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Author Topic: a big mess  (Read 4078 times)

leeman

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a big mess
« on: February 06, 2005, 02:24:01 am »
some people gave my son a bee hive. Its full of last years honey (Is the honey in the cones still good?) ----- The frames are stuck together -- the bees appear to be ok --- I tried to take some frames out and now the honey is leaking out on the floor-What do I do now?  :cry:  :?

Offline Lesli

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a big mess
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2005, 07:47:10 am »
I'd say the first thing to do is find an experienced beekeeper to teach you and yor son the basics.

If the hive is a mess now, it probably needs to be pulled apart and cleaned up, a task that might be a bit much of a raw beginner. Call your Country Extension office and see if there's a bekkeeping club in your area.
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Offline Jerrymac

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a big mess
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2005, 07:56:23 am »
I suppose you have only the one hive and no extra equipment. How many boxes are on the hive?

Where are you located?

What is your weather like?

If you're having a spell of warm weather the bees will clean the honey mess up, if they have a place to put it.

Things being stuck together with propilis is normal, but this sounds like they have built comb all over the place. When the weather is warm enough you would probably need to pull the frames out one by one and clean the extra comb off of them. Would be great if you had extra boxes and frames to just move the bees into a new home while you do this.

Do you know the history of the hive? Is the comb with the honey in different boxes than the brood nest? If the honey is still capped over it would be fine as long as no chemical treatments have been done while the honey was in the hive.

Give us some more info so we can better help you.
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Offline Beth Kirkley

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a big mess
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2005, 09:13:04 am »
Definately sounds like a mess, but could be fixable. If it were me, the steps I'd take, and the things I'd look for would be:
1) put the sticky frames back in (if possible) and let the bees clean it up
2) wait for a warm day - or warm week would be better
3) have a second hive body (box) to transfer frames into
4) as I moved frames, clean what I could - basiclly get any burr comb cut off the edges and whatever is bulging out
5) get all the frames into the new box, close it up, and let the stray bees from the other hive find there way in there during the day

The bees will clean up some of the mess, repair comb, cap what needs capping, and try and set up home again. But if the weather is cold, this will totally disrupt their cluster. (In case you don't know, the cluster is the ball they make in the winter. They'll all bunch up to stay warm in a big cluster.) If the cluster is destroyed, and it's cold, there's the risk of them dying while trying to get their home back in order.

Personally, I would prefer to do this stuff when the weather is warm. Knowing where you live is very helpful. If you are in a warm climate - then mid march would probably be a good date. If somewhere else, you would have to wait till later.

The history of the hive from the people  you got it from is very important. Did they medicate the hive this fall? That would make the honey unsafe for you too eat.

Other than that..... there are other things to discuss - later after you can get in the hive really good. Like - how does the brood look? Do you see mites?

Beth

Anonymous

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Re: a big mess
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2005, 01:36:12 pm »
Quote from: leeman
some people gave my son a bee hive. Its full of last years honey (Is the honey in the cones still good?) ----- The frames are stuck together -- the bees appear to be ok --- I tried to take some frames out and now the honey is leaking out on the floor-What do I do now?  :cry:  :?


I live in South East Michigan--Weather right now is 45 degrees--3 boxs---2 with honey in them-1 of the 2 has  baby bees inside the comb and the 3 box is empty.

Will the baby bees hatch in the summer?
This is all new to me :oops:

Offline Jerrymac

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a big mess
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2005, 02:12:32 pm »
With brood (baby bees) I would not open up the hive again until it gets much warmer.

Then, this is what I would do. I would take the empty box off and clean it all up. Get it ready for the bees to move in to it.

Next I would determine if the brood was in the first or second box. Which ever the brood is in, place it on the bottom and the cleaned up box on top. Take the other box and clean it up.

Hopefully by now the weather would be really warm and the bees out working. I would then move the first cleaned out box to the bottom. Place the second cleaned out box on top of that with no frames in it and start pulling the frames one by one and cleaning up the burr comb on it, try not to rip open any brood, and place them into the empty box. Then set the now empty box on the top and place the other cleaned up frames in to it.

You might run into the problem of having some brood in the second box you wish to clean up. I would pull the frames on it while still at the hive and if there is brood would place those in the first cleaned box you now have on the top.

Another option would be to get more equipment while it is cool and set it up beside the old hive. Then pull the frames one by one, clean them, and place them into the new boxes.

It depends on how cheap you want to go. With the new equipment you might can do the whole thing in a day. If going one box at a time I would do one box a week.

I'm sure others here will disagree with me.  :)
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Offline Robo

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a big mess
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2005, 07:38:57 pm »
Since Beemaster and I haven't had a good disagreement in a while, I'll bring and old disagreement back up :lol:

If the boxes are so brace and burr combed up that you can not get it apart without breaking the box or frames in the process, I would suggest the following.

Determine which super has the brood and queen (peer down thru the frames looking for brood.    Take that super and place it upside down on the bottom board.  Take your empty super and clean up all the frames and place that on top of the upside down super.  If all the supers are too combed up to clean without breaking, buy a new super to put on.  If you have to put on a new super with foundation, feed them sugar water over the inner cover to help them draw out the foundation.   The queen will be discourage from laying in the bottom super because the cells will be upside down (slanting up rather than down) and will eventually migrate up to the second super to lay. Once there is no more brood in the bottom super, it can be removed and delt with.

I would not try doing anything with them until the weather warms up substantially.  If you think they don't have enough stores, then feed them the way they are until better weather.
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