I feel a little rusty. For a while last summer, I was doing honeybee hive removals pretty regularly, and I had my toolkit together, and knew what I needed to do, and in what order. Each one presented new challenges, but I had the pieces covered.
Now it has been months, and I have a little bit of doubt.
The project is interesting. A antebellum mansion here in Vicksburg has honeybees in a corner of the building. Maybe two corners. I went to take a look, and was more than just a little shocked. The bees had built their comb on the outside of the building.
Not normal beehavior.
Standing on the ground, 45 feet below, it was hard to fathom what was going on. The bees had clearly outgrown the space that they had inside, and had continued to build on the outside. But how....what... why?
And how was I going to get up there?
A narrow balcony hangs off the side of the mansion, directly underneath. I climbed out the window and onto the balcony, trying to get a better idea of how to access the colony.
An extension ladder would be precariously tippy, if the base is not far enough from the roofline. And it hard to get a ladder that can reach 45' in the air that fits in the back yard of the home. Next stop was the balcony. From the balcony, you can reach... maybe. But my 10' step ladder would be a little wide to fit on the narrow balcony. Maybe doable, maybe not.
Roof access is dicey. The overhang gives a view of the bees, but I was literally hanging over the edge to take this picture.
There is certainly no way to reach under from above, and completely clear out the comb. Worse still, you can't see well enough to know whether the bees are coming out of a different location, or whether you've gotten them all.
A second visit to the hive, later in the day, helped confirm some things that I had suspected, and got clarity on others.
The original hive, as best I can tell, had formed inside the architectural feature at the corner of the roof line (cornice? eave bracket?) and the bees had quickly run out of room inside. So at some point last year, they expanded outwards. Way outwards.
Right now, the bees have removed most of the honey as they have overwintered, so the comb is empty and dry. Their numbers are starting to recover, as the queen starts her spring laying. The worker bees are getting pollen from somewhere... which means protein for the babies. All of which is basically indicating that they are about to have a population explosion.
So it is time to get them into some new, rent-free digs.
Harley Caldwell, who owns the bee-and-bee, listened as I made my offer. There are almost certainly two hives - one on either side of the building. Same spot, opposite corners, almost equally inaccessible. I put it to her that there were essentially two options for removal: a) I could anchor a ladder to the balcony and the chimney, and scale the heights, or b) she could rent a lift. My price went WAY down if she rented the lift. But not enough to make the overall project cheaper for her.
Even though it would be more expensive for her to do it that way, she agreed that renting a lift was the way to go.
She is looking into the details of renting the lift for me. Meanwhile, I am counting my boxes and frames. Going through checklists to make sure that my tools are ready, and clean, and in good repair. That my suit only has holes where it is supposed to. And that I am ready, and that I have figured out what I need to do to prepare another home for another hive.
Maybe two.
Now it has been months, and I have a little bit of doubt.
 |
| Photo: LeeAnn Riggs |
Not normal beehavior.
Standing on the ground, 45 feet below, it was hard to fathom what was going on. The bees had clearly outgrown the space that they had inside, and had continued to build on the outside. But how....what... why?
And how was I going to get up there?
A narrow balcony hangs off the side of the mansion, directly underneath. I climbed out the window and onto the balcony, trying to get a better idea of how to access the colony.
An extension ladder would be precariously tippy, if the base is not far enough from the roofline. And it hard to get a ladder that can reach 45' in the air that fits in the back yard of the home. Next stop was the balcony. From the balcony, you can reach... maybe. But my 10' step ladder would be a little wide to fit on the narrow balcony. Maybe doable, maybe not.
Roof access is dicey. The overhang gives a view of the bees, but I was literally hanging over the edge to take this picture.
 |
| To-the-side view. Don't look down. |
A second visit to the hive, later in the day, helped confirm some things that I had suspected, and got clarity on others.
The original hive, as best I can tell, had formed inside the architectural feature at the corner of the roof line (cornice? eave bracket?) and the bees had quickly run out of room inside. So at some point last year, they expanded outwards. Way outwards.
Right now, the bees have removed most of the honey as they have overwintered, so the comb is empty and dry. Their numbers are starting to recover, as the queen starts her spring laying. The worker bees are getting pollen from somewhere... which means protein for the babies. All of which is basically indicating that they are about to have a population explosion.
So it is time to get them into some new, rent-free digs.
Harley Caldwell, who owns the bee-and-bee, listened as I made my offer. There are almost certainly two hives - one on either side of the building. Same spot, opposite corners, almost equally inaccessible. I put it to her that there were essentially two options for removal: a) I could anchor a ladder to the balcony and the chimney, and scale the heights, or b) she could rent a lift. My price went WAY down if she rented the lift. But not enough to make the overall project cheaper for her.
 |
| Excuse me, General. May I bum a lift? |
She is looking into the details of renting the lift for me. Meanwhile, I am counting my boxes and frames. Going through checklists to make sure that my tools are ready, and clean, and in good repair. That my suit only has holes where it is supposed to. And that I am ready, and that I have figured out what I need to do to prepare another home for another hive.
Maybe two.
No comments:
Post a Comment