Moving the Honey Bees

We recently discovered a nest of honey bees in one of the trees in the yard. They have created a space for themselves in a knot in a tree.

I don't know what this means for the tree - hopefully it isn't dying, but obviously it must have some rotten hollow spaces in it.

Honey bees are important to not just our farm but the world, so obviously we don't want to kill them. However, my husband and I are allergic to bees and he will disturb them every time he mows the yard. They need to be moved.

We called a friend who keeps bees and he has placed a queen bee with honeycomb inside a bee catching device. The hope is the bees will be lured to the new queen.

So far it isn't happening.

The tree with the bee catcher hanging down near the bee hive.

A little closer shot of the scene.

The bees have made themselves at home in this crack in the tree.

There seem to be a lot of them.

Not sure what the next step is if they don't go into the bee trap.