Transferring brood to Warre hive after cut out

czman11 · August 30, 2011, 07:11:04 PM

Hi everybody. I have my first cut out job coming up next spring and my problem is with the transfer of brood comes to the Warre hive. I guess my question would be 'how do I attach comes with brood to bars with no frame?'

David McLeod · August 30, 2011, 09:52:40 PM

You're not. Or least not very well you can sling it under but the weight of it will cut the comb on the bands or string plus without frames the swing of the comb defeats attachment. I have a couple warre built for next springs swarms. A frame is simple to build for a warre. Just use those for the cut out comb and top bars for the rest. If it bothers you enough the framer can be rotated our at harvest.
BTW, mine are half frames so I can manipulate them.

Sundog · August 30, 2011, 10:04:14 PM

I used rubber bands. They did cause a bit of damage. After only five days, the bees had attached the comb and I cut the bands (moments after taking this photo).

In frames, you need to keep the comb near the top bar or the bees will abandon it and build down from the top.

Have fun!

Michael Bush · August 31, 2011, 12:07:14 AM

How successful you are at attaching combs differs greatly depending on the age of the comb, if it has cocoons in it, if it's full of brood or honey etc.

I scrap the honey, scrap the new white soft comb, and tie all the old brood comb. Still, it is difficult enough WITH frames let alone without them. I would build the frames. It will be worth the effort.

czman11 · August 31, 2011, 06:35:01 PM

Thanks guys for your input. I'll try whatever it takes to save the brood and cut everything else off. It looks like rubber bands just may be the only trick to do it.

Paul

nietssemaj · September 05, 2011, 09:08:45 AM

Sundog,

In your picture about with the framed bar. I'm assuming that the frame leaves bee space between the side of the TBH and the frame?

I am a newbie and I'm looking at building a KTBH. It seems like it might make it easier to move a nuc coloney into a TBH if you have a couple of framed bars that you could fit the existing combs into. Am I assuming correctly or is it just a waste of effort?

nietssemaj · September 05, 2011, 09:14:33 AM

Oh if I had just read a couple more threads...

I think I found my answer in the thread changeover. ideals to full depth. Looks like the frame might be a waste of time.

Sundog · September 05, 2011, 01:50:46 PM

Quote from: nietssemaj on September 05, 2011, 09:08:45 AM
Sundog,

In your picture about with the framed bar. I'm assuming that the frame leaves bee space between the side of the TBH and the frame?

You assume correctly, on the sides and also on the bottom. However, the bees don't seem to care for the frames and this morning, I gave up on them and replaced them with "regular" top bars. I am not giving up on the experiment entirely because the frame bars were the ones closest to the entrance (on the end), and the core is on bars 5,6,7,8 out of ten. The colony is still young and none of bars 5-8 have more maybe 30-40 percent comb. I will save the frames and offer them again later when the colony gets stronger.

One mistake I made is making the initial bars too wide (1.75 in). The bees are burring comb on #8. Another change I am contemplating is moving the entrance to the side where the core is and adding another follower board on the entrance end to keep the core compressed. I will give it a week or two to see how they respond to the fresh ( 1.25 in) bars. I read somewhere on the I-Net about making all the bars 1-3/4 but I no longer agree with that. (The irony of the Internet is that it lends credence to otherwise uninformed opinion).

If you like, you can PM me and I will be happy to share all I know (got a second? :roll:). My TBH bees were so easy this morning, I didn't use any smoke or honey (I'm out, need to harvest my Lang), nor anything and nobody got in the least bit excited as I removed and photographed all the bars, one by one. Didn't notice the queen but she may be in one of the pictures.

Great fun!