I got a call from an Atlanta based tree company doing work in our area because of hurricane Isaac. They said the home owner hired a bee guy who came out the day before and injected dust into the cavity of a large water oak. He was apparently there for ten minutes and promised no bees would be present the next day.
His fee was $300.00.
He induced a swarm which I wound up catching in this video. The swarm seems healthy and in fact I combined it with a queenless swarm and a queenless colony both of which I caught/removed yesterday.
The main cavity where the dusted hive was still had bees flying all around and I had to make sense out of that as well. The tree, the fence and the ground around the tree had white dust everywhere.
The tree company learned a lot about honey bees this day and developed a new appreciation for them. I was happy to help them and the event left me feeling good as well.
...JP
