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Author Topic: Leave bees in cabinet or move to super?  (Read 1146 times)

Offline omnimirage

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Leave bees in cabinet or move to super?
« on: September 03, 2017, 07:14:46 am »
This person who's been helping me with some beekeeping, really wants to set up some bees at his holiday country get away shack. I'm not interested in turning it into an apiary site, because it's a bit out of the way, and it has rather low bio-diversity; I see that, the location is largely populated by only a couple variety of trees, that honey flow would boom when these trees would flower, but they'd go many months where there'd be little honeyflow. Moving hives is a pain for me and not something I want to do routinely.

Now a beehive has happened to swarm into this big square wooden bin, that has rubbish piled underneath. The bees had drawed many lines of comb, full of honey and brood. I could pull out the comb and move it to a super, as it's not particulary stuck down, but I believe quite a number of bees will drown in honey.

I ended up moving the whole box, and putting a lid on it. I'd like to keep a tesst hive up there, to see how they perform over the year, and to keep my friend happy. I don't plan on checking it regulary, nor extracting honey from it.

Can I then just leave them in the box that they're in? Or would it be best to put them into a proper super with pull out frames?

Offline splitrock

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Re: Leave bees in cabinet or move to super?
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2017, 08:04:35 am »
It would be easier to work them and check on them if you did.

 Much more fun just leaving them in where they set up shop tho.

Online BeeMaster2

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Re: Leave bees in cabinet or move to super?
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2017, 08:56:42 am »
I understand your government types are real sticklers about rules. Here in Florida you have to bee registered and the bee hives have to bee inspectable. I think you have the same Rules. If so you may want to put them in a hive.
That being said: you are putting them in a secluded area and are using them as a test hive. I would clean out the bottom if possible and put them up there.
I have removed hives in toolboxes and squirrel boxes to my house and left them there for several months before doing a transfer.
Good luck.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Offline Acebird

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Re: Leave bees in cabinet or move to super?
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2017, 04:42:55 pm »
What if you do nothing and the hive lives?  Wonderful!  But now what if you put the bees and comb into a standard hive and they live?  Now that is fantastic because you now have a very valuable resource you can draw from.
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Offline omnimirage

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Re: Leave bees in cabinet or move to super?
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2017, 05:06:55 pm »
It is illegal to keep bees here in a hive that hasn't got pull out frames. I'm not so concerned about such though, as it's in a secluded, isolated area.

The area may be susceptible to small hive beetle. Having pull out frames would be good to inspect such, but in all honestly, the hive will be checked very irregularly, chances are if it gets SHB then it'd die way before anyone inspects it.

The opening on this box is coincidentaly enough more or less the same size of a super. I actually put a beehive lid (with some tin) on top of it. I'm thinking that, maybe I should just put a new super on top of it? The bees will slowly move, and expand into the new honey super, might make it easier to remove them from the bin when I go to do so.

I'm wanting to set up a trap hive next to it also. Might the bees from this hive, swarm into the trap hive if I did so?

Offline Acebird

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Re: Leave bees in cabinet or move to super?
« Reply #5 on: September 04, 2017, 09:07:07 pm »
Typically swarms move about 5 miles away from the hive they swarm from.  Which might be why it is so hard to get them to stay when you capture one of your own swarms.
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Offline 220

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Re: Leave bees in cabinet or move to super?
« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2017, 06:12:33 pm »
Have you thought about putting a box with drawn frames above it. Might entice them to move up a bit quicker, if the queen moves up and starts laying you could simply remove it and damaging what is left in the original box trying to transfer it wouldn't be such a issue.