The RubberMaid Box

[Kathyp]

this is going to be an ongoing saga, but.....

there are bees in the hive that i brought home from the barn.  I'm not sure how many, because it's just been to cold, rainy, and windy to get in there.

meanwhile, in the box.....I took a look and saw some interesting comb.  i pulled it out to look at it and tapped it on the side of the box to remove loose material.  from under a pile of comb in the box came marching out a bunch of bees.

ok, i know where they are.  they have balled up under comb in the Rubbermaid box.  that's as good a place as any for them right now.

here is what i'm thinking about doing:  When the weather warms, i need to get into the hive boxes and straighten them out.  I'm guessing i'll have enough frames and bees for one full box.  when that is done, if i take the ball of bees from the RM box and lay them on the top of the frames with an empty deep over them, do you think they'll take up residence in the super ok?  maybe i should put an excluder above the bottom board for a few days?  I'm thinking that if i can move them, comb and all, they'll be more likely to stay in the hive.  i can remove the excess comb in a few days.

what do you think?

[Understudy]

Sounds like a good idea. If it is to cold opening the hive will hurt the bees. What I do is place an empty medium above the brood frames dump the bees in the box. since they are in a pile or in a ball I don't want to crush them. I will put an excluder on top of the empty medium or in front of the entrance. After a few days I will move the empty medium since the bees will have moved onto the frames. I may leave the excluder there for a a litle longer. Once the queen is laying the excluder is gone.

I understand it may be cold up there so if you want to keep the bees in the rubbermaid box wrap a quilt around the sides and bottom. Since the walls of the rubbermaid are not as thick as a hive body.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Kirk-o]

Good Idea Kathyp
kir-o

[Kathyp]

this should be the final chapter.  don't want to get to boring :-)

between squalls, even though it's pretty yucky outside, i got into that barn hive.  the bees are still in there!!!!  that's a big deal, because i had not seen any activity and was afraid the hive was empty.  then, i got into the rubbermaid tub and found the clump of bees.  pretty good size clump.  got them into the hive also.  added some frames with good foundation.  didn't have 10 in there and a couple were empty anyway.

so....it's still kind of messy, but that's a problem for another day. it may be that i'll just have to take some time and fix them up slowly over the course of the summer.

i'm just really happy that they are still there and seem to be doing fine!
with any luck, there is a queen in there somewhere too :-)

[Understudy]

Sounds like a nice follow up.

Sorry about your lousy weather. Buzzbee would probably like to send you his.

Give the bees about a week or so and take a look. If you see capped brood and larvae open champange. If you do not see if you see queen cells. Then either make a decsion to let them make their own queen or combine them. Then open champange.

Nice job!

Sincerely,
Brendhan