Take It Out!

Hollow silver maple, a few feet from a house; the homeowner wants it down.  One problem.

Honeybees.  Nobody wants to stick a saw into a tree full of bees, and you don't want to be around a bee tree if it hits the ground.  Removing the bees is not difficult if you have a few weeks.  A cone made of screen wire has to be fastened over the entrance to the wild hive.  The cone lets workers leave, but keeps them from returning home.  A hive with bees, a caged queen, a few frames of brood, and honey is set up next to the cone so the excluded bees will have a new place to call home.  It takes two or three weeks for all the workers, and newly hatched bees to make the move, and it is actually an easy operation for beekeeping hobbyists.