"Hilton Head Honey"

deWayne and I got a call from a lovely couple, Jim and Karen of Hilton Head, South Carolina.  They were having a honeybee issue and believed they were located in the roof section of their home.



This is the site deWayne saw from outside the home on top of the roof near the dormer.  deWayne's guess was they had to be inside the upstairs bedroom.





deWayne enters the home and makes his way into the upstairs guest bedroom where he begins to place his ear and hands on the wall in hopes to hear the bees hum, feel their vibrations or heat.







With just a simple guess, deWayne cuts a shoe-box size square in the wall of this beautiful room.




Insulation is removed for a better view at what may be a hidden treasure!




And the wait is over... the sneaky bees have been found!




What a majestic view!




It appears that part of the honeycomb has torn loose from the top, most likely due to the high temperatures.




It's believed that the first colony of bees swarmed and left just enough brood (baby bees) to re-establish a new colony.  This wax appeared virgin like in its character.




This wax comb was somewhat darker indicating it was the work of the older colony that swarmed.




  The new queen is seen on the piece of comb, although she is very small.  Can you find her? 
Hint:  Middle-Right




Educating others is just as important to us as doing the actual job.  In this photo you see our mentor, Harold Ward speaking with the homeowners, Jim and Karen.




No job is complete without removing all the bees!  Jim and Karen had a very small colony consisting of about 1000 bees.  We were very fortunate to gather all the bees in the bee vac and walk away with a 5 gallon bucket of honeycomb.  However, this colony contained zero honey for various reasons and would not have lived had we not relocated them.


Thanks Jim and Karen for allowing THE VINTAGE BEE COMPANY to meet your beekeeping needs!

deWayne & Faith Jaudon