New bees winter prep advise needed

[qa33010]

    I have aquired an extractor and equipment and woodenware from a beekeeper who's quit (hobbiest like me).  While he was at it he decided to throw in two hives of what he calls 'midnight' bees.

One hive is in two shallow supers and the other is in a deep and shallow.  I am going to get in them to see what kind of shape they are in and replace some of the deteriorating woodenware until next spring.  My problem is that I have no shallow frames or boxes to work with (only mediums and some deeps) if I have any trashed frames.  What I want to do is, if possible leave them in their boxes until spring then move them to mediums or deeps and tie the comb into the deeper frames and let them draw out the rest.  If the comb is too old of course I will put in some starter strips next spring.

  The power companies around here are starting to replace insulation on power lines and cut down a bunch of limbs.  Farmers almanac and the power company predicts a normally cold winter this year, compared to last years warmer one, complete with ice and snow.  My question is do I leave them in their boxes now and add a medium or deep with starter strips on the bottom?  Do I add it on the top?  Do I just leave them as they are and feed as needed or do I get in the hive often to check for starvation and emergency feed as needed through out the winter?  I am comb poor at the moment so am limited.  I would rather be safe than sorry and not lose them to starvation over the winter. 

David

[Brian D. Bray]

If the condition of the shallow boxes are critical it might pay to cut down a spare medium or 2 to use until you can get more equipment.  You can cut the frame ends down to repair shallow frames as needed.

Once the bees cluster they will not draw comb so any efforts in that regard are best left until spring.

I would do nothing more than check the hives condition so that proper preperations can be for spring.  An inspection will tell you their stores level and if feeding may be necessary.

Those are the safest and surest things to do until spring. 

In a dire emergency you can feed either powdered or granulated sugar directly onto the frames or on a piece of paper cut 1/2 inch small than the inside of the hive.  If you decide to feed this way--provide water.

[qa33010]

Well here's what I found...sorry it's a bit long,

They both had honey and yellow jackets galore.  They are working something as they are bringing back pollen and possibly nectar since they are coming in heavy.   First I unscrewed the fasteners that were on to hold the boxes together.
     
     The hive with two shallows telescoping cover had wax moth cocoons all around the edges of the inside edges.  The inner cover is pretty gummed up with propolis and will need to be thoroughly cleaned or replaced this spring.  The top super was full of honey all the way across.  If it wasn’t November I would have taken the upper and replaced it with an empty.  However if I had the comb to put in I would have replaced it and fed fed fed!  I saw one k-wing bee, the rest looked fine.  The frames that I pulled out were healthy and heavy and the honey tasted great.
     
     The hive with a deep and shallow I was told had a queen excluder and I wanted to get it out before winter really set in.  The telescoping lid was extremely difficult to get off and was also thick with wax moth cocoons and I crushed and scrapped these out as I did the other.  There was no inner cover and it was difficult to get this outer lid off.  It had all kinds of burr comb and propolis which I scraped off.  The shallow was on top and there were few bees as opposed to the other hive which was covered.  The first frame was drawn comb and empty other than a couple bees crawling along it.  The second one was just as light but a bee was buried head first in a comb cell.  When I looked I saw a small amount of nectar in the bottom of the center cells.  The next frame was mostly capped and the rest were 100% capped.  I pulled the super off to get to the bee excluder which was unidentifiable.  When I got it pried off I realized I’ld found the inner cover and not an excluder.  There was a bunch of honey cells that were opened and the honey tasted different but good.  My wife Bonnie liked this honey better than the other hive's.  The inner cover was completely covered in burr comb with honey and propolis.  There were bees all over it on what had been the underside.  When I looked into the bottom box which was a deep I found there were no frames in the middle of the box and the bees had built, relatively, straight comb and it was full of honey.  I set the short back on the deep, minus the inner cover and set to work cleaning the inner cover as it would not fit on the hive under the telescoping cover.  The landowners wife and two daughters showed up with Bonnie and I let them dab some honey out of the inner cover and they really liked it.  I guided them because there were a bunch of bees still on the cover, the girls thought it was cool to get their fingers that close to a stinging insect and be ignored.
     
     After I set the shallow up and was working on the inner cover the bees flooded to the upper box and started sticking their heads into cells.  Before I finished I pulled the first and second frames and the rear end of bees looked like a light board.  I replaced the inner and outer covers and cleaned up the area.  I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with the frameless box, except maybe bottom super this January or spring with two new boxes and hope for the best.    The short hive I may do the same with in the spring.  Both need new bottom boards and I will turn them into SBB for varroa and ventilation.  I fed them 2:1 as I left to hopefully help top them off. 

I'm setting up some more traps for the yellowjackets and moths for this yard also.  Do I have a plan or do I need to do something more?  I never did pull frames from the bottom boxes.  The bees were as gentle as my Russians and ferals which are extremely calm. 

David

[Brian D. Bray]

Sounds like you have your spring project all planned.  Replacing those frameless rows of comb in the lower deep aught to be fun.  Go luck.