First post

[lscott]

I found this in the woods behind my restaurant and it seems to be in pretty bad condition.Should I try to build another box,repair this one, or just leave them alone.

[Sundance]

First off......... Welcome.

It is hard for me to tell what the condition of the
box is as I have the resolution turned down on
my computer.

Are there bees in this/these boxes?? If there are
are they pretty gentle?

If there are bees and they're gentle that is one nice
find.

Top box looks fairly solid. But if there are bees I would
likely transfer the frames to good wood and screened
bottom board.

[D Coates]

It looks like the top one (super) is homemade out of pressed wood whereas the bottom one (deep) is storebought and is made of solid wood. I can't figure out what's there as a roof (cover) or floor (bottom board). Watch it for a few days. If it gets above 50 you should see some activity, either bees flying and bringing in pollen and nectar or dead ones that the live ones discarded out the front.

If no one is home (make REAL sure, you can tap on it from behind and you should heard a dull roar) crack it open and see what's in there. You'll be able to tell pretty quickly if the wood is rotten. The frames probably aren't worth salvaging as the wax will probably be quite old and black with tons of cross bracing. This is assuming wax moths didn't chew everything up in there if there are no bee's present. If it's rotten and there's no one home you could leave it as it is with the chance that a swarm will move into it. Once they do though you have to get them out to a properly maintained hive.

Nonetheless welcome to the forum that's a really cool find. I'd love to find something like that out of curiousity. PLEASE take pictures of what you find and post them for everyone here to see.

[lscott]

It's full of bees and they seem gentle as in they did'nt attack me when I lifted their home off the ground.I was burning some brush and was going to throw the box on the fire.I just thought it was some old rotten piece of furniture.I bear hugged it to pick it up an quickly figured out it was'nt a night stand.They buzzed around for a while but I did'nt get stung.It seems the bees themselves have repaired the roof.In the pictures it apppears the leaves and twigs are just laying there but they are actually [i]glued[i] together.

[KQ6AR]

Hey thats mine, please put it back.
Just kidding, if nothing else you might have some nice bee's

[drobbins]

welcome to the forum

you might want to lay something solid over the top to give them a descent cover until you figure out what to do (think plywood)
leave a 1/2 inch crack so they have an entrance
maybe you'll find someone here who lives close enough to give you a hand
someone with experience would help a lot in getting them into a new box, but it can be done by you without help

Dave

[Sundance]

Wow, that is some gentle bees!!!! It is nothing
short of amazing to me that you didn't get
stung.

You have a treasure there..... Good survivor genetics.
Worth more than any "factory" bought bees.

Perhaps there is a beekeeper on this site that may be
willing to help out with the promise of a queen cell or
two down the road. I know I would!!

Congrats!

[c10250]

Iscott, you better shrink the size of those pics before the "picture police" comes along and eliminates them.

Don't ask me why, but for some reason, they only allow smaller pictures.

I like the big ones though. Definitely better quality.

[Sundance]

The big pictures are nice, and I'm on dialup. Then
again I use Propel web acceleration to degrad the
pic. They may be a huge pain for most on dialup.

[alpha6]

Good find and though you might not realize it, for beekeepers, that is a little treasure you have because of the bees survivability.

Ask anything you like here and I am sure you will get step by step help in dealing with your new friends. Or you can hook up with someone in your area with experience to walk you through it. Either way good luck and good on you for not destroying something excellent like this colony.

[USCBeeMan]

Seems like I have seen ads in the American Bee Journal for packaged bees out of Decator.

[wmgysi]

It looks like they are coming out of winter. However I see some long light brown streaks on the outside of the box which tells me that they have disentry or more acute, nosema. But those stripes may not be fresh but from previous years, you could tell if they smear when touched. If they are from this spring then you may feed some sugar water with camomile tea or use the comercial stuff I don't like to mention, but certainly you have to verify those streaks.

It's full of bees and they seem gentle as in they did'nt attack me when I lifted their home off the ground.I was burning some brush and was going to throw the box on the fire.I just thought it was some old rotten piece of furniture.I bear hugged it to pick it up an quickly figured out it was'nt a night stand.They buzzed around for a while but I did'nt get stung.It seems the bees themselves have repaired the roof.In the pictures it apppears the leaves and twigs are just laying there but they are actually [i]glued[i] together.

[lscott]

The streaks are firm.I touched them thinking they might be honey.FWIW I don't care about collecting the honey.I just want to make sure the bees survive and thrive.They seem to be doing just fine in this box and I would not want to disturb them anymore than I already have. But if the box is on it's last leg I'd love some expert opinions on what to do.Thanks for all the concern and replies.

[USCBeeMan]

Here is the name of a board member of the AL Bee Assoc:

James Macilveen
2408 Circle Dr. SE
Decatur, AL 35603-5620
Email: Director3@alabamabeekeepers.com
Term: 2007 thru 2010

[drobbins]

kool, you just want to "save the bees"
you'll be very popular around here
like I said, see if you can find a piece of plywood or something the right size to give them a cover
you may not know it but there are some terrible pests that have gotten loose and devastated honeybees in the last two decades
bees surviving on their own are of great interest to beekeepers
especially "nice" ones
get up with the guy USCBeeMan posted, I bet he'll want to help you out

Dave

[wmgysi]

Wait till temperatures are at least 15 degree C 59F before putting them into new housing at least 1km away (for maybe a week then back to a location you prefer) to avoid drifting of bees back to the old location.
You maybe can wait longer, until just before the dandelions open and then put the third box on as well. But if they are strong already now then you have to make sure they have enough room when temperatures rise abobe 59F, that is when the queen will start to lay eggs in a grander scale. Strong means that at least 10 frames are covered well with bees. You make that decision when you open the hive. The bees are most likely in the top box with the bottom box empty so you can tell how many bees are in there by just lifting the top lid. But before you do that make sure you use smoke at the entrance, then smoke through the hole in the inner cover (if there is one) and then smoke as you pry open a gap between the inner cover and the hive box. Like that they will be calm. When you move them into new boxes put the frames with bees in the bottom box. With only 5 frames covered with bees I would wait until just before the dandelions start to open. Send me an email if I was not clear enough but the natural pointer of temperature and dandelion should help you judge the timing right.

The streaks are firm.I touched them thinking they might be honey.FWIW I don't care about collecting the honey.I just want to make sure the bees survive and thrive.They seem to be doing just fine in this box and I would not want to disturb them anymore than I already have. But if the box is on it's last leg I'd love some expert opinions on what to do.Thanks for all the concern and replies.