my observation hive is in trouble

danno · August 17, 2011, 02:08:59 PM

I have a 3 frame hive on my desk in my honey house. This past weekend I started processing. Bee's that didn't leave the supers are let out at dusk each night by opening the doors. With so many bee's with not place to go they found my observation hive. They all made them selves at home and now its plugged solid top to bottom. No one seems to be fighting but none are WORKING either. The top frame which is a medium was only half drawn out. The wax producting has stopped and is now stuff with bee upon bee upon bee. Dont know what to do except just let them die and start a new swarm next year.

Kathyp · August 17, 2011, 03:56:10 PM

you can shake them out and let them go back to the other hives. are you sure a small swarm didn't sneak in there?

D Coates · August 17, 2011, 04:02:23 PM

Is there a queen and or brood? If there is, I'd leave them be and they'll sort it out. My 5-frame OB hive recently shut down and is packed as well. But that's due to there being no nectar to collect or process. There's some pollen coming in but the hive appears to have nothing to do. I remember this from last year and it was nothing but a dearth and the hive was conserving resources.

Haddon · August 17, 2011, 04:18:47 PM

I am guessing your honey house is not near your bee yard.

A lazy answer would be do a trap out with a frame of eggs and remove the screen and the new hive when the population is back down to the size of your liking. Plus you could get a few extra queen cells for some really late season splits in your area.

Faster and easier if you can get in the hive without trouble is to just remove a frame of bees.

You could take them all out and just put them in a nuc and over winter them like that giving them more space.

This is all assuming the queen is still alive.

buzzbee · August 17, 2011, 06:35:46 PM

Why not just feed them and let them stay in the observation hive.Their numbers will sort out in a few weeks.

Heres a swarm that moved into mine for a couple months a few years ago.

http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l65/kwrabbit/7%2016%2009%20swarm/

FRAMEshift · August 17, 2011, 07:37:16 PM

If they are that crowded, they will swarm out of the OH very shortly. If you remove a frame and just shake it off, they bees will move elsewhere. Make sure you know where the queen is before you start shaking. :)

You may have to block the entrance back into the OH for a short time so they don't just come back.

danno · August 18, 2011, 08:46:08 AM

there was a queen in there on Sat. but she is about impossible to find now. There is also alot of brood. At this point opening it would just be a mess. I also worry about breaking a pane of glass doing it. I filled the glass groves with vaseline before installing but they have bur comb between all the frames. It wasn't a swarm but just drifters. It sits about 6 ft behind my decapper so I watched it all taking place alittle at a time over 2 days

Scadsobees · August 18, 2011, 09:18:33 AM

Ahh...an observation hive at its best! :-D It is so hard to watch bad things happen to it/ in it, but it is fascinating watching it crash...

Make sure the opening isn't plugged, I had that happen a couple of times, and that is pretty catastrophic, they get really listless after a bit.

Really I'd expect that as many as would fit would go in, and the rest would beard. I'd be surprised if they stopped drawing comb and didn't start foraging in earnest soon, but then again...that's what observation hives are for!

specialkayme · August 18, 2011, 11:24:49 AM

I vote for opening it up and shaking a frame or two out.

I doubt you would break glass in the process. The burr comb would break before the glass would. And either way, you're going to have to open it up sooner or later. Either now to reduce populations, or later when the hive dies out.

Haddon · August 18, 2011, 12:18:56 PM

I wish we had a pic.
But I am standing with the if you dont want to open it and I thought that was the problem originally put a bee escape or wire cone over the exit and if you don't care about the bees just shop vac the the extras off the front of the entrance till you get down to the numbers you like. Then hunt for the queen threw the glass if you have one cool if not try adding a new one.

danno · August 30, 2011, 08:57:27 AM

The OB solved there over crowding problem by obsconding Friday. My wife told me while driving by the honey house she saw a swarm heading east. They had no food left and left no brood. Just a couple of hundred bee's mostly drones on empty combs