need a quick opinion

[irerob]

I just got a call  to come get a hive in a gourd type bird house, one of the kids was stung and allergic,.
the bees arnt agressive when i got there I saw the gourd and there was 2 pieces of comb on the out side and the rest of the colony on the inside of it.
  this looks like an easy transfer to try out my top bar hive my question is what do you guys think of taking the 2 pieces i had to cut off to get the gourd in its temperary box and tying them into the top bar then splitting the gourd and layng the brood comb inside to simulate fallen comb in hopes thell abandon it after the brood has emerged?
   comments suggestions and other ideas are most welcome. and will post pics as soon as i can thanks

[Cheryl]

Have you already done most of this, or are you intending to and asking for input?

If the gourd fits inside your TBH, I would just set it in there. Prop the two pieces of extra comb up on the outside of the gourd. (Always prop brood comb, don't lay it flat.) Later remove the extra pieces of comb because they tend to attract moths. Propping brood comb upside-down keeps the queen from laying in it again. Hopefully when they run out of space inside the gourd, they'll move up and start building on the bars... Later, if the queen is laying up there and the gourd is back-filled with honey, you can remove it.

Biggest word of caution: the gourd will give wax moth more places to hide (around and under). So leaving it inside the hive might not be a great idea after all....

So many options -- and I only listed a few. There are no set rules. I'm curious to know what other TBH beeks have to say.

[Sparky]

Like Cheryl said to put it inside. Can you imagine how POed the bees would get tiring to cut open the dried gourd?

[Cheryl]

The one time I tried something remotely similar, they DID wait for the brood to emerge, then abandon...

They ABSCONDED, is what they did. If at all possible, tie those two extra pieces of comb to two bars then hang those bars close to the gourd. My mistake was not hanging any of the comb, and they did NOT build above on the bars, and after about three weeks they were gone, except for a few fuzzy little bees that didn't know what was what.

Fresh new comb is very difficult to hang... you might be able to do it gently with some sort of sling method. There are various photos out and about on the Internets...

[David LaFerney]

Fresh new comb is very difficult to hang... you might be able to do it gently with some sort of sling method. There are various photos out and about on the Internets...

I usually don't like to interject ideas that I haven't tried, but attaching comb to top bars comes up pretty often, and I've considered this idea for a while. 

How about putting the comb between loosely folded chicken wire (or other fine light large opening mesh) and thumb tacking that to the sides of the  bars?  You would need to remove the wire later, but I bet they wouldn't attach to it much - they seem to avoid wire and string when they can.

[JP]

I would ditch the new comb pieces and shake the bees into your top bar hive. Place the combs inside for a few days for familiarity sake then feed them and let them draw out new comb.


...JP

[irerob]

Thank you guys for all the replies. sorry about all the crazy rambling but it was a last minute emergency thing and didn't have time to organize my thoughts.
I hadn't done any of that until this morning as my apiary is a bit of a drive.
I didn't split the gourd it did fit in the top bar. The 2 Combs on the bottom I saved and hung by punching 2 holes in each one then tying them on separate top bars near  the entrance. Next adjusted the false back to give them room for the gourd and about a foot. placed the gourd in with the entrance on the side, this keeps the comb on the same plane as it was originally but rotates it 90 degrees. Dropped in a baggie feeder and called it a night at 3 this morning after closing the entrance to an inch.
the plan is on sunday when I check on them again if they have taken to the hung comb just to let them work there way out of the gourd. if they haven't then get them out of the gourd and do some thing similar to what JP suggests. will keep you all posted.


http://img39.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=hpim1634w.jpg

[Cheryl]

Sounds like a great plan! A bit of everything, lol. I'll be interested to hear how it goes.

Great photos too! :D

[Grandma_DOG]

I would hang the new comb on the bars by sewing with twine. The bees will remove the twine in time.  I humbly differ with JP on removing the comb later. As long as the comb is straight or can be bent straight, leave it in. It will be used as part of the brood chamber. The bees will reattach it en toto.

[JP]

I would hang the new comb on the bars by sewing with twine. The bees will remove the twine in time.  I humbly differ with JP on removing the comb later. As long as the comb is straight or can be bent straight, leave it in. It will be used as part of the brood chamber. The bees will reattach it en toto.

I usually ditch very new comb as its usually very difficult to work with. With that said if it doesn't fall apart, then it was worth the effort to use it.


...JP

[irerob]

Update:
     I checked the hive they seem to have about 75% of the bees they started with . a few but not many bees on the hung comb but there were gaurd bees outside of the top bar hive and none near the gourd.
I'm stumped it seems to me that if they didn't take to the top bar that the gaurd bees would be near the gourd.
Any ideas?
http://img202.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=hpim1655.jpg

[Cheryl]

The guard bees will protect the queen and the broodnest - and honey stores. Those are still in the gourd. There hasn't been near enough time for them to move up. Give them several weeks, maybe even months -- they have to get crowded in the gourd before they will expand.

Everything is normal.

[irerob]

ok that makes sense. I'll make sure I start feeding them so they build up faster
   Thank you