A cut-out is anything from taking bees out of a home/shed/garage to simply removing them from a tree in someone’s yard. The number one goal is to get the queen and most (if not all) of the bees. Below are some tools that I find useful in doing a cut-out:
- Empty frames (20) – need these for the brood comb. I will probably only need 5 to 10, but better to be safe then sorry.
- 2 deeps, bottom board, inner cover and t-cover
- Rubber bands – need these to hold the comb in the frames
- Chain saw (bow and regular) if working on a tree
- Saw file (forgot this on my first cut out and I paid for it with lots of sweat)
- Chain (to pull a large piece of log apart to get at the bees)
- Spray bottle with 1:1 syrup (and honey bee healthy) to keep the bees from being agitated
- smoker (don’t want to use this, as it makes the queen run and hide)
- Cooler with ice, water and gatorade (this is a must have on any cut-out)
- Duct tape (this is the one must have – if I could only bring one tool, it would be this one)
- White bed sheet (in case I need to shake the bees out in front of the hive and let them walk in)
- Bee vac & long extension cord (I need to get a small generator for this dawg)
- Knife to cut out comb
- Wedge, 2-3 wedges, Axe and Maul (for tree cut-outs)
- A couple of 5 gallon buckets (for honey comb)
Lessons Learned
A. When cutting out brood comb and placing in the frame, it is crucial that you place it in the exact same orientation that you found it in the hive. I made a rookie mistake on my first cut-out and just put it in however it would fit. Needless to say, the bees hardly used any of it.
