I did a cut-out on a hive that took up residence in a water meter. Rubber banded in all the brood into frames, took them home added a feeder and gave them a gallon of syrup.
They are in 2 8 frame mediums I would guess probably covering 12 frames easily.
How long should I leave them alone before I go back in and see how they are doing?
4 days to 6 days. 4 days, eggs will tell you you got the queen. 6 days and no eggs tells you you didn't get her. More than 6 days and the SHB can destroy the hive if you have them there.
Wow, 12 frames of bees from a water meter. That is pretty good. Must have been a large box.
Bee careful, AHB prefer water meters where as European bees prefer above ground. They may bee gentle while small and suddenly change when they get larger.
The answer to your question depends. Why are you going to inspect? Is it to learn, then I would wait 10 days. It will take 3 days for them to get the hive repaired. Then they have to clean out the SHB larvae that tried to take over while the bees were busy with repairs.
If you just want to make sure they are OK, smoke them, wait 10 minutes, lift the top and see what it looks like from above. Watch what the bees are doing on the outside. Are they bring in pollen. A good sign.
After 2 days are they still hauling out dead bees and larvae? Wait a couple of days and then check.
No activity or very little during the warm part of the day? Open up and check if they are still in the hive.
Jim
6400
We do have SHB and I saw several while doing the cut-out, I was watching the entrance on Monday evening and watched them run one out of the hive.
It was a big deep water meter box, and it was packed as full as it could with comb. I'm guessing they moved in sometime last summer.
They have been bringing in pollen, and I have not seen them hauling out any dead bees or larvae since Sunday, so I think they have it all cleaned up.
I really just want to get in and make sure we got the queen, I'm about 90% sure we got her. After removing all the comb we set the hive body right up next to the water meter and the rest of the bees marched right in.
AHB - I hope not :smile: they were a lot calmer than I expected during the cut-out, and when I've set out and watched the entrance they have for the most part ignored me.
According to OK state AHB have not been found in this area, YET. They have been found south and west of us though.