Rescued my first Bee Swarm

[_CY_]

Rescued my first Bee Swarm in Wagnor or at least that's what they called it.
Turned out to be a small feral hive up in a tree. probably too small to survive the winter.

about 12ft up, easily reached by a ladder. after suiting up, very carefully cut away all small branches while puffing smoke.

it was a small hive, managed to cut entire branch hive was built on. then gently set hive inside an ice chest. stuck a small branch to leave lid a crack open. bees immediately started fanning, telling other bees where nest is now at.

since entire hive was removed intact, queen was inside hive. where ever the queen is ... rest of bees will follow. since hive was taken down during day. largest majority of bees was out working.

packed up my gear and left hive on the ground with lid cracked open. 4pm, entire operation took 1 hour, drove back to Tulsa waiting for darkness. all the bees will be back together after dark.

picked up the bees at 9pm, drove back home pretty happy at a successful first bee swarm rescue.

if anyone has a bee swarm that needs to be rescued in the Tulsa area (about 50 mile radius) ... let me know, will be there pronto!

 

[Biggsly]

I found a hive yesterday at lake Overholser. First one that I have ever come across.

 

[_CY_]

sounds coool... how large?

feral hives are precious and should be left alone if in a wilderness area.

I found a hive yesterday at lake Overholser. First one that I have ever come across.

 

[Biggsly]

It is in a dead tree that has fell over. I am not sure how big it is. They were going in and out of a knot hole on the side. I think my wife took a few pics with her phone. I will see if I can get them.

 

[OKC_Jim]

Cool story _CY_!

Now what will you do with them?

 

[Danny Tanner]

Now swap out an ice chest from a camper, boater, tailgater, etc with this one and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

 

[XD-9Guy]

So are you just relocating them to the wilderness? Or are you keeping them for honey production?

 

[Perplexed]

Maybe The Toad can chuck the hive through the open door of the duplex next door to his. After some shouting, banging, swearing, and running, there would be no more noise. Maybe a quiet buzzing.

 

[doctorjj]

I've never seen one in the open like that. I've seen serveral but they were always in a hollowed out tree or log or once I saw some in an old water tank.

 

[inactive]

I'm ignorant about bees, so forgive the naive question. Is this type of nesting (out open on a branch) normal for native (to OK) bees? Or are these bees not from around here? I had only seen them, outside of man-made structures like sheds, in rotten or hollow logs and such never exposed in the open.