Removing bees from a wood store under a barbecue

[meroopt]

Hi all,

This morning I went to an open house in the neighbourhood and while I was looking around I found a colony of bees which had made their home in a small wood storage cabinet under a barbecue.  The cupboard is quite small with the door only being about 40 X 40 cm.  Apparently though the inside chamber is a little bigger than that, stretching out under the stone of the barbecue for quite a way.  I would like to capture the bees as someone is going to extreminate them and was wondering how to go about it.  It is the middle of winter here and so I am not sure if they will survive if I just cut the comb out and then try and put as many bees into a box as possible.  My plan was to cut the comb out, put it into a super on top of a box with formed combs in it and then leave the box on top of the colony entrance for a few days.  Having never done this though, I would be more than happy to receive some suggestions on how to best do it.  The hive looks very healthy and apparently has been there for a number of years so it must be doing OK.

I look forward to some reponses.

Cheers,

James

[mick]

This is quite common with BBQs. Congrats on not taking to them with the fly spray like a lot of people do.

Id hit em with the smoke at noon, move the comb into a box, move the box into the cupboard and them remove the box box from the BBQ next noon, hide the BBQ, leave the box. Put the box into a hive next day, or skip all that. Smoke em at noon, dump em all into an empty super, comb an all, with a super of frames on top. Move this hive to where you want it and ditch the BBQ from where it was.

As long as you get the queen and dont kill her, you got a working hive.

BUT I AM NO EXPERT!