra medium boxes sitting around

Those are great! There’s also this guy in San Marcos who makes a really good one. [ame="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p_oOVg9a1yk"]The Everything Bee Vacuum - YouTube[/ame]