Oh, beehive!

[Rick]

That siding looks like asbestos siding. If it is it will snap at the blink of an eye. Use a dust protector, as well since you don't want to breath in any fibers if it does break. That stuff is just super brittle.

[crashdive123]

YCC - also keep in mind that while an Africanized colony is more aggressive, they normally only display that aggressiveness when they feel threatened. As you have said, the only way to know for sure (in cases where they do not seem aggressive) is to send them off for DNA testing.

[your_comforting_company]

cautions duly noted!

I'll stop by the building supply on my way down there and grab a few dust masks. I'm sure they'll clog pretty quick with all the sweat combined with the dust, and I'll definately wear long-sleeves and other safety equipment for handling bees, including smoker, just in case. Once I start tearing into the hive, I'm sure I'll find out pretty quick if they are aggressive.

I have a little bit of that type siding left on my house. It probably is asbestos.. Looks like the same stuff.

[Rick]

When I worked outside I hated to pull up to a house that had that stuff on it. The slightest pressure will crack it. You can't drill it, pry it, poke it or swear at it without it cracking. I've tried it all.

[your_comforting_company]

Finally caught up to the man on the phone, and we talked for a little while. It is definately asbestos. Still he wants the bees out of his house, whatever it takes. Gonna be a fairly big project.. Water sprayer bottle to keep dust down, tarp to catch breaking pieces.. THEN I have the plywood and bees to deal with.
Still trying to get a functional plan together.. really should have built that bee-vac already, that would make it really easy.

On a more positive note, I'm finally making some progress with the trapping down the road. Bees had formed a "beard" on parts of the porch, so I misted them with water, brushed them off into my swarm bucket, and dumped them in with my bees, and they took to the new queen with ecstacy and vigor, immediately moving into foraging mode.

There is one more bee class tomorrow, regarding extracting honey. I'll have to build my own extractor (they are pretty expensive to buy). I hope it doesn't get cancelled due to rain. This is the last major lesson, and the rest of the learning process can only be from experiences, which I'm getting plenty of. Had yet another fellow mention he needed bees removed yesterday at the building supply.. I need more boxes!!

[Rick]

I don't know how houses are built down there but up here those built during that time frame used a tongue and groove beneath the asbestos. I'm sure that was to seal drafts as much as anything so you might not have it in your warmer weather. Just wanted to give you a mental picture of what you'll have before you get there.

[your_comforting_company]

this thing was thrown together. really a fishing "shack" some of it's plywood, some cedar, some is tin, some is that old cardboard stuff (masonite?). You can definately tell that it started off as a one-room shack and was added to, here and there over many years.
Admittedly I'm a bit apprehensive about this project LOL.

[crashdive123]

I've had to demo a few asbestos sided walls. You'll already be pretty well covered because of the bees, but I'd recommend either a full face respirator or a respirator and goggles rather than a dust mask.

When you climb out of your bee suit, make sure that you bag it - leave the respirator on until you do.

[your_comforting_company]

Carefully pulled the nails with vice-grips, and didn't break a single piece of siding. Got each piece good and damp with water before I even tried to move any. Haven't had a chance to upload the pics yet, but I got a few, and a couple videos I have to edit together. What I thought might have been 16" or 2 feet wide, turned out to be a 5 foot wide gap, 3-1/2 feet high completely filled with comb. Looks like I'll get honey this year!
I filled two 5-gallon buckets over the top with honeycomb, pure, clean honey from this year, and got 7 frames of brood in frames I rigged with kite string to make cages. It was a good opportunity to use the odd-size hive I built.
I tossed any comb that looked tainted, or spotted a mite (drone cells) or a beetle (the bottom 12 inches or so).
The trick to getting the bees in the box was misting them with a little water, and using a wisk-brush to sweep them onto a small piece of wood, then dump them into the box. They can't fly with wet wings.

Only got stung 5 times (3 legit), twice on the left shoulder, one on the back left hip, once on the back of my right shoulder, and once on the finger where I accidentally mashed one grabbing a tool. The whole endeavor took right at 9 hours to complete, and I'd guess I got 75-80% of the bees... literally thousands.
I didn't reinstall the siding yet, I've gotta go back this weekend, probably, and make double-sure I got as many bees as possible and make sure I sealed all their entrance holes.
Not sure I got the queen, never did lay eyes on her, but I did collect all the "bunches" of bees that clustered in the corners, and judging by the way bees were taking to the screened cover on the hive, I think I got her, but not sure. I'll give them a couple days to settle down, then check it out. If I can't get a queen for them (if I didn't get their queen) I'll just add their numbers to my weak colony, give a couple frames of honey, and hope for the best!
The man didn't have a bee "colony" in his house, he had a bee PROBLEM!
pics coming soon!
Strange enough, I can handle bees all day, and not dream about them, but if I get stung, it's all I dream about.. like last night.

[your_comforting_company]

I will be building a bee-vac in the next week or two. I still have two more houses that need bees removed, so look for a brief build-along for that project.

Oh, yeah.. Bee class on Saturday was really fun. I uncapped a LOT of honey frames, got to talk to people about bees and reduce their fears a bit (the event was open to the public), and got to help reinstall the extracted frames back on the hives. Bounced around a lot of ideas, had good laughs, great lunch, and picked up a new book about bee pests and diseases. I probably would have backed out of the removal job if it hadn't been for the class. I was so inspired that I came home and fixed up my mis-sized box to hold comb for the removal. Wiregrass beekeepers are some good people from all walks of life. Amazing how people who are so different can be unified by a common interest. One of the instructors is going to be extracting his honey next Saturday and invited me over to help and possibly extract my 9-frame super, but I think I'll let my bees hang on to all their honey this year to overwinter.

Got invited to a hog-extermination hunt next weekend, too... No rest for the wicked!

[your_comforting_company]

Oh, yeah.. @ Crash, tho it was too hot to keep the respirator on the whole time, clothing went straight into the washing machine. Can't bee too careful with that asbestos!

[your_comforting_company]

First peek looked promising, like it wouldn't bee to big of a job. Then reality hit me on the left shoulder (Ouch!). The white comb on the right side is honey, the darker comb on the left is brood comb, for raising more bees.
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Densely populated and heavily worked comb that was exceptionally clean, considering it's location.
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A particularly useful photo, as one of the first things I saw was this Queen Cell.
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I was not able to find the queen, but many of the cells had viable day-old eggs that the workers can use to raise new queens. Todays "peek" revealed that they are doing so.

Second hacking at the wall revealed even more comb.. it just kept going!
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Careful removal of "squares" of brood comb. My odd-sized frames got rigged with kite string to make a cage of sorts to hang the comb.
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Third peek revealed even MORE comb
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Some pure clean honey from this year.
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Got two 5-gallon buckets full of honeycomb. I saved as much of the brood comb as possible in the cages, and resorted to gently placing the honeycomb in the buckets as I ran out of frames to hang it in. I will be using some of this in more string cages (or maybe rubber bands) and just let the bees have it back for their winter stores so there won't be so much pressure on them as "dry time" is approaching.
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The worst sting came when I was trying to re-tuck my shirttail in and apparently one of the ladies was in one of the folds of my shirt. OUCH!!
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I didn't want them to get too hot in transport, so I closed off the front of the hive with screen and used some extra screen as a lid, with "universal glue" aka duct tape, to keep it on.
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This picture is probably the most important picture in this post. If I had captured the queen, the bees would not be building queen cells. The round-capped cells pictured here are queen cells being built. Closer inspection reveals that each one has a white jelly with a larva floating inside. The white substance is "royal jelly" and is the ONLY thing that makes a difference whether a fertilized egg becomes a worker or queen. I will have queens hatching from this small piece of comb within the next 16 days. Queens take the least time of all the bees to hatch.
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Much cleaning and construction is taking place inside the hive. This picture shows the density of the bees on the salvaged comb. Much of it is already attached to the frames, and the ladies are busy raising queen cells and stabilizing the combs. They are also ridding the comb of any pests like SHB and varroa. Many of the drone cells proved to have mites on the larvae, so I culled any comb that I suspected were contaminated, and probably can only contribute the queen cells above to "Dumb @$$ luck", since the piece pictured above was actually going to be thrown away, but for some reason I held on to it.
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In this picture you can see that I actually left that comb on the outside of the hive, and when I got home from work yesterday, I noticed that it had been attached to the outside of the box. Closer inspection revealed the queen cells on the back side so I placed it inside a cage and put it inside the box. I only saved it so that the ladies could scavenge whatever honey was left on it, and somehow the universe smiled on me and blessed me with 5 queen cells on a 6" x 6" piece of comb. Finally, it's my lucky day!
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In summary, I'm glad I spent 8 hours collecting these bees. Still have two more houses on my list that need bees removed, so I have to build more hives, but priority calls for building a bee-vac first.

Also, I do not recommend doing something like this by yourself. The danger involved in the possibility of them being africanized is very real. I took an epipen with me just in case, and could only hope that I'd make the 20 mile drive back to town before anaphylactic shock got the best of me (provided I would be able to drive). Too bad for me, I don't have any friends locally that would accompany me. I don't have many friends that are interested in anything I do, for that matter.. What I'm saying... use good sense. I've been known to do stupid things that pose a real danger to my survival from time to time.

Does anybody know just how much time an epipen would have bought me if I had been stung a deadly number of times?

[Rick]

That's an amazing set of photos. Either that hive had been there a long time or they've been busy as a ... well, you know. I'm amazed at how adaptable they are. Change of queen, change of housing, neither seem to bother them.

I don't know much about the epi pen. I checked their web site and it says that one injection may not be enough. That's why they come in 2 unit cartons. If you are allergic to bee stings then I'd suggest you talk to your doctor about what your options are. What if you are not able to self administer?

[crashdive123]

YCC - great pics. You saved the home owner a lot of money. A pest control company that does bee removal charges a pretty penny for a job like that.

[your_comforting_company]

The neighbor said she thought two years, but that's an aweful lot of comb and honey to be such a short time, I would think... The house was 50 yards from the lake, tho, so maybe resources really were just that abundant?
My epipen box does have two units.

I didn't do the greatest job getting into the house, but I put wood in the walls to add support at the cuts. Still have to return this weekend to see if I can collect more bees (if any are left) and make sure I've blocked them out before reinstalling the siding (which I'm going to try to talk him out of...)
A fellow at the class said his minimum charge for bee removal was $600 and only included putting back what was removed, but many jobs would end up costing more if the removal is more invasive. He makes a living doing nothing but bee removals and the resulting remodelings...

I am amazed at their resilience. For anything to survive such trauma is a feat unto itself. To recover is nothing short of a miracle.

[your_comforting_company]

Filled 9 string-frames with honeycomb yesterday, and the unsalvagable comb got turned into wax and honey. From ONE of the 5-gallon buckets we got almost 2 gallons of honey, put into pints and an old mayo jug. Still have about 1/5 of the comb to process (squeeze out the honey) left in the bucket. It took the better part of the day to thaw it out and save what I could in the baskets.
There were 5 pints, but we confiscated one this morning for coffee since we ran out of sugar.
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Got this much comb left to squeeze..
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and the 5 gallon bucket was reduced to this much wax...
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(those are fig preserves in the background..)
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[rwc1969]

Mmm, loks good. You're gonna be overrun with bees and honey soon enuf.

[Rick]

And it never goes bad. Probably the most perfectist food. Gooder than most that's for sure.

I have to hand it to you, YCC. This is one of the best ever threads. I'm fascinated by bees so I guess I've enjoyed following it a bit more. But I do appreciate all the work you've gone to posting the pictures and the explanations. Thanks!!!

On another note, we seem to have far more honey bees around this year. The last couple of years we haven't had many. It was rare to see one. This year they are pretty prolific. Hopefully there is a wild nest nearby (just not in my attic!).

[crashdive123]

Well done YCC.

[your_comforting_company]

Thanks for the compliments!
I'm really glad I have friends to share this with, even if it is around the virtual campfire.

The presence of bees could mean there is a new beekeeper in the area. Everything growing in my neighborhood seems to be doing better and the neighbors say they see bees all over the place. They aren't just benefiting me, but everyone around me. If you do have a feral colony nearby, they will be very hardy, even if they do have more exposure to pests and predators. If you can locate their hive, you could feed them sugar-syrup over the winter months to aid in their survival. Even if you don't care to have an apiary, the feral colony will help pollinate all the goodies in your garden. So far north, you should have no problems with africanized bees.