Hi Sprocket.. you may have resolved this by now, but if not..
Matt & John are no longer here doing bees.. but there are several local honey producers in puna that would love to take the bees in exchange for all the honey. There is also a "rescue honey" company somewhere on the island that will come to your place to move the beehive for you and sell the honey. The trick is connecting to the right people. Contact Manis at Pangaia for a referral.. he is a good source.. or go to Maku'u market and check with the 3 or 4 honey vendors there for a referral.

I recently had a problem with wood bees.. the large black kine.. burned all the wood they were burrowing in, and they still never went away.. just got pissed. Seems they don't go away when you get rid of the hive... weird.

Cuga

i ended up cutting out the floor boards today and found the hive. massive and dense structure. fascinating creatures. i messed with them long enough to get them pissed off so one of them came after me and stung my thick leather glove. i closed the hive again and will give it a rest for a day or two and figure out how to go about the actual removal. not sure how to scoop them all into a box without getting them pissed off. they leave me alone if i leave them alone. you don't want to get stung because it leaves a scent for them to come rght back and sting you again. i was using the skilsaw to cut the board out maybe 10 inches from the open hive. when i removed the first boards they didn't even fly away, just clung to the hives doing their thing, thousands of them, big chunks of bees making thousands of wax chambers. i'm considering a big shopvac to suck them all up, but i really dont' want to hurt them and rather move them away safely. the racks they're making break when you touch them so you can't just pull them out like a frame. i've been reading up on bees and speaking w/a couple beekeepers and would love to find a beekeeper i can watch at work so i can establish my own hive. i'll keep y'all posted...

Scott and Charley at the end of the red road are both bee keepers. You can catch them at either the Maku`u market or the one in Hilo selling honey. Charley is the red bearded guy who wears the bandana over his head. Or you can stop by Uncles and check em out.