Removing Bees from the Old Nature Center Wall
Last week, over 30,000 bees were relocated from the old nature center!
In mid-summer, someone noticed bees flying into the wall of the old nature center at the roof line. The old nature center was scheduled to be removed, and we wanted to save the bees. We owe a BIG thanks to Gary Sydow and Dave Pozorski, who volunteered to remove the bees. Both men are members of the Manitowoc County Beekeepers Club. Read on to learn about how the bees were removed.
First step: Find the bees!
To find the bees, it was necessary to listen with a glass pressed up against the wall and ear for the buzzing of bees. Once the location was found, it was time to start to remove the paneling.
Once the wall is exposed, the wood has to be removed with hammers, saws and a small pry bar.
The honeycomb and some bees are now exposed.
To save the bees, they are vacuumed into a bucket. From the hose they go into the vacuum and then the bucket where they are collected.
Cutting off the honeycomb
The honeycomb is made by the bees. They make perfect six sided cells in total darkness. The younger, female worker bees have glands on the sides of their abdomen which secrete wax. With their legs, they move the wax to the mouth and chew it until it becomes malleable and can be used to create six sided cells.
This comb contains honey in the cells.
Bees make their honey from the nectar and pollen they gather. Bees have two stomachs, one for their own food and one for storing the nectar they are gathering. The nectar storage is almost equal to the weight of the bee. Enzymes in the stomach work on the nectar and when the bees return to the hive, they regurgitate the nectar into the stomachs of other worker bees, and this continues, from bees to bees, until the water content of the nectar is at about 20%. The honey is than regurgitated into a cells for storage.
Comb used to raise male bees or drones
The queen will lay one egg in a six sided cell. (She lays eggs 24 hours a day with brief resting periods and is fed by worker bees.) From the egg stage, to the larva stage, to the pupa stage, the bee spends its life cycle in this single cell. This section of comb is where drones are located. You can tell this is drone cone because the tops of the cells are rounded. Male bees are a bit larger so to give them more room to grow in the cell, the worker bees (female) make rounded wax caps. Brood comb is saved.
Saving brood comb
This brood comb – so called because this is where the “brood or young” are raised – is filled with female bees. The wax caps which cover the cells are flat, indicating a smaller bee than a drone, or male bee, inhabits the cell. Brood comb is saved by placing the comb in frame which will be placed in a bee hive where all the bees that have been collected will be placed. Brood comb is held in with bands that stretch.
Not all the cells have brood in them and those cells appear dark brown.
Cutting away the last of the comb and vacuuming up the last of the bees.
Finished on the Inside
Dumping bees (1000s) collected in the bucket into a hive with frames of brood comb and honeycomb.
Collecting the rest of the bees.
Need to collect the bees coming in from working outside gathering the nectar and pollen. 
After vacuuming the beehive is set up for latecomers.
Hive Placement
The hive is placed on a table which is placed on another table so that the hive opening in closer to the opening in the wall where the bees had been entering the wall. You can see them gathering at the opening at the top which is now closed. Hopefully, with time, they will go into the hive, their new home. The hive will be picked up in the morning. The hive is doing well!
THANK YOU, GARY AND DAVID, FOR SAVING THE BEES!
