This story begins with a simple statement, I have bees... 

Hmm says I, is that right? Yes there are hundreds of them, they have been there for at least three years. So I said I would take a look since the place (Alexandria) isn't that far (about 20 min) from where I'm located (Dalkeith). Upon arriving I found out the bees seemed to be in the attic, so I check the attic, crawled all over trying to find a place they would nest to no avail.

Then I got a peek into their hive through the entrance they were using, this revealed that they were in fact inside the houses wall, between the studs. So I'm thinking to myself "great people hate it when you cut up the inside of their houses". Turns out it wasn't a problem for the guy, he needed to do some exterior work and the bees were making it imposable, they don't take kindly to people messing around "their" homes. So off I go to prepare for the next day, once home I loaded up the car with my equipment for the job threw a ladder on the car and went to bed dreaming of bees....

Early the next morning (May 13th) I got up and went to work. When I arrived at 8:30 am the bees looked like they were still sleeping, no big deal this time of year they don't get started till 9:00 or 9:30.
I was a little unsure of how the bees would react with an interior cut out since I had only done exterior removals, there was a window near the hives location so I opened it and left the screen closed knowing that bees always fly towards the light to get out, so in theory they should try getting out the window and back to their hive entrance which was outside. Then I measured the wall to find the right stud at which to start cutting. I knew the studs were 2"x6" (already non standard) but I didn't find out they were also placed 24" apart until I got a nice piece of drywall cut that measured 16" x 48", no wonder the bees liked this spot! They had about 6" x 24" x 48" since the insulation was missing for the top 48" of wall! Fortunately I removed the 1/2" fiberboard that was behind the drywall carefully, some of the comb was well attached to it. I gently pried the board back and removed individual comb until the remaining comb was not moving with the board and I could safely pry the whole board off the wall.
The bees didn't seem to mind the intrusion, this is strange since most commercial beeks think feral colonies are mean, this is my 4th feral hive and I have been stung maby 3 or 4 times in all, granted it is still early in the year and they haven't finished building up yet, and I do ware nitril gloves, to prevent them thinking me a threat. I don't even smoke them since this makes the queen panic making her harder to find.

The process I use for cut-outs is simple:

I remove the broodnest and (cutting each section so it fits my frames) place it in my frames using elastic bands to hold it still until the bees cement the comb to the frames. As I am doing this I shake / brush bees off each section of comb into my nuc, this does two things, it lets me cut the comb without squishing a zillion bees, it also moves the bees into my nuke. This is important because the brood needs bees to tend it, heat and or cool it until I install the hive at my apiary. Once I have some brood frames in my nuc the bees tend to stay put instead of flying off to search for their colony. This method works fairly well outside since all I want is the brood to be cared for, but inside it worked even better! I was surprised less then 30% flew off, big difference since maby 40% to 50% fly away with outdoor cut-outs. The actual comb removal varies from one colony to the next, this one was fairly easy, I always try to remove the honey first since it is on ether side of the broodnest, then I remove the brood leaving the center most comb until last. This makes the queen easier to find, she always runs away from trouble, since the safest place for her is the center of the colony you stand a good chance of finding her there. Sorta like a where's waldo game in the dark with a flash-light.