Here's the Bee Tree Challenge

OMG, I don't know if I can accomplish this. The bees are in a huge piece of tree on the back of a truck. You can see the open knothole that they are using for their entrance to the hive.



I wish there were a way to move this tree to my yard but it is way too big


There are thousands of bees in the tree.

I talked to Wally ("Iddee" on Beemaster and Beesource) and he said that they probably occupy anywhere from three to five feet of the tree. He was so helpful to talk me through how to determine where the hive is.

He said to cut about a firewood's length piece from the bottom of the tree and if there's solid wood there, to do the same thing again. When you reach the rotten wood, then you cut about 6" until you reach the comb. Once you reach the comb, you start at the other end of the tree and do the same thing. If Ed's guys are going to do this, I've promised to let them wear bee veils that I have!

My Blue Heron partner, Julia, borrowed a stethoscope and is going over the listen to the tree to see if she can locate the hive that way. I told her to take something to mark it with if she could determine where it is! located.

Here's a close-up of the bee's entry way.



And here I am optimistically putting a lure box beside the opening in hopes that the bees would just move in (fat chance!). And notice that this is in no way a pick-up truck but a big flat bed! They put a ladder by it so I could get into the back.