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I realized today that it's hard to take photos when one is wearing a veil and elbow length gloves.

The background is that this hive has been in this building for a long time and the new owner would like it out. So the state bee inspector came up and pulled it out. There was a hole at the bottom of the framing where the bees were getting in. She smoked them a bit then started in with a sawzall pulling the planking off the wall. Oodles of comb and honey inside, along with a ferocious amount of bees. Empty frames were brought along and the old bee comb from inside the wall was rubber banded into the frames. The frames along with a big fat queen were stuck into two hive boxes, loosely and covered up. The inside part of the wall was completely removed of all traces of wax and honey and a little liquid smoke was sprayed inside the wall to deter the bees from returning. That was it for today. The new extracted hive sits next to the building now until the bees are conditioned to the new hive. I'll check in on them tomorrow.

The bee inspector said the bees are Italians, and judging from the comb in the wall the hive is probably 50 years old! Amazing. Handling them is like walking through old growth forest.

Here's my only picture from today (maybe more photos to follow once the girls have settled down):

Dude, awesome. I'm so stoked for you, what an experience and what a gift that you get to be their caretaker. So cool.

Congrats, That is a Great way to get a strong hive with good genetics. The State Inspector was very good to you on this one. I do think it is a good idea to let them sit for a ay or so to get used to their new home. Once the queen is settled in and it starts to smell like home you should be good to go.

Here's an update from last night with a few more photos.

Here's a closer shot of where the nest was in the building. It was in the center section of studs with a small hole rotted in the siding where they were going in and out and they had that whole section full of comb.


Here's the newly extracted colony stuck in their temporary new home:


As much good comb was salvaged from inside the wall and rubber banded into frames to make them take to their new home:


Last night back at my place I took a couple of new frames:


And put them into my hive, replacing two of my honey combs:


(Side note- I couldn;t believe that my honey super is full already! Time to add another box!)
I took two of my honey filled frames and placed them into the newly extracted hive to keep the queen active as they are getting situated.



Last of all, a bunch of additional comb from inside the wall was salvaged and put into zip lock bags and frozen. This will be put out after the bloom season is over to further get the girls ready for winter.


Even ended up with about 5# of honey for my cupboard out of the deal. Sweet!

Next step is letting them get settled for a couple more days and then adding another deep box full of empty frames for them to start working at.

Nice score! Just let me know when youre ready to split your hives!!