The back story can be seen in the related threads, but have spent the last couple-three weeks researching beekeeping, and watching the online courses from the University of Arkansas about beekeeping, and videos of people doing cut outs of hives.
So today, the HCBW and I ventured across the street to the yard of the vacant house with the sofa-hive with our newly a newly acquired tools and acknowledge, and performed the cut out.
It was bigger than we thought it would be, and took longer than we thought it would, and it was very hot, 95F. Took us about six hours from start to clean up. I didn’t think I would have to, but ended up having to use the bee vacuum that I had built due to the sheer number of bees.
It went as well as could be expected for newbies doing something like this for the first time. We each got stung a couple times. And sadly, we weren’t able to find the queen. Hopefully, we captured her in the vacuum and dumped her into the hive with the rest of them.
Leaving the new hive in the place the sofa was for a couple of days to let them settle down and get used to it, then we’ll move it up on the hill behind the pond in our yard.