Bee Tree Transfer

10 min read

Parent
🎣
Obtaining Bees
Capturing and housing colonies
Current
🌳
Bee Tree Transfer
Moving wild colony to hive

Part of Beekeeping

Relocating a wild bee colony from a hollow tree to a managed hive is one of the most challenging and rewarding tasks in beekeeping. Unlike capturing a swarm — which involves docile, homeless bees — a bee tree transfer involves bees that have established a home, built comb, stored honey, and will defend all of it vigorously. Done well, the transfer rewards you with an established colony that may have been producing honey in that tree for years, with locally adapted genetics and a proven queen. Done poorly, it can result in colony loss, serious stings, and wasted effort.

This procedure requires careful planning, appropriate equipment, and ideally some beekeeping experience. It is not a beginner’s first task.

When to Attempt a Bee Tree Transfer

Only attempt a bee tree transfer under favorable conditions:

Appropriate times:

  • The tree is dead, diseased, or being felled for other reasons — the colony must be moved regardless
  • The tree is a hazard that must be removed
  • The cavity section can be cut cleanly from the tree without destroying the entire structure
  • Early spring (when colony is small and stores are low, least comb to deal with) or late spring/early summer (good weather, easy establishment afterward)

Avoid:

  • Mid-summer full honey production — extremely heavy, defensive colony with massive comb
  • Autumn — disturbed colony cannot build winter stores; high loss risk
  • Winter — cluster disruption is catastrophic; bees may not survive

Legal and social consideration: In a rebuilding community, establish consensus before felling or cutting a bee tree. Wild bee colonies provide pollination services to surrounding food production areas. Relocating them to managed hives is preferable to destroying them, but the action should be coordinated.

Understanding the Colony’s Home

Before beginning work, gather as much information about the colony as possible:

Observe the entrance from a distance (binoculars if needed):

  • Location and size of entrance hole (single hole, crack, or split?)
  • Which direction the entrance faces
  • How high the entrance is on the tree
  • Level of traffic — how many bees entering/exiting per minute gives a rough colony size estimate

Estimate colony size:

  • Fewer than 50 bees/minute at entrance: small colony
  • 50-200 bees/minute: medium colony
  • 200+ bees/minute: large, established colony

Assess the tree structure:

  • Is the tree standing or fallen?
  • What is the trunk diameter at the cavity?
  • How long is the hollow section? (Knock on the trunk — a hollow sound reveals cavity extent)
  • Is the wood solid enough to cut, or punky and fragile?

Equipment Required

Personal protection (essential — do not compromise):

  • Full bee suit with veil — not just a veil and gloves
  • Duct tape at cuffs and ankle openings
  • Thick leather gloves (established colonies sting through thin nitrile)

For the tree:

  • Handsaw or chainsaw (for trunk cuts)
  • Axe and wedges (for splitting sections)
  • Drill with 30+ mm bit (for creating inspection holes)
  • Hammer and chisel (for opening the cavity face)
  • Rope (for lowering heavy sections)

For the bees:

  • Smoker with fuel (smoke heavily — you will need sustained smoke throughout)
  • Two buckets or large containers with lids (for removed comb sections)
  • Elastic bands or strips of cloth (for banding comb into frames)
  • Empty prepared hive at the ready (on site or nearby)
  • Soft bee brush
  • A lidded cardboard or wooden box for temporary bee containment
  • Queen clip or small container (to contain the queen once found)

For the hive:

  • Pre-built frames or top bars
  • A temporary screened travel box if moving colony to a distant apiary

Method 1: Cutting Out the Cavity Section (Best Method)

This method removes the hollow section of the tree trunk as a single unit and transfers it intact to your apiary, where the colony is then cut out at your own pace.

Step 1: Make Two Cuts

Identify the top and bottom of the hollow section by knocking and listening. The hollow sound stops at solid wood. Mark cut lines 20 cm above the hollow’s top and 20 cm below its bottom.

Make these cuts carefully. If the log is standing, make a series of guide cuts to control the fall direction. Have helpers clear the area. A falling log full of bees is extremely hazardous.

Step 2: Transport the Log

Move the log to your apiary or work area. Keep the entrance opening in approximately the same orientation it was in on the tree (same compass direction). Bees will continue using the entrance normally and returning foragers will arrive at the known entrance location.

Block the entrance during transport with a cloth. Move at night if possible — all foragers will be inside.

Step 3: Set the Log Upright

Position the log with its entrance opening accessible and the cavity in its original up-down orientation if possible. Let the bees settle for 24-48 hours before continuing.

Step 4: Perform the Cutout

The actual colony transfer is now manageable — the log is stable, at a convenient height, and the bees have partially calmed from transport.

Open the cavity: Use a saw, axe, or chainsaw to remove one face of the log, exposing the combs. Make the cut so you can lay the removed face aside and access the full interior.

Smoke heavily before and throughout this step.

Expose combs one section at a time:

Worker comb is arranged in a predictable pattern: the brood nest at the center (bottom of the cavity if the entrance is at the bottom), pollen storage at the brood nest periphery, and honey stored above. Combs may span the full cavity diameter or may be built in parallel arcs.

Remove and organize combs:

Cut each comb from the cavity wall with a long knife. Handle comb gently — fresh natural comb tears easily. Sort as you go:

  • Brood comb (contains eggs, larvae, capped cells) → into hive frames immediately (see below)
  • Pollen comb → place in hive alongside brood
  • Honey comb → separate container for later processing

Step 5: Secure Brood Comb in Frames

Cut brood comb into sections that fit inside your frames. Each section should be as large as possible — minimize the number of cuts through brood. Wedge or rubber-band the comb sections into empty frames:

  1. Cut comb to fit within the frame interior (roughly 30-35 cm high × 40-44 cm wide)
  2. Lay the frame flat
  3. Place comb section in frame, brood side up
  4. Loop elastic bands around the frame (over the top bar, under the bottom bar) to hold the comb in place — space bands every 3-4 cm
  5. Hang frame in hive box, bands on the outside

Bees will chew through the bands within 2-3 days once the comb is secured with their own propolis. Do not use string — string can cut through comb. The rubber band method is standard for natural comb cutouts.

Aim to transfer all the brood comb. Brood is the colony’s future. Honey is a bonus.

Step 6: Find and Transfer the Queen

Finding the queen in natural comb is significantly harder than finding her in a standard hive because the comb is irregular and she may be anywhere in the brood nest.

Signs of queen location:

  • Bees forming an attendant cluster on one comb section (workers facing toward the queen)
  • Eggs visible in cells — the queen is nearby
  • The queen is larger than workers, with a longer abdomen; she moves steadily across the comb rather than in the erratic pattern of workers

Examine each brood comb section before cutting. When you find the queen, gently place her directly into the hive box or temporarily confine her in a queen clip.

If you cannot find the queen: Transfer all brood comb to the hive. The queen is very likely on one of the brood combs and will be transferred with it. Once the brood is in the hive, bees will orient to it and the queen will follow.

Confirmation: After transferring all comb and bees, watch the entrance of the new hive. If bees begin fanning with Nasonov pheromone at the entrance within 30-60 minutes, the queen is inside.

Step 7: Transfer the Bees

After all comb is in frames and in the hive, the remaining bees are in the cavity. Shake and brush them toward the cavity opening, then onto a ramp or directly into the open hive box. Alternatively:

  • Smoke from the entrance repeatedly to drive bees toward the top of the cavity
  • With the hive positioned below the cavity opening, allow bees to drop and walk into the hive
  • Brush stragglers with a soft brush

Step 8: Close Up and Stabilize

Once the bulk of the bees are in the new hive:

  1. Close the hive with the inner cover and roof
  2. Leave the entrance open (a reduced entrance is ideal)
  3. Position the old log nearby with its entrance open — remaining bees and returning foragers will use it as an orientation point and gradually move into the new hive

Over 24-48 hours, all remaining bees will transfer into the new hive, following the queen’s pheromones.

Method 2: Luring Bees Out (For Standing Trees to be Preserved)

If the tree must be preserved, it is sometimes possible to persuade the colony to move without cutting the tree. This works best in spring when a small swarm is first establishing:

  1. Block the tree entrance completely
  2. Install a small pipe or tube from the blocked entrance to an empty hive positioned immediately outside the tree
  3. Bees are forced to exit through the tube into the hive
  4. After 3-5 days, move the hive away from the tree entrance

This method has low success rates for established colonies — the colony will often chew through the blockage or find another exit. It works marginally better with very recently established swarms before comb is built.

A more effective variant: block the entrance and install a one-way bee escape (a cone of wire mesh) that allows bees to exit but not return. Bees accumulate outside the one-way exit, clustered on the hive you have positioned there. After several days, the queen may move into the hive. But often the queen remains inside the tree, making the cluster outside queenless and unable to establish.

After the Transfer: Critical First Week

A transferred colony is stressed and disoriented. The brood comb is not perfectly attached in the new frames, the queen’s scent is not permeating the new box, and foragers may be confused about the hive location.

First 24 hours:

  • Do not inspect — let the colony settle
  • Feed immediately: sugar syrup by inverted jar feeder inside the hive
  • Reduce the entrance to 40-50 mm width maximum

After 7 days:

  • Inspect gently
  • Verify eggs are present (queen is laying in the new frames)
  • Check that transferred comb is being anchored by bees with wax and propolis
  • Remove rubber bands from frames where comb is solidly attached

After 14 days:

  • Full inspection
  • Assess brood pattern
  • Begin normal management

A successfully transferred bee tree colony that retains its queen and brood will often be one of your strongest hives within 4-6 weeks. These colonies carry locally adapted genetics that have survived in your landscape — potentially including disease resistance and winter hardiness that purchased commercial bees lack. The effort of the transfer pays dividends for years.