Feral Bees

The fellow who mows our lawn, Red, tald us he knew of several places in Rockingham County where there were feral bees. I finally got around to going and seeing what he was talking about.



The first place he guided me two was an old log cabin on land he leases for hunting. The cabin is pretty much intact, but the mud has come out from between the timbers, which is where the bees leave and enter. The challenge with getting bees out of this cabin is that they have nested in the ceiling. The cabin is old and can't be occupied, but the owners reportedly would want things restored to its current state. That would mean taking down all the tongue and groove slats that make up the ceiling to find the queen and take down comb. I imagine it will be quite a job. I'm debating if this one will be worth it.

The second old cabin is about to fall down. At least the area where the bees have housed themselves. This colony would be easier to extract. The boards are vertical and the entrance is pretty clearly marked. There would be no attempt to have to restore anything. There would be brush to take out of the way, but that wouldn't be all that bad to get rid of.

If you look closely at the photo, you can see where the bees have applied a long line of propelis up and down one crack. The entrance is in there somewhere.

Come spring, we will take a second look at both hives. In the meantime, I have to figure out where to put them if I get them. The shadows are already covering the spot east of the greenhouse. I want a spot that will get sun early in the season. I will have to watch the area and see how if fares in February and March.