A swarm of bees was seen in mid-April that quickly nested between the chimney and house wall in our cabin in Rabun Gap. With the assistance of the Rabun and Towns counties UGA Cooperative Extension Service Agents, I contacted a bee removal specialist, Bill Owens, who came on May 19, 2009, and removed tens of thousands of bees. Bill, the highest certified beekeeper in Georgia, has a business named Georgia Bee Removal; its website is very interesting and informative.
The following photos by yours truly, Roger K. Thomas, document the bee removal at our cabin in Rabun Gap.
Photo 1. In less than a minute using a laser guided heat sensor,
the bees are located behind the wall in the triangular area.
Photo 2. Preparing the work area. Plastic sheeting is covering the fireplace.
Photo 3. Bill Owens removes a section of drywall.
Photo 4. The yellow in the corner is insulation. The dark mass to its left are bees and combs.
Photo 5. Bees adhering to the back side of the removed piece of dry wall.
Photo 6. Bill's assistant, Chris, begins vacuuming the bees, a process that took more than an hour.
Photo 7. Bill holding comb passed down by Chris with egg-filled and open cells.
They will transplant the egg cells to hives at the apiary.
This piece of comb represents about 10% of total hive removal.
Photo 8. Bags of comb. Left bag similar to above which they kept.
Right bag with larvae, honey, they will discard unless I wanted it.
I did not as I do not know how to process.
I kept a couple of small pieces of pre-eggs comb.
Photo 9. Bees cleared from nest.
Photo 10. Vacuum canister held a cage that collected the bees.
Photo 11. Drywall back in place. I guess
we have to paint now.
Photo 12. A few escapees in the skylight. Bill told me when I called him to arrange for the removal that "about 90 or so" would get away. He knows the bee business! He also said all the escapees would die in a day or so. I have vacuumed up those my dog didn't eat. She has an irresistible taste for them, despite some obvious stings.
End of Story.