Quote:
Originally Posted by ChiefGator
Forgive my ignorance.. I am just starting to learn some beekeeping.. what do you mean by 'cutout'?
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I've got some photos in the thread that will show what I'm talking about.
A "cut out" is a hive removal from a place where it isn't wanted. I've done or assisted with them in houses, garages, trees, buildings.... basically you locate the hive in the structure, try to identifY which cavities the hive is located. Once you've done that, you cut an access hole into the structure. After you have done that, you try to find the queen, and begin removing the hive a piece at a time. You cut the comb with brood(babies) into shapes and rubber band it into your empty frames. Sometimes you can keep some with honey, others we put some of those frames as well for food. We use a "bee vacuum" which is like a reduced power shop vac and suck the bees into a closed box. We relote the hive to its new home(one of our hives) and then place-shake the bees into the new hive and then release the queen.
If you're smart, as I'm learning you need to block the entrance for a couple of days so the bees won't abscond(fly away and waste your time and effort).
That's the basics. It's hard work, it's the most likely time to get stung, but it's fun and challenging.
My favorite or preferred are when we get calls that they are in homes/barns that are being torn down so we don't have to be careful for reconstruction.
In other news, I was wondering if you have any favorite bee men in YouTube ? I like 628dirt rooster and barnyard bees videos and learn a lot from them. There are a lot of noobs and douchers with bad information to sort through.
My favorite quote so far was a different guy who was wearing only shorts and when a bee flew up his shorts said "you're not a real bee keeper until you've been stung on the hammer".