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Author Topic: First removal from chicken coop  (Read 4216 times)

Offline Shawn

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First removal from chicken coop
« on: March 04, 2009, 06:45:05 pm »
Well on 3-2-09 I did my first removal from under a chicken coop.  :-\ The farmer got his front end loader and forks and lifted the entire coop off the ground and tilted it so I could grab away. I went with another keepr and he took his vac. It seemed to take forever and I never saw the queen  :? I looked very hard evertime we took down a piece of comb. The hive was full of honey, very light in color and very sweet  :-D. The farmer brought his family up to watch so I took pieces of the brood comb over to them and explained what each thing was. I then took some of the honey still in the comb and gave it to them. Boy oh boy to did the kids love it  :lol: They thanked us up and down and wanted to know the cost of the removal and we said no charge. I told them Ill keep the bees and the honey comb and that was payment enough. I forgot my camera but they gave me theirs and wanted some closeups of the hive. When they email them to me Ill post the pictures. It was a great looking hive with bright white comb.

My questions is this. I have the plastic frames from betterbee that came with the starter kit so I cant tie up their original comb into their new home. I placed a huge piece of their brood comb in the place of a frame. Is that ok? The only thing I can think of being bad is its not going to look good when they start building around it. Should I take it out after a week once they start building comb on the frames?

Oh yea, the bees are mean as he double hockey sticks!  :evil: No stinging yet but just walking out in the yard they really start running into us, A LOT!

Offline KONASDAD

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2009, 07:47:08 pm »
If you took out the foundation, then yes you did it correctly. It never fills the gap perfectly. If the flow is strong, they will fix it pretty darn well. If not no. I try to use as much of the brood comb as possible so it remains small cell as an experiment.
Congrats on your first cutout!
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Offline Shawn

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2009, 09:19:06 pm »
Sorry but the frame is all one piece, unable to take out the foundation. So what your saying is I should take out the piece of comb?

Offline iddee

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2009, 09:28:31 pm »
I think what he is saying is cut out the center of the frame, just leaving the rim. I will add, if you are going to do removals, order some wood frames.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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Offline Shawn

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2009, 09:32:57 pm »
AHHH! got ya. I need to order a 8 frame all medium hive with wood frames. I pan on using starter strips on a few of the frames. I figure that would be easy and cheaper, due to the wife is not wanting me to spend much money. Did I mention that the bees were mean!

Offline iddee

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2009, 10:28:08 pm »
>>>>Did I mention that the bees were mean!<<<<

They are probably telling you they don't like plastic. I don't blame them. I don't either.    :evil:
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline JP

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2009, 11:26:35 pm »
Here's a picture of a comb section rubber banded in between a frame

What you do is cut the comb to fit the frames with a razor knife or serrated knife.

You want to position the comb sections in the frames the same way they were in the void space. Meaning, if the comb sections are thin and positioned vertically in the void space, even if they are very long, still place them in the frames positioned vertically.

Wasn't that quite the experience you had now? Congratulations.


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Offline Shawn

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2009, 11:49:07 pm »
Thanks Jp. That picture is what I was trying to do but did not have the right equip. I wasnt planning on keeping the bees but the other guy didnt want them for some reason. Ill give them a couple more days and go check on them. If they are building the comb on the frames Il pull out the comb I just sat in there, hopefully they have not already build burr comb to it. Actually the queen will probably be on the brood comb wont she so I would have to shake her off. AHH so many questions! Hopefully the lady will email the photos to me.

Offline KONASDAD

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2009, 11:51:54 am »
They cant get to one side of their comb w/ your set-up. I would re-do it ASAP. They might abscond as a resuly since their home is probably irreperable. Half of the comb is unusable as the foundation is in the way IMO.
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Offline Shawn

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2009, 01:48:26 pm »
KONASDAD, Thanks for the info. I was going to do that today but we have 50mph winds and dirt is fling everywhere. Ill do it first thing tomorow, well after I take the dog to her doctor appoint.  :-D

Offline KONASDAD

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2009, 05:03:33 pm »
I dont think they will draw the comb properly. They dont have access to both sides. I would ASAP, re-wire them in a suitable frame. Perhaps use just a piece of wood stripping and suspend the comb w/ string from the wood rod/piece. Just an opinion.
"The more complex the Mind, the Greater the need for the simplicity of Play".

Offline KONASDAD

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2009, 11:20:34 pm »
sorry for double posting, computer was wierd today and it didnt show up first time, oh well....
"The more complex the Mind, the Greater the need for the simplicity of Play".

Offline Shawn

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2009, 07:25:54 pm »
KONASDAD, Boy oh boy were you so ever right. I opened the hive to take a look and WHAT a MESS  :shock:. It was not as bad as expected but bad enough. The bees had already drawn out three frames plus added on to the comb I had put in there. They were attaching the comb to the two frames and building down from the inner cover. They still were able to access some of teh back side of their original comb but not much. They had lots and lots of brood all different stages in the comb. Ill post a few pictures but it was hard to see. I did cut out one of my plastic frames and wired their comb to it and put it back in. Ill post those pictures in the picture forum under what it should look like.







So my advise to people thinking about doing the smae thing, DONT!  ;) And almost forgot, taking their brood comb really makes them mad!

Offline Shawn

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Re: First removal from chicken coop
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2009, 11:58:07 pm »
Ok the pictures have finally come!  :shock:

1st picture just us setting up. Notice the farmer lifted the coop off the ground. Sure saved us from doing much work.  :-P







Here is a photo of me explaining the comb to the people: That piece of comb was very nice but it fell and broke.


 

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