The German Shake sounded awesome, but I just did not have time or the nerve to bring a bunch of pissed off bees into my house no matter how well I thought I had sealed them up. I opted for Eli's San Francisco Shake. This method basically omits the 48 hour quarantine period and skips straight to the part about shaking the bees into their new uncontaminated home. I would then rely on the antibiotics to wipe out the remaining spores. Not perfect, but better than letting them all die in a pile of rotting baby bees while i enjoyed my holiday in Yosemite.
I do not recommend this for the faint of heart. These bees were sick but they were pretty mad that I was completely and utterly destroying their babies and their home. They did not care at all that I was giving them a new clean house and sugar water. I obviously could not take photos while I was in the middle of this escapade. Here is a visual image. Godzilla in a white bee suit ripping hives apart and tens of thousands of angry bees swarming around trying to protect their babies. Then Godzilla inexplicably puts the hives back together and gently feeds the angry bees sugar water.
When it was all over and the bees were all tucked in with enough honey and pollen for the winter, boxes reduced so they could stay warm and tilted up so they could stay dry, it looked as if nothing had ever happened. I only go stung once and it was just a little sting, no swelling. Miracle.
I went online to review the sugar water feeding and realized with horror that I used the wrong kind of sugar and the kind I used was going to give them bee diarrhea. To add insult to injury. I raced back out in my suit and removed the raw sugar syrup and replaced it with white sugar syrup. Now they should be OK.
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