post cutout dilema

[gardeningfireman]

Scenario- I did a cutout from an old honey house yesterday. The wall boards are 1 x 12's vertically mounted. Swarm had moved in a few weeks ago it was a small hive. I never did see the queen (as usual!), but after scooping some of the bees into a nuc box with the brood comb, they were orienting to it instead of going back to the wall. There was one large cluster of bees still in the stud space, but then they disappeared. I thought they may have found a hole and ran into the next space over, so I pulled the board back about an inch, but didn't see or hear any bees in it. I sprayed BeeDun into it and none came out then either. I then figured maybe they went into the nuc box while I was preoccupied. I sealed everything up and went home. Last night I went to get the nuc box and there was not one single bee on the wall. Brought the box home and looked inside. Only about half the bees were in there! Now I am again thinking I sealed some bees up in the wall space adjacent to where the hive was. My question is-- Do I need to tear it all open again? Or can I just drill a 1/2 inch hole in the space and do a makeshift trapout with a nuc box and a frame of their brood comb? Please help! I will be going back on Wed. morning.

[iddee]

If you sealed them up without food, then they should be dead by wed. if they didn't find an exit. If they found an exit, you can trap them there. I wouldn't open it back up or drill holes.

[gardeningfireman]

Here is an update. No queen in the nuc box. One new queen cup. I went out to the honey house today (Tues.)and saw bees about four feet away from the old hive, going in and out under a trim board. I pulled the trim and the 1 x 12 and saw no comb at all. I sprayed the stud space with BeeDun and put a nuc box right next to where the bees are. In it there is a honey frame, a partially drawn brood frame and a piece of their own brood comb. I put a few drops of lemongrass oil in the nuc also. I only had about 15 minutes so that was all I could do today. Do you think the bees will go in the nuc, or do I need to worry about the queen and her cluster starting a new hive in that wall? If I need to, I can open the whole wall; the boards are only nailed in about four places.

[gardeningfireman]

I found her!! I went back to check the nuc box and it was empty. I started removing wall boards (5 in all) and found a deadout hive the rest of this colony moved into. They already built a comb about 4 inches by 10 inches! I removed all but a piece of the comb and started looking for the queen. Too many bees, so I started beevaccing them. I saw and caught the queen! I put her in a queen catcher and placed it in the nuc. I finished cleaning up the deadout, spraypainted it and covered it over with window screen. When the owner gets done painting the boards, I will put those back up. Mission accomplished!