I'm in it now i guess, Emergency?

[bushpilot]

I basically did what you said before i saw your input. When the bees gathered outside the original box, i made the box and only put what was left in the tree which was two thin, long honey combs. The next day, when i noticed they were just robbing the honey and not staying in that box (or the other), i brought both boxes to the same area. That night i checked and no bees were in either box yet they were back the next morning moving the honey. Thats when i saw bees near the branch where it fell.

Basically, i think now that i didn't have any brood comb but only had the honey and pollen. Due to my lack of knowledge, i thought the pollen was the brood. That means the queen and eggs are still in the branch. At least i hope so. The bees are no longer in the boxes i bought, and i think they are back up in the tree. I THINK that the brood is still in the tree and the bees moved back in there. I won't know until i take that branch out, or find another cavity that they've moved into (the tree has multiple). From the ladder and what i know of the branch, it broke at the bottom of the honey/pollen chamber. Looking down on the remaining branch, i can see a small tunnel and just below that was where the 6 or 7 bees were hanging out near a hole. The bees were working hard the last few days to get all the honey out of the combs. I couldn't track them to that branch though. I looked throughout the two oaks on the property that they would move to and didn't see any sign of them. Not much i can do at this point but hope they have shelter. I put all the comb into one box without a couple frames i made and put all the frames into the other box. From reading on here and other sites, i think i will set up a sugar solution in the box that has the frames and hope if something happens they will come to the box. They have been in and out of the boxes, the trashcan and the bits of the comb that were empty getting everything they can. I've done all i can do at this point i think and I continue to research so i will be more prepared for them. Maybe i'll trap them, or maybe i woon't know where they are and just get a portion when they swarm.

I think you are on the right track. Let them recover, and see what happens for now.

[Litsinger]

Maybe i'll trap them, or maybe i woon't know where they are and just get a portion when they swarm.

Breeton:

It sounds like you are a quick study and are well on your way. This winter will afford you the opportunity to be prepared for whatever Spring might bring your way. Best of success to you in your beekeeping journey- it is certainly a fun, challenging (and sometimes maddening) endeavor.

[Litsinger]

I think you are on the right track. Let them recover, and see what happens for now.

FWIW- I like the new signature, Bushpilot. Galatians 6:10 is our church's unofficial motto. Good reminder- as John Wesley famously declared, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Neither is love content with barely working no evil to our neighbour. It continually incites us to do good: as we have time, and opportunity, to do good in every possible kind, and in every possible degree to all men."