I have never gone on a bee call in December

[BoilerJim]

For my southern friends this may not be an odd thing but for northern Indiana this is a first for me.

I got a call on Tuesday December 22nd of honeybees in the limb of a tree that a man had just cut down. The temperature was in the mid 50's that day.

I arrived and sealed the ends of the limb (about 18" in diameter) with wood and screws. Lots of bees and lots of honey inside the limb from what I could see.

I sat the limb on top of a super with comb and honey and I also screwed a super of comb and honey to the top. I drilled a 1" hole in the top and bottom for them to enter and leave through the supers.

I did this as bees were coming out of both ends and I wanted to make sure I had both ends covered depending on their preference. We'll see if they make through the winter.

[iddee]

Just try and match the orientation the limb was in, so the comb will be somewhat straight. I did one about 3 years ago around Christmas and they made it fine.

[efmesch]

Sounds to me like you did it wisely, not trying to directly move the bees into the hive.  I expect to hear you report in the spring time of your successful wintering.

[Perry]

Way to go Jim. Their future was pretty clear if you hadn't stepped up. Good on ya!

[Jacobs]

I'm not sure if this is the one iddee was referring to, but this link to our club forum board shows the Christmas bees in transit.
http://www.guilfordbeekeepers.org/community/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1387&p=5769&hilit=Christmas#p5769

Even for our area, December calls are rare and usually the result of some tree disaster or tree cutting.

[iddee]

That's the one.Thanks.
It made it through the winter and we did the cutout in the spring. Turned out to be a nice hive.