Pick your medium of choice, (TB, frame) hot melt glue 2-3 bamboo skewers down each side, u now have a u when inverted , slide comb between skewers against TB/Frame, pull free ends of skewers together to grab comb and secure with twist tie, once fully attached by B's the skewers are easily removed. Will report results.
Cheers,
Drew
Are you suggesting the use of glued on wooden pieces instead of elastic bands or string to attach comb to a frame? Wouldn't you need to remove the bottom bar?
Does the brood have to be mounted in a frame? I was thinking you could just have a box with spokes coming out of the bottom board and stand the comb between the spokes. If this box is on the bottom and another box with empty frames in it on top you could wait three weeks or less and all the brood would be out. Then replace it with another box of empty frames. Crush and strain any honey in the original comb or let them rob it out.
Does the brood have to be mounted in a frame? I was thinking you could just have a box with spokes coming out of the bottom board and stand the comb between the spokes. If this box is on the bottom and another box with empty frames in it on top you could wait three weeks or less and all the brood would be out. Then replace it with another box of empty frames. Crush and strain any honey in the original comb or let them rob it out.
I guess that your suggestion would work Ace, but it seem to me that it would be simpler to just secure the comb in a frame, place it in a hive and be done with it.
What advantage is there in doing it the way that you have suggested?
1 I think it would be quicker and less of a mess at the time of the cut out. (don't know)
2. Not knowing the age of the natural comb and what it has been exposed to I would want it out of my hive as soon as possible. Personal preference.
I'll make one up with old comb and post a pic
Dave, I did'nt see your hinge frame but think I know what you've got , Yes even better but harder to construct
Its hard to beat mounting the honeycomb in a frame from your equipment and securing it with a rubber band or wire.....Its messy and temporary, but it serves the purpose to anchor the bees to their brood in your hive. You can cut out the wild comb at a later time.
These combs are mounted up-side-down in the frames, I mount them right side up when I'm working by myself. Many use rubber bands. The advantage of the wire is that you can have a better approximation of the center of the frame by bending the wire to hold the comb toward the center of the frame. Rubber bands don't do that. Less interference between frames is safer for the bees when you remove the frames to inspect later -comb interference kills bees, sometimes the queen.
This colony was 25' up in a pecan tree. The homeowner noticed comb on the grass, looked up, and this is what she saw. Note the queen cells, the queen was lost on the fallen combs.
You can see the white PVC we used for the vacuum to the left of the (blue) garbage can fastened to a long pole. That blue thing served as a container for catching the combs that came loose during vacuuming. The wind had damaged the structure of the combs and they were fragile.
...snip...the appearance of capped queen cells makes me think that some hives could be had by just setting up swarm traps had this colony been left alone.
Our consensus was that the colony lost the queen when a couple large pieces of comb fell during a thunderstorm, thus, the emergency queen cells in that picture. The homeowner was concerned about safety for the kids that traversed that area, so, the bees were coming down no matter what. I will have swarm traps in the area this Spring: Together, we took five colonies out of trees and water boxes, all in the same area; there must be a bee tree close by.
I was wanting experience doing this sort of removal. The beekeeper I helped do the job wanted the combs that way, he believes the bees just continue drawing the comb upward from the new comb as it faces the top.
I put the comb in its natural orientation when I am by myself, but I should report that the queen continues to lay in the comb and the bees build it to fill the frame fairly quickly, regardless of the orientation of the comb in the frame. I don't know how much remodeling of the cell structure the bees actually do, but they do well enough and they don't need any supervision by me....I don't think it matters how you put the comb in the frame, the bees adapt and overcome.
I helped get the bees and comb from three very high pecan trees. The bees in this picture were 25' up (the other two were 28' & 35' high). That ladder is about 14' high.
Apologies for hijacking your thread Drew, can't wait to see your results.
Re: Best way to speed things is to have more hands
I like the idea of nailing string to one side of the frame, laying the comb in the frame and then stringing the other side of the frame when the frame is full of cut out comb!
Maybe so when the brood hatches the bees will abandon the comb since they cannot store nectar in them because the cells are pointing down, and I don't believe the queen will lay in them either. Then he can cycle out the comb that could contain unknown contaminants.
Re: Best way to speed things is to have more hands
important considerations for me are being able to secure comb(w/ B's) to frame/TB with 2 hands while @ top of 30'ladder, @ 2am, working under red light over and hour since last cafe latte, woozy from venom, shall I contiue ....Go Ravens & Redskins !
Re: Best way to speed things is to have more hands
Maryland,
I do 20-30 cut outs a year and haven't had to put myself in that situation before. What caused you to have to work from the top of a ladder? or at night? That must have been a nightmare!
Maddox,
Oh it was a scene man ! But when it is real hot I do prefer night, B's can't see, are calm (mostly
same principle, easily added/secured/removed support
Lee,
No worries
With Lang frames (and I do all of my wood frames foundationless anyway) Fastest easiest at cutout, prep frames with 1" chickenwire. Staple to one side, have enough to wrap around bottom and come up to top bar.
Easiest during cutout NOT easiest to remove. Rubber bands are easiest to remove..
Nighttime removals are for the brave. I've certainly finished one after dark, but I could see what I was dealing with before I started.
I have done a few where I get the bees and queen on drawn comb, place the brood just leaned up above an excluder in an empty box and remove it after the brood has hatched.
Rubber bands work pretty well for me and the best part is that by the time the bees have re-attached the comb to the frames most of the rubber bands have broken and there's very few to remove. The one thing that works great for speeding things up is a helper who can trim and rubber band the comb into place while you're doing the cut out.
Fixed one up, can't get picks off camera, nephew said he'd shoot video, be a whole lot easier, found cloths pins work perfect to both clamp ends of skewers together and support comb from below. I put it up against all comers for quick/cheap/easy (instal. and removal both)
Drew
p.s.
Gypsi - Dot of hot melt glue improves function of chicken wire system
p.s. Think if I was doing lang frames and had 3 hands I would have a few thin slots along top edges, insert comb, wrap package w/ 2-3' length of thin cotton string thru slots, drop in new box
I like rubber bands. No extra equipment to buy or build. I can use my regular foundationless frames that I have around anyway. The bees have everything reattached and rubber bands removed in a few days. Last one I did I used 15-20 frames in little time. I wouldn't want to have an extra 100 frames around that I only used for cutouts. That's just me though, I make my wife rubber band all the combs while I hold them so if I had to work by myself I might reconsider making some hinged frames or something.
Re: Best way to speed things is to have more hands
You might consider deer or bird netting. I like the bigger mesh of deer netting. I prepare the frames by stapling the netting to one side. Lay down the combs and staple it shut. I have left them in for months and they don't seem to affect the bees.
Wow, Olly, I never thought of using the netting for that. I have searched for quick effective ways to fix comb from cutouts into frames, but that's a slick idea. I'll hafta try it.
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