What do I do now?

[jlloydparks]

Okay late last fall (late October) I had a swarm. It was only getting into the 50's during the day. Really surprised me.

Well I put them in a medium and I didn't have any full wax foundation available so I put in strips of sc that I had from cutting down the wax to fit mediums.

I figured the hive would not make it through the winter, but I would try anyway. Well comes spring around here and wouldn't you know it this hive is the best one I've got out of the three I over wintered (one died and one is really weak, two left that are strong).

My question becomes how do I clean up the mess in the hive. They have wax drawn everywhere. Is there an easy (read safe and not a lot of effort) way to get them on some already drawn foundation and move them out of this messed up box?

Also we are finally in the 60's. When should I start working with the other hives? They are all in 3 mediums and are all in the top box. I figure I have to shift them down to the bottom at some point.

Help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[MountainCamp]

Just place the boxes that you want them to move into above the one they are in now. It will take a little time, but they will move vertical into the new boxes.
Give them plenty of room above.
When they have moved out, remove the boxes and clean them up.
You want the queen and brood out, if they have some stores, just remove the boxes and place them for the bees to clean.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.beesource.com/plans/swarmframe.htm

You can build these, or if you don't wish to, you can just use the concepts in the pictures on how to do a cut out.

Basically you'll be doing a cutout. That means you cut all the brood comb out and tie it into regular frames or put it in "swarm ketching frames".

The easiest is usually to cut around the sides and flip the whole thing over and dump the combs out upside down and then you can get access to the outsides and start cutting out combs.

Do a seach on "cutout" or "cut out" and you'll find many discussions on a how to do a cut out and other links to other pictures.

I don't bother with the honey comb as it usually won't support itself in a frame, so I scrap it in a bucket with a lid. Keep brushing the bees off into the new box and putting the frames of brood in the new box and soon all the bees will be in the new box.

If you leave these combs they will attach them to the frames eventually and you can just leave them in the hive.