Welcome back to the Bee Sanctuary! This week’s rescue was a long time coming. I actually first inspected this property in Bryanston nearly a year ago. Back then, the bees were just starting to move into the roof, and today, we finally went in to get them out.

The Anticipation: Big Hives, Big Risks

When a hive has been established for a year, you expect a massive operation. Big hives usually mean two things: thousands of bees and a potential for defensive behavior. The homeowner actually had some beekeeping experience, so he suited up to help Ethan and me tackle this one.

The Reveal: A Surprising Turn

We accessed the colony from inside the house through the ceiling. While the amount of comb was staggering, the bee population wasn’t as dense as we expected.

• The Theory: We suspect the hive swarmed recently. This actually made our job much easier—we had all the resources of a year-old hive but with a much more manageable number of bees to vacuum.
• The Loot: This was a massive win for our DIY extraction system. We walked away with a bucket weighing between 15–20kg. Once we process it, we expect a yield of 9 to 10 kilos of pure honey.

Relocating to Kyalami

We transported the colony about 20km north to our Kyalami Apiary. Because the swarm was so large and had such “gorgeous” brood comb, we’ve set them up in a full 10-frame box immediately.

• The Setup: We’ve placed the bee vac box on top of the new hive to let them settle and move down onto the rescued frames. We’ll be back in a few days to remove the vacuum box and check on the queen.

Growing Toward 300

This rescue was a perfect example of why I love this journey. We saved a massive colony, prevented property damage, and harvested enough honey to keep us busy for weeks. This hive is a prime candidate to become one of our top production colonies.

Love the sweet rewards of beekeeping?

If you want to see the honey extraction process for this specific 10kg haul, make sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell! Your support helps us keep the “Bee Sanctuary” growing.

Question for the Community: If you find a year-old hive that has recently swarmed, do you try to find the new virgin queen or just let them be? Let’s talk shop in the comments!

How should we proceed? Would you like to see a video of the 10kg honey harvest, or should we move on to our next technical wall removal?