hello everyone i was lucky enough to get my first lesson on hiving a swarm the other day.after the bad storms we had last tuesday a tree had been knocked down in town and it was full of bees.got it up in the dark and got it back in a box.couple of days later we checked it and they were doing fine.they had cleaned almost all of the comb left for them and had taken to the hive just fine.i was noticing the comb was very dark almost black and honey in the comb was also very dark.there were a few small hive beetles in there also.is it normal for the combs to be that dark or is that a sign of age of the comb.i was wondering because of the pictures jp has shown,they looked very clean compared to these.did not get to check for queen.they were getting upset very quickly.will check again when it gets warm.
Catfishbill, the darker the comb the older the hive. When I see really dark brown or almost black comb I know the hive is at least three yrs old.
(http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/1452/dscn1491fq0.th.jpg) (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn1491fq0.jpg)
(http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/3589/dscn1691xu1.th.jpg) (http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn1691xu1.jpg)
(http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/518/beepics066vm4.th.jpg) (http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beepics066vm4.jpg)
Sincerely, JP
[When I see ....almost black comb I know the hive is at least three yrs old.]
That's the truth.
With the start of a new season, I'd try to rotate in as much new comb for the year as possible.
Even in the wild, three year old comb has had a bunch of time to accumulate dirt and disease.
I find that even my best efforts to maintain brood/honey structure when transferring combs to boxes, is not as good as if the bees designed every themselves fresh. If you have a reasonable flow, I'd also consider pulling any capped honey. This too will remove a possible disease pathway. I'd still feed until it was obvious they weren't taking it (and so long as you can minimize robbing, if any). Some hives are a bit fickle about immediate resuming foraging when put into a new box.
Nice job!
-Jeff
thanks for the info folks.yep JP that comb in your pics looks the same.thanks again.bill