Swarming is a normal process for honeybees. For various reasons; such as congestion, lack of food or other undesirable conditions, the colony will divide. Typically, thirty to seventy percent of the bees and their queen will leave the hive in search of a new home. Scout bees search out the area for a new nest site. The swarm will take flight and may settle on a tree branch for several hours or days to rest and make certain the queen is present. At seven to eight mile per hour the swarm travels. Once they have arrived at the final destination, the scouts will begin fanning their wings and releasing pheromones to pilot the queen and followers into the new home. The new nest may be the inside of a decaying tree or the inside of a building wall. This swarm found a nice place inside the wall cavity of an abandoned building. Removal from a wall cavity or tree trunk is the most difficult and time consuming task in beekeeping. However, it is very interesting from the standpoint of learning about bee behavior and the natural nest.

A cone with a hole at the end, large enough to let a bee out is secured to the hive entrance. Any other entrances must be plugged. The bees can exit but are unable to re-enter. Typically, the confused bees will cluster at the obstructed entrance and eventually take harbor in an empty hive placed closely to the obstructed entrance. As brood continues to emerge from the colony in the building, bees will continue to exit. After several weeks most of the bees will have joined the hive outside. At this time the hive is taken to its new location.

After locating the wall studs from the inside of the building a cut is made. The first cut from stud to stud and about twelve inches down will give us a view of the nest inside. Comb will be attached to the studs and sides of the wall. The bees will not be happy to see us.

Once a cut is made, the wall board is removed and the nest is exposed. The excited, confused, bees will be buzzing throughout the room. Things will be very 'alive'.

As we pull the wall board away we can hear the nest begin to hum with excitement. The comb that is attached peels away from the nest. The movement of bees begins to speed across the comb and out of the wall cavity. This is the beginning of the demolition.

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