Established colony has to go due to renovations
History
These very dark and hairy bees had been living in a lovely house near the River Findhorn since before the present owners arrived in 1974. The house was to be renovated in March, and it was with regret that the owners arranged for David Vaughan, beekeeper, to remove the bees.
Looking like native Amm (Apis mellifera mellifera bees)
Assessing Risk
David made a couple of preliminary visits to assess access and risk. Our SBA (Scottish Beekeepers Association) insurance doesn’t cover us for collecting and removing established colonies in buildings. However, this removal involved no climbing and the house owners were happy about damage to fabric due to impending renovations. On the day, David knew exactly what equipment was needed to open up the cavity and expose the honey bee nest. He also knew where the nest was having drilled several holes in the plaster board and felt honey comb behind them.
Smoker
The smoker was lit and well fuelled but sat on the bedroom window ledge puffing out onto the magnificent garden with river beyond throughout the procedure. The bees were so quiet and amenable that smoke was not needed to calm and control them.
David works quickly and quietly as his assistants Cynthia May and I look on and wait to receive combs. We search for the queen. Empty combs at the bottom of the nest appear first but further up David finds long full combs solid with honey and weighing over 50lbs total.
Somehow David manages to cut the comb to the exact size required and Cynthia skillfully ties them in with string. Like a theatre nurse in a big operation, I cut the string and fetch and carry comb. We have done this before (which you can watch here). You can see that the comb comes out in long thin pieces reflecting the size and position of the nest behind the plasterboard. It is sticky going and not conducive to much photography. The brood nest is tiny and, as the bees are very dark and hairy we think that they must be native black bees of the Apis mellifera mellifera sub-species. A small brood nest at the this time of year is indicative of this type of bee. Once the colony settles in his apiary, David will send bee samples for genetic analysis.
We reach the end and have not seen the queen so I search the floor under the rubble of broken plasterboard and find her underneath several layers clinging to the underside with a tiny cluster of worker bees. She goes down safely into the hive which has a queen excluder board on the floor to prevent her leaving. The ideal home would have been a small polystyrene nucleus box because the brood area is surprisingly small. However, the hive is well insulated by honey combs.
With big smiles all round and job done, we repair downstairs to the library minus sticky wellies and honey-soaked bee suits. We sit drinking tea and enjoying delicious shortbread made in Edinburgh in the home owner’s factory.
Bee-vac
The only thing that we would do differently in the future would be to make and use a low suction vacuum to remove remaining straggler bees from the nest cavity.
Progress report
A couple of months on and David reports success in that the tiny colony is thriving and bringing in pollen and nectar. He plans to take them back to their garden near the River Findhorn and manage them in a conventional beehive so that the owners can enjoy them again.
What a wonderful bee story. Thank you Ann. Amazing to be able to do that. Remove the bees safely I mean.
Glad you enjoyed it, Catriona. Thanks for commenting. The success was due mostly to David for assessing the situation before we went in, and for being so handy with all the cutting tools. That way there was minimal disturbance and a good plan with contingencies should it not have worked well at first.
What a beautiful ending thank you David for taking the time to assess and pin point the bees and Ann and Cynthia for being there on the day. It sounds like the bees are thriving. It will be interesting when the genetic analysis of the bees come back. Well done
Thank you for being interested, Susan, and for your support.
Great team work! Excellent result.
Thanks, Linton. What was so good about it was that David visited a couple of times before we removed the bees so he knew exactly what we needed to do and we had all the tools and equipment in one place. Because he had discussed it all with the owners they had confidence in our operation. They were sad that the bees had to go and wanted the best outcome for them.
Good advert for Amm and testament to the bees placid temperament considering Amm often get tarred with the ‘fiesty’ tag. Well done all of you.
Thank you, Caroline. The bees are still doing well but haven’t yet had genetic testing yet. They just look like Amm don’t they? and the behaviour of having small a area of brood at that time of year, with plenty stores, is pretty indicative of that sub-species.