New bk here and need advice. I did a cutout last weekend and now a bunch of the bees are hanging onto the sbb. What do I need to do? Vac them up and put back in hive or maybe put into another hive box or just leave them alone? Help wiil be appericated.
Help, Bees Hanging on Screen Bottom Board
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Leave them alone, but check to make sure you have a queen in the hive. If the queen is in there, or cells for a new queen, they'll find their way in.
Okay its been several days now and about 2 lbs of bees still hanging on the SBB. I was unable to find queen inside but there is two supers full of bees. Lots of bees.:applause: The temperature tonight will be in the 50's. Is that to cold for them to be out? Should I scoop them up, put them in the hive or into maybe a nuc? Or just leave them alone? I would appericate all advice I can get. Thank you.
if you can, put another super on sounds like you got a whopper, put a frame with eggs in from another hive to see if they will make another queen, or maybe somebody on this site is local and has an extra queen
Bob
Bob
Do you have brood or eggs inside the hive? If not, her highness may be on the wrong side of the SBB. Either way, the only loss from dumping the bees under the SBB is those you kill.
My first hive had a SBB. They did that all the time and gave me 50# of honey. Everything I read about SBB noted that mites fall out of the hive. After I regularly saw that cluster under the hive, I didn't see the benefit of having mites fall on my girls and now only use solid bottom boards. A trusted codger quipped the mites that fall off are dead.
Bees go about their lives without consciousness of our goal or desires. The best description of bee keeping came from someone I fascinated with my stories. "Experience the challenge on their terms."
My first hive had a SBB. They did that all the time and gave me 50# of honey. Everything I read about SBB noted that mites fall out of the hive. After I regularly saw that cluster under the hive, I didn't see the benefit of having mites fall on my girls and now only use solid bottom boards. A trusted codger quipped the mites that fall off are dead.
Bees go about their lives without consciousness of our goal or desires. The best description of bee keeping came from someone I fascinated with my stories. "Experience the challenge on their terms."
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Remove the supers and set aside, lift the SBB and shake the bees off in front of the hive location. Place the supers back on the stand leaving the SBB off. The next day re-install the SBB. The bees will be happy new members of the hive.
Yes it was a BIG cutout. 10 lbs of bees. They are in 2 supers full of honey, eggs and brood.
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If the bees can get to the bottom of the screen they will. This is a great way to loose queens in a mating hive. If you can seal at least the front so they cannot reach the bottom your problem will solve itself. I leave the back open and very few find it. The front seal can be at an angle for a lighting board it does not matter as long as they cannot get to the bottom.
Yes it was a BIG cutout. 10 lbs of bees. They are in 2 supers full of honey, eggs and brood.
I would agree with what Brent Bean advises....you've got to take apart & shake the bees off the SBB into the hive, otherwise they'll just stay under there for who knows how long because they can communicate through the screen with the bees inside.
I've had this same problem. It's very hard to get bees , which haven't oriented to the entrance, out from under a SBB because they're receiving queen phermone smell from the bees inside ...through the screen. For this reason, when I was making my own SBB, I would make them with two screens.....the top one permanent and the lower one interchangable with a solid mite tray which could slide in & out. When you ran it for ventilation , there would be two screens about 3/4" apart, therefore no bees could communicate or exchange anything through the SBB. Works great!
I've had this same problem. It's very hard to get bees , which haven't oriented to the entrance, out from under a SBB because they're receiving queen phermone smell from the bees inside ...through the screen. For this reason, when I was making my own SBB, I would make them with two screens.....the top one permanent and the lower one interchangable with a solid mite tray which could slide in & out. When you ran it for ventilation , there would be two screens about 3/4" apart, therefore no bees could communicate or exchange anything through the SBB. Works great!
I had a swarm set up uber A sbb. We never did settle it down. The sbb confuses the issue because the pheromones go through it. I think what I would do is get a new bottom board or make a temporary one, and set the old one on top of the colony over an empty super. There are often more thn one queen in a swarm, especially one that big. Could be 2 swarms merged. Consider hiving that 2# of bees in a separate box; it may have a queen in it.
Dickm
Dickm
Thanks to everyone for your ideas. I combined a few and hope it works. I took the hive bodies off the ssb and set them on another ssb because that is all I have. I added a medium, shook in the bees and added a board between the two screens on the bottom. Wait and see what happens next. Again thanks for your advise. They were pissed. Got a sting under the glove...
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