Went to service a water feature in a wealthy area where a lot of residents bicycle and jog, and where kids might trick or treat tomorrow. This was Tuesday. My helper and I pulled up in front of the house where we would be working and I could see the bees buzzing in and out of the sprinkler system valve cover as I parked the truck. Clearly honeybees, clearly a hidden hive. I cut a hive out of a valve box in July or August this year so I could tell what I would find under the lid without touching it. As we were finishing the water feature service, I spoke with the owner about the bees. She tried to hand me the 3 can s of wasp spray she had purchased. But she hadn't found the hive, she was aiming at the bees as they visited her flowerbed and shrubs. And she wasn't going to pay a high price to have those bees removed either.
I figured out how as I ran jobs yesterday, how to do it that is, with minimal time on jobsite, this box was right by the sidewalk with its foot traffic. And today I did it. Wish I'd started at 7 am, it was 9, wish I had taken my smoker (didn't want to alienate them from the next smoker they see mainly). I did light a bit of cotton hull fluff on the sidewalk to waft smoke into the pond area. Bees were diving into the smouldering pile for some reason?
Got liability waiver signed, handed her an invoice and got check before starting.
Spread out a sheet, put my nuc with a screwed on bottom in the center. Stapled a large piece of screening to one long side only.
Used a shovel to pry the valve cover up on each side. My gloves taped to sleeves I grabbed the valve cover and lifted it over the nuc, when almost fully dropped in I stepped on the lid, pulled screening up and over and stapled it down on the nuc. and dropped it in Ledifini's yard on the table he set up yesterday.
The adventure continues!
