December Bee Tree Score

[blueblood]

I was on patrol when the city called to say the street department was cutting down a tree and found bees in a large limb of a large three forked tree.  You can see by the stump  it was large.  The portion of limb with bees fell nearly 20 feet or so  :? .  The bees started swarming the cherry picker, ha!  But, they settled down and returned to the limb.  I asked them to cut the limb where I thought the top of hive was.  But, the hive took up the whole limb.  Fortunately, they cut just below the bees and stores of honey.  The rest of the comb below was empty (which is pictured in the blue plastic pool).  I took it out since it was all loose in the bottom section of the limb.  One of the city workers who lives near me offered to bring the limb out to my house.  I am going to pay him with honey for his kind help for which he was pretty well satisfied with.

We started a warmer trend today and it will stretch through the weekend which helped a little for the time period the bees were exposed.  I have no idea if the bees will survive but I am giving them best chance I can considering the circumstances.  The city has to cut down another tree tomorrow that also has bees in it.  And, if it's as manageable as the tree today, the same deal will be made with bringing it out to my yard.  I fastened a few wood straps to help stabilized the two section together and placed what I could on top to keep the moisture out for now.  It was getting dark and I didn't have a piece of plywood cut for the top in time.  One of the photos is looking in and up from the knot hole entrance on the top right of the bottom section.

[blueblood]

Here the rest of the photos.

[iddee]

Good job.  Is the comb vertical, and is the entrance facing north, south, east, west, the same as when the tree was standing?

[blueblood]

Thanks Iddee.  The tree literally looked like a 3 pronged fork.  The comb is vertical and the this limb originally jetted up approximately 10-15 degrees to the left of the center fork and the knots faced mostly south.  I have them pointed to the south in the yard.  I thought about letting the tree lean 10-15 degrees to the left in my yard but was afraid it would fall over.  I propped the bottom with a piece of 2x4 to set it up more straight.

[iddee]

Should work. Not much if any brood this time of year, and they will adjust the angle when the time comes.

[G3farms]

Not sure how much wind you get or how stable the stump is, but could take a couple of 2 x 4  and nail to the stump to help brace it up.

Looks like you did a great job. If they make it through the winter they will start to build new comb on the bottom of the old comb making everything right as rain.

[blueblood]

Thanks G, I will double check for sturdiness, good idea.  It's possible I will have a second one tomorrow   .  Anyway, I am open any ideas on what I should do with this or any other bee tree I place in my yard.  Leave it as a novelty?  Use it for my own swarm machine?  Cut it open in the spring?  I could almost harvest honey from it if I cut a door and put some hinges on it.

[iddee]

Scroll down and click on the picture of the stump and pickup.

http://randolphcountybeekeepers.org/

[Slowmodem]

That's a great score!  Hopefully tomorrow will be, too.  I hope they make it.

Once you get the bees out, chip it up and dry it out and have honey-smoked meat.  

[Perry]

Keep the camera handy Dave. Good score!  :mrgreen:

[blueblood]

I will Perry, I have more warning about the tree tomorrow and can take more pics.  Good idea about using the wood for smoking on the grill or something...hmmmm

[riverbee]

wow dave, great photos! sure am looking forward to reading updates on this!

[LazyBkpr]

Hrm.. thats a fun idea!!
   EVEN if you did a cutout on it.. you could re set it somewhere to let another swam take up residence..    I have a few feral hives I watch with no intention of removing them.. catch swarms from them every year..   Nothing to say I couldnt take stumps.. cut them into sections and re stack them to CREATE feral hives down on the bottom.. No treatments and a perfect place to get replacements for winter losses.. I bet I could even modify the top part of the stump to take bars..   would save me from driving/walking as far to check all the feral hives each fall and spring.. I could even stock them with Wayne's bees....   can you tell its winter and I have cabin fever?

[Slowmodem]

Hrm.. thats a fun idea!!
   EVEN if you did a cutout on it.. you could re set it somewhere to let another swam take up residence..    I have a few feral hives I watch with no intention of removing them.. catch swarms from them every year..   Nothing to say I couldnt take stumps.. cut them into sections and re stack them to CREATE feral hives down on the bottom.. No treatments and a perfect place to get replacements for winter losses.. I bet I could even modify the top part of the stump to take bars..   would save me from driving/walking as far to check all the feral hives each fall and spring.. I could even stock them with Wayne's bees....   can you tell its winter and I have cabin fever?

That reminds me of a great great uncle back around the 1920s up in the Smokeys raising bees in sweet gum tree hives.

[blueblood]

That is a great picture Greg! Is the story linked somewhere?

[Slowmodem]

That is a great picture Greg! Is the story linked somewhere?

Not too much of a story.  I scanned it out of a book (you can make some of it out beside some of the pictures) but there are more pictures here:

http://gregsbees.blogspot.com/2013/02/h ... eping.html

[blueblood]

I hurried back to the yard to see if there were any bees out of the tree and the other hives since the temps hit mid-50s today.  I didn't quite make it but I saw some life in the tree...so, we shall keep an eye on it.

[jb63]

Blue, are you going to save the dark comb for traps?

[blueblood]

Yeap! And for melting down for starter strips on my tbh top bars.

[LazyBkpr]

Perry was your Great Uncle SModem???     

  Seriously.. that IS a cool picture!!