I've got a friend who is pretty hyperactive. He has been wanting to keep bees for several years, and now has some property to keep them on.
Like most beginners, he's got a couple of hives and thinks he is ready to do cut-outs, etc.
He learned about a woman with three colonies in and around her country house. One colony is in the house and there is honey dripping into the living area. One was in an old shed, between the walls, and one was in an old safe outside.
I convinced him that he was unprepared to go after the colony in the house, and he reluctantly agreed. Because I knew that he was going to try to retrieve the other two regardless of me, I agreed to go with him to try to recover the other two colonies.
He arrived with all of his new equipment, including two new hive boxes stapled to bottom boards and telescoping covers. My friend is close friends with a cabinet maker, who he commissioned to build one of his boxes. The cabinet maker is used to building things with close tolerances. One of his lids did not fit the box, but we figured we could strap it down upside down, if need be. The other was a box he picked up the day before from Tractor Supply, so that one was good.
I was prepared to try the safe first. I figured we had the best chance of finding the queen in that one. But he had already set everything up by the shed.
Oh, he liked that I usually wear a separate jacket and pants bee suit. So he bought a jacket, figuring he could buy the pants, later. I knew right then we wouldn't be at the woman's house very long. He assured me he has a high pain tolerance, and his pants are good. Oh yeah, in his hurry to leave, he forgot about putting on boots. So, tennis shoes, no bee pants, and we are facing South Texas bees.
Did I mention that I agreed to go with him because I knew he'd go without me? And I figured someone had to be there to keep him alive.
I got the boards pulled off the shed, and the bees got really defensive. He was fascinated with the sound and the smell of the alarm pheromone. Until the bees decided they don't like the color black and went for his pants. Did I mention that his pants were black?
I cut out a few slabs of comb and got them rubber banded into frames. I think he first advised me that he would be willing to go home if I wanted to go home. I said I was doing fine.
He made similar statement two more times. On the third one, I figured he had learned almost enough lessons about rescuing bees. So I agreed we could call it quits. But I insisted that we cut all of the comb out and clean up our mess.
We were able to scrounge up a bottle of dawn, a chemical sprayer and some water. He began spraying down the bees and the comb.
While I was scraping comb out and throwing it into buckets, he called me over to show me what he discovered. If we went into the dark shed, the bees left us alone. I said great, but when you step out they will still be there, waiting for you. We stepped out, and found the angry girls all around us again. We retreated to the shed, and he felt safe, until I pointed out that they would eventually follow us into the shed. About that time, they arrived.
We stepped out and finished the job of cleaning up and disposing of the comb and the bees.
Among the lessons he learned:
The bees he bought from me are not like bees found in the wild.
When your hat slides down your face, you can't grab it through the veil without the bees taking advantage.
If it is crawling down your leg it is sweat. If it is crawling up your leg it is a bee.
Pants tucked into boots are better than tennis shoes.
Bee pants are better than regular pants.
Even if you want to abandon a job, you owe it to the person you promised to help to remove the bees.
Do the easy job first to see how aggressive the bees are.
Rescuing bees is hard work.
and finally,
Wandering Man has a peculiar way of teaching his mentees.
I had a couple of bees wander into my veil during the process, but they mostly wanted to leave once they were in there. These bees may have had some africanized genes, but they were not as aggressive and mean as they could have been. I was able to remain calm, get away from the biggest part of the angry bees, and wait for an opportunity to squish the bees before they got tangled up behind my glasses or in my hair.