[Marches Farmer]

Small swarm arrived yesterday and went up under the barge board and into the roof of the old stone pigscot which is now the bathroom of the farm holiday cottage.  It's completely inaccessible from inside and out. I've put a new hive, with pheromone attractant,  just below the hole in the stonework they're using but I'd be grateful for any ideas on how to shift them before they start building comb.  I fear I may have to destroy them otherwise, because of the buzzing disturbing the holiday guests, but I really don't want to.

[Caroline1]

That's a tough one, apart from trying to encourage them out as you have been doing, once the queen starts laying, pest control is probably the only option.

I know you can get things that go in a crown board so that bees can only get one way (what is it called, porter bee escape?). If you could fit something similar so the bees can come out but not go back in that would stop them setting up home, but from the sounds of it, probably not possible and you would have some very unhappy bees hanging around whilst the queen was still inside.

[cloddopper]

They will have already started to build comb  in a matter of minutes .

 Look up Certain or a similar name in Thornes website . It is made from rotting milk residues ..stinks to high heaven like a new linen reinforced plastic table cloth and is used to clear bees down in a hive .
 Drill a tiny hole in th ceiling and inject it to near where you think the bees will be ( usually 24 inches in from the entry point ) , even a laying queen exits a hive if you put enough in it .

 One thing I managed to do was make a neuc box into a receptor box  , put a vax tub vacuum suction tube on the entrance hole and plug it well with  sponge , tape it in place then at the opposite end of the box used a hole cutter to make a 1 & 1/2 " hole to take 3 mtrs of  pond water pipe .
I then used a 3 inch hole cutter & the battery drill to cut the board where the bees were coming in & out . Once the hole was done I went fishing for bees & the queen with the tube and the VAX switched on .
 I managed to suck the queen into the neuc box , lots of air borne bees started to cluster around the VAX motor where the air outlet is  ,  which was a reasonable guess I'd got her either in the neuc or the cleaner.
 On disconnecting the cleaner hose  and the fishing hose , plugging the big hole in the neuc box with cardboard taped to over it , I used several bungees to lift /hold the neuc box up to near where the bees had been .
 I noticed that the bees were now using the neuc box entrance so was certain she was in the box on the drawn frames .
 That  evening just before dark I went back and removed the neuc box plugged it with a block of precut foam sponge , then took it to the car .

 Returning to the hole in the board , squirting a full aerosol of RAID residual wasp killer in the hole , right in the  area where the bees had been to deter any new ones taking up on the comb they had built .
 I then put the 3 inch disc of wood back in the hole after wetting it and smearing " Gorilla glue "  round the edge ( it's a self expanding waterproof foam glue & excellent for this sort of job ) then carefully placing it in the hole and taping it in place so the glue could activate and expand with it held in the right position .

 After this first encounter with bees in the boards area I made a much bigger catcher using a plastic close fitting lidded screw top light weight drum that used to hold swiming pool chlorince granules  ,  that could hold several drawn frames .
It was made so I could attach the vax at one end and the extra long suction hose at the other end .
 In the middle of the lid & above a wire mesh screen I made a simple sliding door over the meshed hole so I could adjust the amount of suction that was being used to get the bees. There was also  a mesh inside the barrel at the suction tube end to try and stop bees being drawn in to the the cleaner . It could be swung in or out of place for i also made six more copies for general swarm collecting.

The suction tubes in & out were pond pipe hose  unions by now glued in place with uni-bond industrial  flexible high bonding sealant  ...  I got caps for them from a big plumbers merchants .

  If I noticed the bees had clogged the screen it was a simple case of switching the cleaner off for a few seconds opening the sliding vent a tad more to reduce the suction .
All this often took place with me 40 or more feet up on the apex of a roof ... wheeeeeeee !  happy days    

Word got around and as a result I was often called upon to extract swarms within three days of arrival to do as little damage as possible and not leave a pile of dead rotting bees in the roof voids. etc .
 I then also started to specialise a bit in the removal of chimney swarms and removal from chimneys & lower down of established nests by opening the chimney up and rebuilding /  plastering etc it afterwards  . Which was very very profitable especially when it was an insurance job or local authority one. 
 
 

[Marches Farmer]

Thanks for the suggestion clodhopper. I spoke to a very helpful lady at Thorne's who said Certan was for wax moth but said Bee Quick might work - it's used for clearing supers, apparently.  Should get here tomorrow, so I'll be suited up on a day when the humidity is set to rise to 93% ....