It was nice while it lasted. The Langstroth never really did grow well but lasted into July. I swapped the sealed bottom board and top entrance for a bottom entrance and a few weeks later the hive was empty. There were some SHB, but not the devastation that I saw in the past. The TBH did thrive in the 15 inches or so near the entrance. I checked the hive before scout camp and drilled some drainage holes in the back of the hive. After scout camp the bees were gone.
Thus ends the third set of hives.
I drove out to Lynchburg today to pick up some Dadant packages. I’ve set up two hives and installed the packages this evening.
The first hive is the top-bar hive from last year. I’ve put it in a different spot and have dipped the bars in hot linseed oil (300 degrees F). The other hive is the Langstroth from hive #1.
The brood comb that I put in the back of the hive has been mostly cleaned up:
I took it out, cut out the brood cells and returned it to the top of the hive leaning up against a brick.
The inspection lasted almost 30 minutes. Here’s the 4X:
The bees appear to be building at a slight angle. The comb at the left is set back while the comb at the right is forward of the bar. Several combs are build across two bars. One of the full combs (built out with honey and good brood) dropped down off the bar. It stayed vertical, so I left it in place and made spaces on either side for the bees to fill in.
The SHB were there as before. I dispatched about 30 of them from the back end. They may be hiding in the corners along the bottom board. I think about how to get the SHB frequently now.
Cleanup time! I took out some wonky comb. The bees are building across top bars. Comb with brood I put in to the back of the hive. We didn’t need the honey so I set it on a plate and put a Langstroth super up on the front end of the hive. Here’s the plate with the comb on it:
Here’s the super from the outside:
Note that the super hangs off the sides of the top bars. The next bars that I cut will be an inch longer so that standard Langstroth equipment will work with it. I’m not sure the details, but it would be useful if I could both rest equipment on the top bar as in this picture and hang the top bar in place of a frame. I think an adapter is in order.
The brood comb I set in the back of the hive followed by a view of the inside of the hive:
This technique seems to be pretty successful in that the bees will clean up the comb and I don’t find new brood back there. They do put in some nectar and fix the comb to the box. They also built some new comb nearby on a top bar and there, I found some SHB back there:
They don’t appear to be strong throughout the hive which is good, after last year, I’m still nervous…
Jay came over and we looked at the hive and talked for a while about bees. The video is 14 minutes which I know is way too long for you to watch, so I sped it up to 4X. You get a full inspection in only three and a half minutes. Enjoy!
Today I took the two funny shaped combs and moved them to the back of the hive with some space around them. My hope is that the brood will hatch and the bees will clean out this comb and replace it with straighter comb.
I’ve noticed that the comb curves off the guide at one end of the bar. You can see a corner of unsupported comb falling off in the video. I put it on top of the hive then brought it in and put it on a plate. John said it tasted very nice. What I’m wondering is whether I made my triangle guides too short.
I also noticed that the bees are resisting the guides and building farther out. Maybe they’ve finished with brood and want to move to honey spacing? I’ve also noticed that they started two combs on the bar at the back (the first one you see in the video). Maybe I need to paint the triangles with wax. It seemed to work for the center bars.
I still need to number the bars for reference. I saw three large hive beetles. I got one of them with the hive tool. Maybe I need a real roof?
The last time I took a quick look at the hive, there were two combs stuck together. I took all the combs out today and separated them. I wonder whether I should take the two funny combs and put them off at the back to encourage the bees to clean them out and abandon them.
I still need to number the combs for better tracking. I removed the cleaned out comb that I had dropped some time ago. There were a few hive beetles hiding underneath it. They are now deceased and the hive appears to be quite free of SHB.
I opened up the hive today. Two days ago I took off the back bar and squashed a small hive beetle (SHB). I’m a bit worried that they’ll be back this year, so I went in for a look.
Here’s a shot from the back of the hive.
I took a bit of video and you’ll see that there’s good brood and that the bees are attaching the comb on the right side (looking from the back). You’ll also notice that some of the front combs are stuck together. I didn’t pull the front comb out as I didn’t want to drop it. It’s time to number frames for better note keeping.
Here’s a shot of the stuck combs from the top.
Here’s a look at the comb from the front of the hive.
