I've got to pull the trigger on one of mine this week. A real hard luck case. My smallest cut out of the year, comb and all not much bigger than a softball. Got the queen caged and the small combs fit perfectly into shallow frames, two and half worth. Should have done an immediate combine but I'm a sucker for the weak ones so I set them up and fed them. They filled out a couple frames and I had eggs though not the best pattern. I had my concerns but gave the old lady a chance. By the time I decided to replace her it was to late, no eggs or young larvae and the old lady was MIA. I guess the decision was made for me by unanimous consent. So a stolen frame of eggs/brood got me three nice queen cells but the clock is running with no brood. A quick peek Monday found a virgin queen (no eggs but a slim abdomen little queen was present and no unhappy roar) so give her a few days of honeymooning and take a peek today. First clue the roar is back and no eggs no queen each frame (all five and a half shallows) searched three times each. SIGH! Oh well, I have a five framer right next door that just got promoted to ten and have the room for a few more bodies. So I guess I'm down one box of bees.
At least they drew out a couple of frames for you. Pity for all the work you put into them. Hows this to brighten your day. Yesterday, I dropped a honey super on the concrete as I was robbing. Hit so hard that it broke off the bottom bar of one of the frames and folded the combs in half the frames. Got honey all over my shorts and flip flops when I picked it back up, then got stung on the top of my foot. Smashed cut comb pints were made last night. :(
At least the super didn't land on your foot in flip flops.
Yes, thank the Lord for that.
Allen,
That sounds like you made one heck of a mess. With honey all over you, you are lucky you didn't get swarmed and stung more than just the once. That'll teach you to drink and rob at the same time :evil:
I just had one of my hives blow over in a storm tonight. Two deeps and three mediums. My best hive, the one I thought I'd get honey off of this year. So I put on my suit and went and put it back together in the pouring rain to try to salvage what I could. The girls were not happy! I'm hoping the queen is ok but won't know for several days.