As for them not returning to the gas tank, perhaps covering it with an old sheet so that is it not accessible for at least 24 hours would be good. The bees still in there would not be harmed, but would have enough time to figure out that they were queenless. After that time, remove the sheet so that those bees can now rejoin their queen in the new hive, and I believe that they will. Remove and destroy (or harvest – your choice) whatever old comb, honey, etc, is left in that tank. Spraying the tank with “Bee Gone” can also help. I would not use a vacuum in this case because you have full access to all the comb in the hive by cutting open the tank, so I don’t think it would be needed. These are good ways to learn, IMO. You are asking the right questions!

And, don’t be too discouraged. My spouse and I have often been asked to try to help out friends who have a bee infestation (as opposed to managed hives) and we do help whenever we can. We don’t charge, mainly because we have no license or insurance and where we live we would need both of those in order to charge for bee removal services. We do it for the experience, and for the bees. Sometimes we are able to remove and keep the bees in a new hive, sometimes we end up having to destroy the bees due to it being impossible to remove them and also due to the “hotness” of the hive. Where we live, feral bees and many of our managed bees, are “Africanized” to some degree.

However, we don’t worry about bringing diseases back to our bees, our bees are not treated at all. They live or die by their own good genetically inspired habits, and if they were out in the wild they would be exposed. What we DO worry about is pesticides and chemicals that hurt them, do more harm than good, and only create stronger diseases and stronger chemically-ressistent pests. There is very good information on raising bees without any treatments on websites by Dee Lusby, Solomon Parker, and Michael Bush, just to name a few. Doing some research and letting go of the idea that bees can’t survive without chemicals, will put a lot more money back into your pocket, make your honey worth more at the local farmer’s market, and have you raising better and stronger bees. If your bees swarm out into the wild, are they able to survive without you and your treatments? If not, are you really helping the bee population? If you are into beekeeping for the sake of the bees and the planet, these are questions you may want to ponder.

happy beeking!

We had an employee that was vacuuming out a very old gas tank… As the United-noticed fumes went up through the vacuum past the electric motor armature, it was ignited by the sparking and blew up the vacuum container sending him to the hospital with burns…