Hi i need some advice please.
I housed or should i say hived my first new swarm (10,000approx) into a national brood box with undrawn foundation frames, i saw the queen go in so know she is there.
I left them for a week and when i next checked them i realised that the hive had been sitting at a slight horizontal angle. This meant that the frames had been hanging slightly away from the wall of the hive on one side. This has resulted in the bulk of the swarm drawing out their comb from the wall of the hive where the gap was! but also on the foundation of the closest frame.
When I pulled the frame out that is closest to the wall where the bees are congregating it "tore" alot of the foundation/comb away from the frame as it was attached to the wall.
So my question is this - do i scrape the comb off of the wall of the hive and, now that i have levelled the hive, put a new frame / foundation in and get them to start again, or do i leave them for a while and let them continue their work. they have started building good comb on the next 3 or 4 frames along.
my feeling is that i should leave them as i can inspect the other frames for eggs pollen etc. i dont want to disrupt their progress but if its the right thing to do then i will
i hope i have given enough information
thanks for any advice
I housed or should i say hived my first new swarm (10,000approx) into a national brood box with undrawn foundation frames, i saw the queen go in so know she is there.
I left them for a week and when i next checked them i realised that the hive had been sitting at a slight horizontal angle. This meant that the frames had been hanging slightly away from the wall of the hive on one side. This has resulted in the bulk of the swarm drawing out their comb from the wall of the hive where the gap was! but also on the foundation of the closest frame.
When I pulled the frame out that is closest to the wall where the bees are congregating it "tore" alot of the foundation/comb away from the frame as it was attached to the wall.
So my question is this - do i scrape the comb off of the wall of the hive and, now that i have levelled the hive, put a new frame / foundation in and get them to start again, or do i leave them for a while and let them continue their work. they have started building good comb on the next 3 or 4 frames along.
my feeling is that i should leave them as i can inspect the other frames for eggs pollen etc. i dont want to disrupt their progress but if its the right thing to do then i will
i hope i have given enough information
thanks for any advice