Honeybee Hive Removal From Under Porch

This job was also another opportunity to share some time and knowledge with one of the kids this time my stepdaughter. This was just a straightforward job but a good example of how bees will set up a colony under a house. This colony had only been here for a few months and they were quite strong and expanding. You can also see in this one that the bees do not mind the electrical wiring and we have to work around it while extracting the colony. There was insulation installed under this porch area but it did not fill the entire void. this left enough room for a colony to start. When bee colonies expand they will chew and remove construct materials that are in their way of hive expansion.

Wooden ceiling and support beams of a structure, surrounded by trees.

The bees were getting in where the 4x4 post goes up into the structure.

Bee colony in attic insulation area

Looking at this piece of insulation, you can see how the bees will chew and remove what they do not want.

Bees swarming in a honeycomb inside a wooden structure

Besides the wire, I like seeing hives like this one. The comb is straight uniform and full of bees. Beautiful!

Person in protective suit removing a bee or wasp nest using a vacuum hose, under roof insulation.

I use a bee vacuum that I made myself that safely removes the excess bees for transport.

Person wearing beekeeping gear holding a honeycomb inside a structure.

This was one of the larger pieces of comb that was removed during this job.

Person in a beekeeping suit holding a frame covered with bees, located outdoors near wooden steps and greenery.

Here is Cadence presenting a nice piece of comb before placing it into the Hive Transportation Unit. (HTU)

Beekeeper installing frames into Hive transport unit

This (HTU) has since been retired. it had become beat up from prolonged use. I build these units myself.

Beekeeping scene with an open hive, bees flying around, honeycomb pieces, Hive Transport Unit.

These units help keep the colony cool during transport as well as make it a simpler process to transfer bees into a hive.

Beehive built between wooden beams and ceiling.

After all the comb is removed.

Beekeeper removing honeycomb from wooden structure

The scraping and cleaning of the surface begins.

Wooden attic or crawl space with exposed beams, visible insects, and electrical wiring.

Clean surface.

Close-up of wooden ceiling beams and planks, with electrical wires and fiberglass insulation.

Primed and ready for packing.

Partially dismantled wooden deck with ladder and tools, exposed insulation, trees in background.

We packed the void as well as did a little extra preventative measure at this location.

Underneath a wooden deck with X-shaped supports, surrounded by trees and greenery.

Looking along overhead supports we packed insulation between the 2x12s, and then covered the gap with a 1x4.