Hive inspection and box reversal

[Latestarter]

Well, it just kept looking worse & worse. Wasn't going to "fix itself", so I went in and did demolition on hive #2.

They had bur comb between frames almost as thick as a small flashlight casing running vertically between the frames and stuck to both sides. They had started drawing comb up through the inner cover opening They also had done nowhere near enough work at drawing out the other frames. They only have maybe 4 full frames of drawn comb! And this after more than 6 weeks!

Put that hive tool to work in hive #2 and took out a BUNCH of garbage comb, losing honey, larva, eggs, bees and I hope NOT the queen. I didn't even see her today and to be truthful, wasn't looking that hard to find her. I then took the outer frames that hadn't even been touched and placed them between frames with brood etc. in a patchwork fashion. I left all the wax right there so they can recover it and the honey if they choose. I did the best I could to make sure the frames were pushed close together, top to bottom & centered in the deep so this doesn't happen again. Part of the issue I believe is that I have slightly warped frames They don't want to stay together at the bottom

I did get a couple mouthfuls of comb and honey... OMG it is so different/better than store bought! I had no idea! So THIS is what honey is supposed to taste like! I sure hope they get their act together as I want some this fall!

Hive number one was a LOT better! They've drawn out 5-6 frames and only a very minor bit of bur that I just knocked off and left inside at the bottom of the hive. I also patchworked their frames to urge them to draw more comb as well. I want to get that 2nd deep on BOTH hives so they can really expand their population, I can stop feeding them, and they can make/fill some honey supers for me!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Oh yes, real honey is amazing. Glad you got your hive mess cleaned up.

I'm going to look in both of mine tomorrow. Can't wait to see what is going on.

 

[Latestarter]

Let us know what YOU find!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Went to check on the hives at dusk. For the first time ever, I saw my bees washboarding. It was very cool.

 

[Maggiesdad]

...party bees, chillin' on the stoop, lol

 

[Happy Chooks]

Now I'm completely confused. I started my inspection with the split. The frames were almost completely filled with sugar water, very little room for the queen to lay. I did spy very few eggs, and queen cells (3 or so at the top of the frame) with larva in them. (none capped) I checkerboarded some of the empty frames, as they hadn't started drawing them out, in hopes that they will draw them out for the queen to lay in. I looked over the frames 3 times looking for the queen, and could not find her. I'm not sure if she swarmed (though the population doesn't look down and I didn't see any swarm) or if they are trying to supercede her because she isn't laying as much as they like - even though they haven't given her any room to lay. There are still plenty of bees in there. I'll check again in a few days and see what's up with the hive.

Then I went on to check the main hive. I popped the top of the super and found them working 4 frames like this. YAY for honey!

I then took off the super and queen excluder and inspected the top brood chamber. Wow! My queen has been really busy! All of the frames are wall to wall brood, with some honey storage on the ends.

So I checkerboarded some of the empty frames from the outer edge, to give the queen a bit more room. With the main flow on, I don't need her swarming!

As I was closing up, I saw nectar transfer, so I just had to take a picture!

 

[Happy Chooks]

I checked again on my split this morning. Still very few eggs, and the 2 queen cells are now capped. Plenty of empty cells now, so they have been moving the syrup around to give the queen a place to lay. So it appears that my queen is poorly mated and they are replacing her. I'm considering adding a frame of capped brood to the hive to help with nurse bees until this new queen can get mated and start laying.

 

[Latestarter]

Well, it seems I'm now in a similar, but worse situation than you Chooks... Got back into the hives this morning to find that hive #1, which was great last inspection has no capped brood, no eggs, no larva, and I have no idea . I didn't see any queen cells either Didn't see a queen (in either hive). I gotta think I must have killed her somehow last time I was in there... Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do about it... Maybe next weekend I'll steal a frame of eggs/larva/brood from hive 2 and put it in there...

Hive #2 where I did all the demolition, has exploded! 7-8 frames of capped brood, stores & honey in the one deep, and burr comb up through the inner cover incorporating the empty double bottle feeder! Had to do more demo just to get inside! Needless to say, I ended up destroying a bunch of burr comb loaded w/honey (had some more - yum! ) But MANNNNNNN is it SWEET! Couple large mouthfuls of comb and honey made my stomach hurt it was so sweet! Gotta take that REAL honey in moderation I guess... much sweeter/stronger/better than store bought.

Only pulled 3 of the frames and left the rest alone! There were more bees than I've ever seen in one place before! I put the 2nd deep on with 10 brand new frames of foundation. Will check them again next weekend and see how they're progressing. With any luck, they'll get a honey super next weekend! Amazing how fast they drew out the comb on those empty frames after I cleaned them up and moved them around!

I just hope I didn't lose/move/kill the queen in the second hive today while messing around, removing comb and such...

 

[Maggiesdad]

You know me - I mess around in my hives way too much... but here goes. ( what I would do with your boxes- *disclaimer* I am not a beekeeper! )

Pull frame of capped and open brood and eggs from your good hive. Shake and brush the bees off of it (this is thrilling, to say the least) Go to #1, pull two empty drawn frames from it, drop your frame of brood and eggs into the center of the broodnest (marked w/a thumbtack or sharpie). Close the broodnest up around the brood frame, add a frame of foundation off to the side. Shake/brush the bees off the empty brood combs, close the hive up.
Go back to the good hive, pull up a center frame of capped brood w/bees and put it in the middle of your new deep. Take #1's empties and put on either side of it, then finish with foundation frames. Close up the main broodnest, (centered) and put a frame of foundation on either side. If you have a piece of burr comb, put that in the center, between the two deeps for a ladder.
The two boxes look like this...
FFFEBEFFF
FBBBBBBBF

Will it work? I don't know! But it won't hurt anything as long as you don't mush your good queen. She will love having those empty combs. Swap an E for a B weekly 'til your #1 hive gets straight.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I'm sorry you are having hive trouble too.

I agree, I'd steal a frame with eggs from your good hive and add it to your #1 hive. Brushing all of the bees off will help you know that you don't get the queen on accident. If they are indeed queenless, they will make queen cells out of them. I'd do this ASAP, and not wait.