Recover An Old Hive

[JOHN HINCHMAN]

I Have A Farmer Whom Called Me And Ask If I Want An Old Hive, He Said It Is Falling Apart And Has Done Nothing With It In A Few Years But Was Full Of Bees And I Was Woundering If I Should Go And Try To Find The Queen And Place Some Of It Open And Capped Brood With New Foundation In The Rest Of Hive And Just Shake The Rest Of Bees In New Hive And Then Let The New Hive Stay There For A Few Days And Then Pull It Or Would You Go And Put All New Foundation In A New Hive And Shake All The Bees You Can And Close It Up Bring It Home And Walk Away?

[ScadsOBees]

If the frames are still usable, then use them.

Assuming that you can actually get frames out but the frames need to be replaced, I would recommend getting all of the brood into the smallest possible area, remove any boxes without brood, and then put the queen on a brood frame in a box of foundation on top of the hive, with a queen excluder keeping her away from the old bad frames.

But if it is that old, chances are you aren't going to be takeing any frames out.

Rick

[BigDaddyDS]

I'd definitely tell the farmer that you want it, first.

Secondly, once you open up the hive and take a look, you might discover that the frames are so burr combed together that you can't move frames around. Or, only some frames are able to be transferred into a new hive, and others are twisted masses of wax. You'll be able to tell a lot better once you've put an eyeball on them.

Personally, I'd do what I could to transfer the queen to the new woodenware. (That's good survivor stock! And that's the start of the makings of a good queen, in my opinion!) After that, I'd transfer as much sealed brood, larva and eggs as I could. Next come the bees themselves. And lastly, I'd concentrate on getting the honey and pollen frames, if possible. In that order of importance. The whole while, keep an eye out for foulbrood or any other nasties that you wouldn't want to bring home.

Good luck to you! I hope your good fortune continues!
DS