[DrDoorlock]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9fbIJKpjSI

 

[tommyt]

That's a cut out you participated in
What you have is some brood and bees

I hope you have enough to keep the brood warm and
Larva to make a queen
Read read read

Good luck

 

[DrDoorlock]

I need luck. I've studied as fast as I could with a late start. Read the handbook. Reading more. If the nurse bees and a new queen can take hold, I will feel lucky. The alternative would have been to let the colony die. If this one doesn't survive, I at least gave it my best shot. Advantage is living where we probably have had the last freeze. They have a chance and I want to make the chance better. Can you tell me if I need to do anything with the comb to give them a better chance to rebuild?

 

[tommyt]

The comb shouldn't have been stacked
you should(could)have hung it from topbars with chicken wir
If you have queen cells being made leave it alone,unless you know
you can hang with the wire without ruining the cell.
If the cells are on one comb maybe you can hang the rest

 

[dixiebooks]

I highly recommend you go to youtube and watch all the videos by jpthebeeman, if you are going to do cutouts (which this was, not a swarm). -js

 

[shannonswyatt]

I recommend that you move that feeder to the inside of the hive and reduce the entrance to just large enough for a bee or two. You can use a cork with a hole in it since it round. The hive looks really weak. You don't want them to get robbed out.

Les Crowder (at least in his book) shows that when he has a cutout he places the comb laying at an angle at the rear of the hive and the bees will start to build new comb at the front of the hive. You don't have much comb, so you could try moving the follower board back and see if they start to draw comb from the front bars. Ideally you would attach comb to bars, which is a pain in a TBH (much easier with frames in a Lang).

BTW, love the hive. My better half wanted to know why mine didn't look that nice.

 

[rtoney]

School of shirt tail can sometimes be the best education. Have fun with them

 

[DrDoorlock]

I appreciate those of you who understand I was in no position to try anything else. This was a doomed hive if I had done nothing. I'm grateful for the good advice and hope the colony survives. I will see how it's doing tomorrow. Why should I try and put the feeder inside? The weather is very good already. Another swarm was destroyed today because I could not go and try to save it. He said he had someone else he would try to reach, but it didn't end well.

 

[shannonswyatt]

I concur. Better to try to save them versus ensuring their doom.
I would put the feeder inside to prevent other hives from coming to feed and then starting a feeding frenzy and robbing. If you have a strong nectar flow you probably don't need to feed at all. Normally they will pass on the sugar if there is a good flow going. I would just hate for you to lose the hive from robbers.

 

[DrDoorlock]

I will know today if they should have taken to the feeder. I was erring on the side of caution hoping they would get comfort if they needed it. I will probably remove it today. I may try to secure some of the best brood comb to the top bars and I will surely make more room.

 

[DrDoorlock]

I recommend that you move that feeder to the inside of the hive and reduce the entrance to just large enough for a bee or two. You can use a cork with a hole in it since it round. The hive looks really weak. You don't want them to get robbed out.
BTW, love the hive. My better half wanted to know why mine didn't look that nice.

You can post an "I told you so." if you like. This morning the feeder was on the ground, empty. My very first swarm was in an eave and it was well established with a LOT of comb. The bees behaved well which was a big surprise since I was slicing though a lot of brood. There was so much comb, this could have been there for years, at least two. I never got to see the queen before the exterminator had to do his business. That was last Wednesday. I took them to my Top Bar hive and set most of the brood comb parallel, but slightly zig-zagged and left them alone until this morning. I just got through wiring up the most promising comb. Now if there are enough bees and larvae this doomed colony has a chance to produce a queen. The word is still out with local pest controllers for me to get another swarm, but if it's another cut-out I may pass. It's just difficult to think about a viable colony getting wiped out just because they set up in a bad location.

 

[curios1]

dont PASS get PREPARED !

 

[DrDoorlock]

dont PASS get PREPARED !

Now I have the perfect plan. Yesterday I talked with the busiest, most experienced beekeeper/bee remover in all of Texas. He has about 50 years experience and he sounded like I would have to work hard to keep up with this spry 71 year old semi-retired electrician. He agreed to help me populate and keep my hive in return for me helping him on the next 5 calls in my area. So I get practical experience and my best bees for doing something I would do just to learn.

 

[curios1]

there is nothing like the experience of looking over the shoulder of someone who knows whats going on. SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN