My friend and coworker, Steve Schmidt, found a listing on the local Craig’s List asking for someone to remove a wild hive from a tree at their house. The tree was dead and due to be cut down. The owner had read about the plight of the honey bees in the U.S. and didn’t want to just kill the bees. After a few emails and phone calls, Steve and I finally traveled to Lindsborg to retrieve the little darlings.

The tree owner had sent a picture showing where the bees were entering and exiting the tree. It didn’t look too high, and the owner assured us that the tree was rotten and would be easy to cut up.

After some intense debate and coin flipping, Steve finally climbed up the ladder with the chain saw. After a few slices off the top side, we decided to cut the limb off of the tree and lower it to the ground. We figured we could trim the branch down easier on the ground. Steve cut through the rotten branch and I lowered it gently to the ground. The first thing we saw was dissected honeycomb packed in the hollow branch. We didn’t see any bees, but we wasted no time in sealing the end of the branch with some plastic that Steve had brought along.

I then went up the tree to investigate the hive remaining in the tree. To my relief, the comb left in the tree, was dry and deserted, so we didn’t lose any bees. That left me with about five feet of hollow tree branch stuffed with bees and honeycomb. Jackpot!

I finally got the branch home and walked it over to my covered breezeway and strapped it to one of the roof supports. As soon as I removed the paper stuffed in the knothole entrance, 10 -15 bees came pouring out. As of this writing, it’s been several hours since they arrived at their new home. I think today will be dominated by orientation flights, as they adjust to their new location and try to fix landmarks. Tomorrow will be hunting and gathering.

I think I’ll give them a week or so to calm down, then I’ll try to move them into a hive body. I may even move them into my empty observation hive, but for right now, it’s just cool watching them come in and out of that knothole.