LA Backwards Beekeeper Yvonne writes:
Roberta and I headed down to Lakewood. We had been called by Bill and Martha who had read an article about the Backwards Beekeepers. They had bees in a roof eave and their neighbor was complaining about them.
When we inspected them, we discovered that they crammed themselves into the roof eave where the space was only a few inches wide. The comb was short but went waaaaay back! It was difficult to see in or to fit any tools in the space.
The homeowners couldn't afford to open the roof up, so the idea was to pull out all of the comb as best as we could, smoke the remaining bees out and then fill up the gap with Big Gap Filler.
Roberta and I took turns shoving various implements in the space to try to pull the comb out. A hive tool worked (barely) in the front but once the front comb was out, we went through a range of tools that could either not fit in or couldn't be maneuvered once in. Finally, someone suggested a coat hanger and we were able to pull out the rest of the comb with it.
Once the comb was out, we smoked out the bees and filled as much of the space as we could. Hopefully, the bees will move on! Martha and Bill were very excited about our work and referred to Roberta as an angel!
—Yvonne
