Originally posted by Biggs
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Originally posted by rjtkdplus View PostI’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!
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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.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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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.
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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.
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Originally posted by Biggs View PostI 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.
Bee vac is easy to make, I’ll post some pics of mine, very simple and works great.
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Originally posted by Biggs View PostNice and simple!
I’m looking at doing a Colorado Bee Vac clone. I’ve got extra medium boxes sitting around
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