I may have done something stupid. I took my honey super off a couple of weeks ago and, because the bees still seemed so busy, I gave them an empty super (frames of old drawn comb) in place of the one I removed. Now I have to do my fall treatments, which means I want to go down to just two deeps. So i just took off the top super, which the bees were busy working on and carried it away from the hive so that it wouldn't attract robbers. There was newly repaired comb and some nectar in some of the cells. Now I'm worried that I have made a mistake and the bees that are in that super won't find their way back home...it's still in the same field, but a distance from the hive. Did I make a mistake?
I have read that you can shake them off and hurry up and put the frames in an empty box with a cloth covering it to keep the bees from getting back on them. That's what I would do if I was taking the frames off, but then again, I probably would just treat with it on and let the bees eat that honey and when they clean it, it would be OK, unless chemicals in the wax in supers are a big no,no. I don't know, still debating if I am going to treat and if so with what.
I probably should have shaken or brushed them off. Ugh. Now what?
Take them back to their hive and shake them off of the comb.
No action is required for the sake of the bees, they will abandon the comb and return to their hive unless there is brood in the box. I would protect the comb as it is valuable.
Don't worry, bee happy.
Quote from: Vance G on September 26, 2014, 09:11:42 PM
No action is required for the sake of the bees, they will abandon the comb and return to their hive unless there is brood in the box. I would protect the comb as it is valuable.
Ditto.
Ok I feel better. Checked the super this morning and, although there were lots of bees flying around, the frames weren't so loaded with them. So I hauled it back close to the hive, brushed as many off as I could, and brought the mostly empty frames back to the garage for storage. Had to leave a few frames near the hive but I'll bring them in tonight or tomorrow morning. It was stupid to put the new super on after taking the honey - I let my husband convince me they needed it because they were crowded. He doesn't know anything about beekeeping at all so I don't know why I listened to him.