[harlequin1954]

wild comb

Semi New beekeeper here and brand new to the site I hope I have the right forum for this question I have a new 10 frame hive - 2 months old from a nuc, It was filling up fast so about a month ago I added a second brood box to it. I only had 6 frames so I put 3 on each side with the idea of adding some later. Unplanned circumstances required me to go out of town for a few weeks and I wasn’t able to inspect the hive. When I did do so the bees had built comb full of honey up from the top of the lower frames on both sides almost connecting side to side and attached to the feeder box above. Not sure if this is info that’s useful but I live in Central Texas (Hill Country) and have been feeding all 4 of my hives with 1 to one sugar water. Question is do I leave it alone or should I remover the 2nd box, frames, and honeycomb and bring the hive back into a more normal setup, and am open to any suggestions on how to do that. Or is there another approach that anyone would recommend.
Thanks
wildbill1954

 

[JWPalmer]

Re: wild comb

Harlequin1954, welcome to Beesource. First year beeks are encouraged to use the Beekeeping 101 forum and I will move your post there shortly. But to answer your question, you need to take care of it. Most of us have "forgotten" to put a frame or frames back in at one time or another and had to atone for our mistake. Grab a plastic pail and use your hive tool to slice all the errant comb away and put it in the bucket. Scrape everthing well and replace the four missing frames. You can crush the comb and strain it back into the feeder if you wish. It is just syrup so the only thing lost is the bees' time and effort building the comb. Take something to cover the pail as you may start a robbing frenzy if you don't.