I've got a mess, what do I do?

[Ruben]

I just did my first hive inspections on the bees I installed this past Monday. The hive I used starter strips on looks great, I saw eggs but could not find the queen.

My mess is when I opened up the second hive that I used foundation on, at least five of the foundations have collapsed(basically all of the ones that the bees are working) to the point that I cannot remove them because it looks like they are all bound together. What do I do? I used the support pins and foundation with no wiring, looks like a big mistake. Today is sunny and it is calling for rain the next 4 days. Please help!

[xC0000005]

I had a similar disaster.
Here's what I did -
Pull the collapsed frames, even if it means lifting the one next to it together. Cut them apart if you have to once they are out. It really helps if you have a empty box to hang them in while you work, or a frame rest.
Move the good frames together.
Take the collapsed frames back up and fix what you started - pull the pins, wire and embedd, or switch to starter strips. (wax them in).
Slip the fixed frames back in at the ouside edges.

[George Fergusson]

Geez Ruben, I don't see any alternative but to go in sooner rather than later, rip out the collapsed foundation, and redo it, or give them foundationless frames perhaps with starter strips. Every day you leave it the bees will build on it and make it worse.

[Ruben]

o.k I am going to take ten frames down with starter strips, what do I do with the collapsed foundation, throw it away or leave it for them to get the pollen and dark stuff off? I assume the dark stuff is honey but I did'nt expect the to have already made any.

[George Fergusson]

If it's honey you can just leave it out somewhere nearby for them to clean out. Otherwise, melt it down. It's beeswax. It's valuable smile.gif

[Ruben]

I took the messy frames out and installed 9 frames with starter strips, I left one frame the bees had started a nice pattern themselves off of the frame. I really feel bad that I ruined five days of progress for the bees, will they recover from this? I did see eggs in both hives however I did not see a queen in either hive. There was only one egg per cell, I read somewhere that if a worker was laying that their would be two or three eggs per cell. Other than my foundation problems everything went great. Bees were very calm! I added syrup to the feeders, both were empty. So should I wait a full week before going back in?

Thanks for helping
Ruben

[xC0000005]

You did fine.

Feed, feed, feed, and they'll be fine. If there's lot of blooms, you might not even need to feed, but I'd be tempted to offer it anyway.

Whether you saw the queen or not, if you have eggs she's probably there, and if you have eggs and she's not, they are ok to replace her.

The package has time to recover, and they'll do quite well I expect. I would give your bees a week before I did anything major, but then again, I wasn't afraid to break that rule when I was recovering from a starter strip disaster. Now I leave them to their work. (even though I have three frames that I'll have to remove eventually, I want to let the brood hatch before I take them out).

[Beekeeper Bill]

Ruben
I had just about the same thing happen to me, except it was in the honey super last summer.it was my first attempt to install foundation and I botched it good. I replaced all the foundation and all worked out well. Im sure the queen is still around somewhere you probably just missed them , sometimes they are hard to spot if they are not marked.It is my opinion that Foundation collapse is not enough to cause the queen to leave, and if she did most of the other bees would probably go with her.
I think all will work out well for you.

Bill

[Michael Bush]

I'd do it as a cutout. Try to pull it all apart and cut it all apart and tie it into frames.

If you've got one egg per cell you have a queen.

If you've got two eggs per cell, you probably have a queen.

If you've gove five eggs or more per cell you definitely have a lot of laying workers.