Archives

Chimney Cap Bees

I received a call about honeybees in a tree – (a swarm) that had emerged from a known colony in a chimney.  Dscn2789I arrived and got the swarm settled into a box – then evaluated the cause of the problem…  The chimney bees….

IMG_20160401_190924

Thie chimney was capped with cement.  The plywood backer underneath had rotted and sagged over the years – creating a gap for the bees to enter the space between the flue and the outer chimney bricks.  (for size reference, the chimney bricks are 6 feet wide)

IMG_20160401_191047I carefully removed a 3-foot wide by 2 foot section of the cement chimney cap, and slowly cut the plywood to reveal the hive within.

Dscn2793

This colony had an initial HUGE population.  The supporting worker bees created comb in this chimney space that was 4 feet wide, by 4 feet tall (the largest piece that I pulled out).

Dscn2796The comb in this picture is NOT the largest.  This comb measured in at 3 feet tall.   The largest was 4 feet tall, and 4 feet wide.   (I cut them into manageable sizes to remove from the chimney and carry down the ladder).

Dscn2800

 

 

Once the removal of the bees was complete, I repaired the chimney cap by placing several rods of re-bar across the width of the chimney – to support a cement backer-board (instead of the original plywood) – then I used a support grid of 6″ square metal mesh (thin re-bar) as a reinforcement for the cement.  In all – (3) 60-lb backs of cement were mixed, then carried to the top of the chimney to finish the job.

Dscn2804

Leave a Reply