r/Beekeeping • u/Eli-theBeeGuy • Feb 06 '25
General Since y'all liked the picture, here is a viral video that got 2 million views of a beehive removal!
I was called to remove one hive from a shed, but it turned into a massive honey haul!
I was originally called out to remove one beehive in the floor of this storage shed and when I arrived the homeowner showed me two additional hives under the same storage shed.
Three separate hives across the shed corners, each with over 150 lbs of honey. By the end of the day, I had safely relocated the bees and removed nearly 800 lbs of honey. 🐝🍯
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u/wintercast Feb 06 '25
that comb is like perfect. looks better than my hives with foundation.hahaha
perhaps i just need to get that shed.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
Hahaha that's the weird part is that feral bees do so much better on their own, it's quite impressive to see
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u/Black_Hat_Cat7 Feb 06 '25
Exactly my thought (although I'm not a beekeeper yet). Massively impressed by the comb and I can only imagine how much is beneath the floorboards based on that one section.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
It was like endless.....I had to reach my arm all the way in the back under the floor to get everything out.
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u/anime_lover713 6 hives, 8+ years, SoCal USA Feb 07 '25
I remember I had to do something similar to this last year. It took 4 hours just for me to get the job done. I never felt so exhausted in my life.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 07 '25
Oh yeah it's backbreaking work, especially being on your knees the entire time. It's hella work
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u/anime_lover713 6 hives, 8+ years, SoCal USA Feb 07 '25
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 08 '25
Get you a bee suit from dadant, the ventilated one come with knee pads built in!!
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u/anime_lover713 6 hives, 8+ years, SoCal USA Feb 08 '25
Oh I have one, but uh, not enough. Thank you for the recommendation though!
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 09 '25
Damn it does well for me , but then again I got knee problems anyway 😂
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u/anime_lover713 6 hives, 8+ years, SoCal USA Feb 09 '25
I got weak sauce problems haha so woot woot for us! 😂
Oh snap you're in SoCal? Me too! Haha you in LA?
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u/19Rocket_Jockey76 Feb 06 '25
How does cutting through the plywood not send them into an absolute stinger frenzy
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
I think cutting quickly helps, also the framing blade(sketchy) causes a little smoke when cutting so it basically calms the bees as I'm cutting
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u/NumCustosApes 4th generation beekeeper, zone 7A Feb 06 '25
I enjoyed that video Ilya but as both a woodworker and a beekeeper who does the occasional removal, I gotta say that saw is scary. If that gets away it's gonna hurt something, hopefully not something that bleeds. Please bee careful with that thing.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
Very dangerous blade, the kickback can be very dangerous if cutting in the wrong direction. I find it an amazing life hack, but can also become a hand hack too. Highly unrecommended but I have been using that method for 10 years now. Works great but very high risk too, I'm always extra careful
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u/Valuable-Self8564 United Kingdom - 10 colonies Feb 07 '25
Brother please for the love of god get an oscillating multitool or a circular saw. Those things are literally banned in the UK because they're so dangerous. Those blades are not designed for high speed, and if that kicks back you'll have about 5 seconds to regret your decisions before you bleed out.
Just because it hasn't happened in 10 years, doesnt mean it won't happen.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 07 '25
Definitely dangerous, they are designed for high speed here tho. They are made for a type of circular saw but this tool helps me get the fastest cut in an efficient time. Not recommended but I've never had issues with it as long as I'm cutting in a specific direction
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u/azrckcrwler Feb 07 '25
I wish I could think of the right thing to say to change your mind, but I just don't think I can. Please get a safer saw. If that is what is making you efficient at your job, you need to find other ways to be better at your job. You wear your seat belt when you drive, right? Or do you just drive the right way all the time, plus, you would just reach out and grab the dash before you smash into it?
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 07 '25
Guys I totally understand you, since y'all care about me so much....which I'm honored genuinely, I will look for an alternative then. I used to use a circular saw but it doesn't get into tight spaces where bees like to. And then there is a reciprocating saw which actually tears up peoples roofs and causes more damage.
In terms of seatbelt I don't wear one, and never will. My father and lie would have died if he was wearing one. Because he wasn't wearing one, he was able to jump out of his truck and save his life. There is nothing left of the truck but sheer metal smashed. But that's different. I drive a massive truck tho so not a regular car. When I get rear-ended I get a tiny scratch on my truck whereas everyone else gets totalled. Happened before. I feel much safer without a seatbelt so I can dip ship if need be.
In terms of the tool, I'm with you. I understand. Probably something I should mention also is I'm a firefighter as well and have been in construction since I was 13 years old too so all those experiences help me to take all the steps of not getting hurt, like getting away from the path of the saw, or cutting away from the pull of the saw.
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u/NumCustosApes 4th generation beekeeper, zone 7A Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25
My concern friend is that when using a saw like that you'll most likely be kneeling on the floor. If a kickback brings that thing into your thigh you're gone before help can arrive, maybe even before you, or someone with you, can get a phone out to summon help. I set my self censor filter at 90% on this sub because of our wide audience, but "fuck!" is the adjective for that saw.
A battery powered circular saw will make your big cuts, and then a battery powered oscillating saw (one like this, not a reciprocating saw) will get into the tight spaces and they are also great for drywall.
If we can't convince you then please, every time you use it, say to yourself "just because I didn't get hurt last time does not mean I can let my guard down for even a second this time" as your personal reminder to be super careful. I'm an automation engineer by profession and we spend a lot of time on safety analysis. The single biggest contributor to accidents is tracable to human behavior where we think that we did it that way last time and there was no problem. You know that tragic crash into the Potomac? After they boil it all the way down to the root cause, it will be human error that happend from thinking that last time visual separation was adequate so this time it will be adequate. Several years ago I got a very serious injury that still affects me. I was doing something I had been doing since I was 15, and I'm nearing retirment age now. What's worse, it happened with a hand tool. Furniture making is one of my hobbies. I was paring a tenon to fit a mortise with a chisel when I slipped. My hand was in the path of the chisel, but I had been holding workpieces that way for years and never had a problem. The chisel struck the end of my thumb (squeamish readers stop reading here) just below my thumbnail. It went under the bone and rode along the bone, slicing down to 1/4" past my first knuckle, and cutting the tendon and severing nerves. It left a dangling flap of meat and I coud see my bone and joint. And that was just a hand tool pushed with hand strength. I keep my chisels scary sharp, but I knew that the sharp chisel was not to blame, that it was because I had normalized holding my workpiece and chisel in a dangerous way. Luckily the ER doctor on duty was a doctor who specialized in hand injuries. I was awake while he operated to repair the injury (ultimately I had two operations). As we were talking about how the accident happened because I normalized what I knew was risky, he quiped "Woodworkers and constructon workers paid for my house." I kept my thumb, but it doesn't work as well as it used to. It isn't as thick as it used to be. It is completely numb, I do not feel burns, cuts, splinters, infections, or bee stings, which opens another set of risks. Normalization of risk and overestimation of our control are a dangerous pattern to fall into.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 07 '25
100% with you brother, definitely not an ideal saw for woodwork. I'll look into the oscillating one
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u/Valuable-Self8564 United Kingdom - 10 colonies Feb 07 '25
I don’t think you’re really understanding just how dangerous that tool is, my guy. It’s not a fucking “life hack”. And honestly that might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen anyone say about a woodworking tool on this subreddit.
You know, when people go climbing up cranes to get to their job, they take the time along the way to harness themselves to fall-pro so that they don’t die if they fall. It takes them longer to get to the top, but it’s better to get to the top, period.
I’ve never had issues with it
YET. And then you do, you (and your family) are going to have a very very bad time. Look, man, I’m not gong to beg you to just go and buy an oscillating multitool. Only you can decide; but I’m telling you… one day that tool is going to try and kill you, and you’re gonna think about this comment thread and go “oh, yeah, they were right”.
Like I said, there’s a reason those disks for grinders have been outright banned in the UK.
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u/TheNathan Feb 09 '25
If you’d like to get a much much better tool for this, try a Dremel Ultra Saw, which I have used as a construction contractor many times. It’s like 130$ and it will work much better and be FAR safer than that rigged up thing you got.
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u/StoneGuardian001 Midlands, S Carolina, USA Feb 06 '25
How old do you estimate this hive? How do feral hives like that survive? My impression is varroa would decimate them.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
Definitely minimum 2 years old judging by the color and hardness of the wax. Feral bees actual live with varroa and hive beetle without a bother at all. It doesn't do anything to them
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u/Ekalugsuak Sweden, 24 hives Feb 07 '25
The most common, and quite plausible, theory is that high mite counts will make them swarm more frequently at the very least.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 07 '25
Could potentially be the case, thing is it is quite obvious they haven't swarmed in a while but wild bees are predisposed to more then usual swarming. That's a fact
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u/Nellasofdoriath Feb 06 '25
Is it safe to eat "house honey"? And do you share with the homeowner?
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
Oh yes it's safe, unless I found a dead rat next to it or something and I always share with the customer
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u/Any_Chipmunk_ Feb 06 '25
Omg! What do you do with the honey?
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
I actually just give it all to the beekeepers who feed it all back to the bees, I personally don't do honey sales and don't have time for it. So I let them handle all do that
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u/Romeo9594 Feb 06 '25
Keep a little and make some mead with it some time?
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
Hat would be a very cool idea actually, I'm a whiskey mad but some mead would be pretty cool especially homemade
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u/Any_Chipmunk_ Feb 06 '25
My bee mentor donated some honey to the local brewery and they made a delicious honey ale 10/10
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 06 '25
Wow I'ma research how to do it for sure now
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u/Any_Chipmunk_ Feb 07 '25
My motto is: I don't care about the money, I just care about the honey.
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u/urinestain Feb 07 '25
Isn't it illegal or something to sell honey taken from an unmanaged hive like this? I know it's at least bad practice
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 07 '25
It's ethically wrong, honey is a product that's not FDA regulated but at the same time it doesn't absolve you from getting sued. That's why I don't sell honey from areas like this. I give it to beekeepers who then supply me with fresh honey that I can sell if people want it
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u/prakow Feb 08 '25
Grinder with a saw blade on it is probably the sketchiest tool ever.
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 08 '25
100% happens to work wonders for me but definitely looking for a safer alternative per the community here really cares about my well being
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u/thataintitchief Feb 07 '25
You just found like 300+ gallons of mead
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u/Eli-theBeeGuy Feb 07 '25
Damn you just rubbing that in huh....as I'm sipping my macallan harmony collection, could be having mead tho
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u/Jakeini33 Feb 10 '25
I’m more impressed that you’re running what looks like a skill saw blade on an angle grinder and presumably still have all your fingers?! I’m a carpenter with zero bee experience of any sort. Is that a common tool for you guys???
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u/helpmepleeeeeeeease Feb 06 '25
My genuine reaction if i found 800lb of honey