Bad Beekeeping

[zardiw]

Hey all. We found a wild colony and I put them into an old bee box that my father (A Master BeeKeeper in Bavaria) used to use.

I'm pretty sure they want to swarm, so I ordered an 8 frame medium super to put on top....but I'm pretty new at this, so could use some advice.

I originally cut a hole in the top cover thinking it would allow the cover over the ball, but then I had to build an extension.

So the top cover still has a 4 inch diameter hole that's covered with styrofoam right now. I was going to put the super on top of the cover and then a new cover over the super. Anyway, it's an interesting project.

Here's a video of what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slpXS8W6zCk

z

[zardiw]

Oh...and this was in August 2008......and I live in the Palm Springs, Ca area, which is Desert. We had some rain and the desert is blooming......z

[zardiw]

Also, I know there's ways of moving colonies into other boxes, but this box has sentimental value, so I'm keeping them in there.......I'd just like some advice on how to proceed from here.......Thx, z

[zardiw]

Nobody has any thoughts?.....Is my beekeeping THAT bad?..:evil:..lol ... : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slpXS8W6zCk

z

[MustbeeNuts]

I don't quite get it , are they living inside the ball/float, i would knock off the bees first, then cut the float open and move anything inside to the frames. They make a go of it or they don't . If'n it was me thats what I would do . Are they even inside the thing? Use rubber bands to hold the brood if there is some inside the ball/float.

[zardiw]

The whole colony was/is inside that float/ball. It is now inside the bee box, and they're doing great. In fact I think they're getting ready to swarm. I should post a new video I guess.....but I think the bee box is now full of comb around the ball. It's like a hive within a hive if you catch my drift........No way am I going to open that box.......cause they've had free rein for over 6 months now.

I just am planning to put a super on top of the cover.....they'll have to go through the 4" hole in the existing top to get to the super........It's an unusual situation to be sure, but I think these may be Africanized, so that's why I didn't mess with trying to open the ball.......it would have been insane.....lol..........z

[zardiw]

PS, here's the other 2 videos having to do with this adventure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgxDw9Y76n4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rziZvPL1aEE

z

[dhood]

I didn't watch any videos that you had listed, but if your asking if you put a box on top of the hive with a float inside that contains a colony, will they move up. Than my answer would be yes, if you dont want to do a "cutout", you could set a new box with frames on top and they should move up and build comb, after you know that the queen is moved up put an excluder under the top box and after the brood has emerged and moved up remove the bottom box with the "float". But if you do, you will have a mess in the bottom, and if you have reason to think that they are africanized, I wouldn't be trying to save them.

[gaucho10]

Wowww......30 seconds later...wowwwww.

Why did you cut a hole on the cover?  The cover is supposed to be a "cover"?   Wowwwww.  A holy sentimental value. :-D

Do as dhood stated.  Just place a brood chamber on top of the "holy" cover and eventually they will move up.

What makes you think that they are Africanized?

What makes you think that they are going to swarm?  If they are it's probably because they don't have enough room in the ball.  Or is it they are having a ball in the room? :-D