Hello all,
I have a hive that was actually a captured swarm from last May. They took off pretty good except in the bottom box they have constructed comb crossways from the foundation. The second brood box they have righted it and built it normal. My question is, should I just put in a box of new foundation above them, then let them migrate up and remove the crossways comb? Kinda hard to manage otherwise. Anyone experienced this? Thanks in advance.
David
sounds like you have a plan..... as soon as your sure the queen moved up, then you can dismantle the lower. some would suggest a queen excluder between the two to make sure any unhatched brood has time to finish..... salvage what you can from the honey and either feed it back to them or do a crush and strain for yourself!
That wouldn't happen if you used foundation... oops, I guess you did use foundation... ;)
Sometimes they mess it up no matter what you do, but tightly putting the frames together improves the odds that they won't do that. :)
I tend to remove the "bad" comb as quickly as I can, but yes, you can put another box on top and wait for them to move up and then put an excluder between the boxes until the brood emerges.
If you have a couple of frames that are built right put them in the bottom box as a guide.
Sincerely,
Brendhan