Hi drakeschicks, good to see a newbie about to enter the exciting world of beekeeping. In your class are they saying to go with two hives (at least) so that you can compare and have extra brood to move around if you need it? I believe that the Langstroth hive is the best way to go also. Just a note tho, is that you do not have to use the deep boxes. I run double mediums and my bees do just fine but running three mediums is still a lot easier to deal with than deeps.
53v35 the best way to remove the bees from a structure is to do a cut out. You can try the trap out but it takes a long time and is not always successful. Even if you do get the bees to vacate their home you have left all of the beeswax, honey, and dieing brood in the wall. That can lead to a nasty, stinky vermin infestation. Cutting thru the sheetrock to expose the bees is not that difficult and is usually pretty easy to repair. And you can clean up the mess inside the wall making sure that you got all of the bees so that there is no chance of them to rebuild. Of course the most important thing is to make sure the entrance hole is sealed, once a place smells like home new swarms will want to make it theirs.
I am so ready for the warmer temperatures this weekend, need to check the hives and possibly add some more candy boards. This has been a long, cold winter.
