Side note. When I was packing up after closing up the box. I picked up my gloves with my tools. And realised I had unconsciously taken off my gloves at some stage and was working with bare hands. Like the pros in the bee videos.
In the building industry I?m always losing my gloves cause you take them off when they hinder you. I?ve done exactly that whilst working on the bees without realising it. Never got stung.
Good for you! That is awesome!
The best way to work bees is without gloves if you are comfortable doing so. I use nitrile gloves, since I get really bad sting reactions, but with the nitrile I can still feel the bees.
If you do foundationless it's best to use some kind of guide. A wooden strip, a bevel, something that makes an edge down the middle of the bottom of the top bar.
https://bushfarms.com/beesfoundationless.htm
I
really should have mentioned this, good thing you went with the starter strips, Guitarman.
When I build my frames, I nail in the wedges in sideways so there is a thin strip of wood hanging down to encourage them to start drawing there. I wasn't thinking about the fact that your frames probably aren't set up like that. Thanks, Michael.
Oh no where did this idea come from? You are making things harder. You don't need to lift the box over your head to see. Just tip it over on it's side before you loosen frames. The bees won't mind at all. Scrape the bottom clean. Never force frames on top of each other. That is when you can crush a queen and other bees.
Deeps that are full of honey are enormously heavy. I would have suggested a medium on top unless you are a strapping young boy. But not until you clean up the messed up comb. If you don't want to deal with it now then spring is the only other time I would suggest. Get rid of the clear sheet it does nothing for you or them.
Ace, we've been talking about him undersupering a box for like half a page.
Slowly... you don't want to kill any bees, that will set them off. The queen and her attendants will get out of the way. After you get the wire through on each end of the frame cover the top of the hive with a cloth or matt. If you are working on a frame straightening out comb keep the hive covered so it stays dark. Plan on moving all the frames. Leave the mess in the old box while you transfer the frames to a new box. Maintain order of the frames.
Acebird
Had no idea going slow with a wire could work safely and effectively in such a messed up box until your last post. I will definitely keep that advice for when it comes time to separate that messed up box. Thank you for your advice. Much appreciated.
Next step is going to be placing the queen excluder when I have the queen confirmed in the bottom box. If all goes to plan. Is that correct?
Next time you go in the hive, clean off any comb on the bottom of the frames in the top box, by tipping the box sideways, as Ace suggested. Also scrape off any comb that is attached to the mesh of the bottom board, if you haven't already. Remember, comb leads to comb. The fact that they redrew the comb on your inner cover is actually a good sign to me, since that means they are in a drawing mood, which is what we want. Basically, this undersupering thing is just buying you some time. Anytime you feel comfortable trying to cut out and separate the top box, I think you can do it, based on what Les said about your flows anyway. But that's a huge, messy, complicated, challenging, and long task to do when you aren't familiar with working with bees yet. Some people would be comfortable just diving into a task like that (I know Phillip/Ben Framed got his first bees by doing a cutout), but I know I personally wouldn't be comfortable with that. What I guess I'm trying to say is, there is no pressure (as long as I'm understanding your seasonal timing correctly) to do it now or not do it now. Hopefully managing their drawing in the bottom box will give you some reps at inspecting and moving comb around. If they get that bottom box drawn, and one day you see the queen laying eggs down there, then perfect, slap that queen excluder on there, give it another couple weeks for the brood in the top to hatch, and then you can remove the top box. Or, if you get tired of lifting that heavy top box, and you think you are ready to give the cut-out a go, then do it. It's entirely up to you.
When I lifted the lid I saw about a dozen hive beetles under the clear cover go scurrying down into the comb. A first for me. Probably never noticed them when I opened before.
The hive beetles are worrying me even though the hive appears healthy. I feel I need to be doing something to keep them manageable. I will watch some videos and learn what I can tonight but I feel the urgency to get some hydrated lime in the tray to start with.
There are lots of different ways to help control beetles. I don't have too much trouble with them where I live, as long as a hive is strong and healthy. I have some of those over-the-frame plastic beetle traps, which I use occasionally if I have a bad infestation. I also use generic Swiffer sheets (I assume you have Swiffer mops in Australia or something similar) as beetle traps, as their feet get tangled in the sheets and trap them. You do catch some bees sometimes too with those, but I feel if you are catching more beetles than bees, it's worth it. I just cut the sheets into quarters, and place one or two in between the corners of two boxes to secure them. I've never used lime before, so I can't really comment on it either way.
