An interesting afternoon

A really interesting afternoon. Started off with a beekeeping session at the association training Apiary. Went smoothly so had an early finish En route for home I called in to see friends in Bishopwood.
They had 3 abandoned hives in their garden and commented one of the hives seemed to have bees going in and out. I put my bee gear on again and took a look inside. Lo and behold the hive was choked with debris, rotten frames and the remnants of old comb. Amongst this devastation there was an elliptical ball of new comb with eggs, larvae and sealed brood. The comb was built in random shapes and moving the decay from around it caused pieces to fall off.
Cutting a long story short I used elastic bands to secure the new bits of comb into empty frames, cleaned out the detritus, scrapped the bad frames and installed frames of wax foundation in the void so formed.
The bees had created new stores of honey in the comb they had built, together with the brood in all stages. So I replaced the roof and will go back next week to check their progress.
I've given them a chance and I'm hopeful by autumn they are a viable colony which will be strong enough to go through the winter albeit with treatment against varroa plus a bit of food and TLC.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

A week had gone by and I called in to see what progress the little colony had made in that time. The colony has increased noticeably with the pieces of comb elastic banded into frames now extended and attached to the frame edges. Unfortunately they have taken advantage of the misshapen comb they built previously and hung parallel sheets off the previous comb.
These pieces contain eggs and larvae so I judged it best to let them expand undisturbed for a while longer. I couldn't find the queen but with the number of hiding places this is probably unsurprising.
They have nectar plus som pollen so I'll check in another week. 🙂

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Checked progress this afternoon. The colony is expanding rapidly but building some very artistic shaped comb amongst the old surroundings i'm going to take another brood box of fresh frames and foundation and encourage them to move up and create a new home in the penthouse.
If successful the old box will be demolished as part of slum clearance.

 

[Beecat]

Wow urban renewal beek style. Go bees go!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Returned today with a clean brood box, frames and foundation plus other bits and bobs.
Opening up it was immediately evident the colony was expanding rapidly and had spread out over additional frames. Unfortunately most were misshapen and I couldn't sensibly part them. A couple were removable and eggs were in abundance. I placed an eke with a second entrance slot on top of the brood box, positioned the clean brood box with frames of foundation on that and fitted the crownboard. There seems to be a decent flow of nectar for further comb building but I'll organise a feed of 1:1 as stimulant as well. The original entrance is now blocked but within minutes bees were using the eke entrance. If the summer weather continues and they keep expanding I've every hope they will be going into winter in good shape.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Called in on Thursday morning after the school bee colony relocation. I was heartened by the expansion of the colony but disappointed that they didn't want to move upstairs. However I spotted the queen, a fat amber lass, so I fumbled in my pocket for the crown of thorns and pen. She now has a yellow dot on her thorax.
If they keep expanding they'll have to move upstairs. If not there's time in the spring.