Active bee colony in big plastic trashcan 2 yrs--now heavy with honey.How can I salvage honey & organize bees?

Question

Old idle trash container beside house attracted swarm 2 yrs ago. I slid it to rear of backyard & provided a sturdy double loose cover on top for rain shelter. Now the container is distended with honey. I'd like to harvest honey & move the bees into a formal standard wood hive. Can't find beekeepers around here interested. I've had distant past experience keeping bees, but I'm rusty on the procedures. At the time I had a more commercial beekeper friend who always did the extracting.

Answer 1

Put your hive box with wax frames on top.  With time they will move up in it.  Once they are in it with the queen you can move the old away smoke them out and they will fly back to the box.  You could use "be go" too.  This will take time.

Answer 2

Instead of Zippo fluid --- get a smoker for bees. Gently smoke the little fellows. You will probably need to get an assistant to help and you will probably get stung, but reach in an take out as much as possible... In other words take the hive and gently put it in the wooden bee hive. Make sure  all you can get out is put into the standard beehive and the trash can is empty, sealed off and removed from the property. You might even be able to rob a little honey while you are there, but your first goal should be to get them going into the wooden beehive---you can always rob the little fellows a little later in the year or even next year if need be. I grew up with many stands of bees and I can tell you from experience that the best thing to do is focus on getting the little fellows moved and then robbing them at a later date and time... Think of it like this -- if you were robbed you would want the robbers to drop the majority of your loot in your own back yard -- not take it with them... Bees will more readily go to a standard beehive if the beehive possesses the majority of their belongings...  Hope you get the little guys to move into their new home easily.

Answer 3

Suit up and start digging.

Call around to a small beeskeeper and maybe they could help. Big guys don't want oto help anyone.

Answer 4

I just get a load of Zippo lighter fuel (5-10 cans of it) and douse the bee's hive.

Then light a piece of paper and throw it on. They pop, one by one, its so funny!

As for saving the honey? Sorry, I dunno.