Disaster.

My latest vist showed traffic to the box was way down and still no activity in the access tube.  I climbed up to investigate.  There were no dead bees in the tube as in days of yore, but when I blew into the clear access tube, it was apparent that the interior end was completely blocked.  Later, I gathered some tools and returned - a straightened coat hanger and a shotgun cleaning rod and brush being the core.  I used a drill and the hanger to rip the foam inside the wall, destroying it's integrity.  Tests indicated that this would not really open a passage, so the cleaning rod followed to grind out the debris and leave a passage the bees could use.  It must have worked.  as I was packing my gear, a half a dozen bees made a noisy transit down the tube to express their displeasure. Fortunately for me they were few and disoriented and did not mount an attack, if anybody followed them I couldn't say.  I hastily reinstalled the transit tube connection to the box and departed the scene, lest they get their bearings and return for a little payback.  Now I am just crossing my fingers and hoping they return to using this opening.  At least there is still a fair amount of activity still in the box, even shut off from direct access to the main colony - perhaps they will mend the rift on their own.  If I have to try to seal their alternate under the soffit, it may well prove to be the undoing of this effort.

Division in the ranks.

I didn't get to visit long, but there seem to be two camps now.  There is a steady coming and going at the box but also up near the peak of the roof.  Apparently, if the mob of bees that were hanging around the new foam were a road crew, they have given up as there are no bees on the site any more.  It is a little disconcerting that I didn't see any traffic between the wall and the box, but it was late and traffic was down all around, so it may just be the time of day.

You'd think they had a cave in...

Not sure what is going on here.  A few days after their backdoor got slammed shut, the bees are holding some sort of vigil on the site.  I don't know if this is a new generation of workers from the field crew that was out when I sealed it and now they don't know how to get back in, or a work crew to try to clear the obstruction.  I guess we will just have to wait and see.  Hopefully, if they are lost, they can play follow-the-leader behind the old hands still using the box route to get back in the game. 

There is still a lot of dislocation with a fair number of bees apparently looking for another access route near the soffit trim up near the roof peak.

Jail Break!!

Everything seemed to be going swimmingly so I left the bees to their own devices, checking only occasionally to ensure that the rig was stable and unharmed by the weather.  Unfortunately this was a mistake.  The last time I checked on them was about two weeks ago.  Since then, the industrious little buggers decided to do a little foam mining and opened another entrance right next to the tube.  This jail break was not in the plan and offers a lesson - insulating foam is not a sure fire deterrent when hoping to control bees. My response was to wrap the foam application straw with some medium steel wool and use it as an insertion tool, foaming the opening and the steel wool as the straw was removed to create a foam/steel wool composite that should foil any future attempts to chew their way out.  I have checked back for two days after this application and everything seems ok.  The tube is still in use and the patch is holding.