Brood in bracecomb

[Hengest]

Hi all - slightly panicky post so apologies for that

I had my first look in my hive yesterday evening. It was heaving. Bees all over the two supers that are on it and what looked like 9 seams of bees in the brood box. I took the central two frames out and put them in another brood box , with the rest of the space filled with foundation and I closed up the gap in the first brood box box and put two frames of foundation in towards the edge. Then put the box with two fames of brood on the top of the original brood box. I must confess I didn't go through all the frames as I was getting a little anxious . There were more bees than I'd ever seen in a hive before.

I want to do the job properly at the weekend - temperatures permitting - change the floor and scrape all the bracecomb back and have a thorough inspection.

I was quite surprised to see brood in the bracecomb - is that normal?

For some reason it hasn't occurred to me that it could be used for this. Does this comb just get removed and the larvae perish? The hive looks quite stuck together and there were quite a few queen cups including some in the bracecomb though none appeared to be charged from my frankly cursory inspection.

I can get my head around scraping the tops of bars, the cover board and the Queen excluder.

How do you go about scraping the bottom of frames? Never had to do this in the branch apiary.

Is any other remedial action necessary -? as in some of the frames move en masse when I was closing them up again and they are obviously stuck together. If they are still stuck together after scraping back how do you separate them?

Lots of questions so sorry about that but any advice would be gratefully received.

 

[Davelin]

I wouldn't worry too much about the brood in the brace comb, quite normal. Chances are it will be drone brood, if you scrape it off and remove it you will be reducing your varroa load so beneficial to do this.

What you do need to check for carefully are queen cells as these can easily be lurking among the brace comb at the bottom of your frames. If your brood box is as crammed as it sounds then it could well trigger swarming mode.

 

[enrico]

By brace comb I take it you mean a small amount around the top and bottom of frames. If you remove it chances are they will rebuild it, if you leave it they will use it. Is it doing any harm? I sometimes clean the tops of mine but not that often. Always scrape along the length of the frame so that you don't push frames into each other. If you really need to do the bottom, balance the top bar on the side of the hive and scrape down the bottom bars once again down the length of the frame.
To separate one frame from another it depends on your hive tool. If yours is a J shape then hook the curved bit under one frame and the notch fits on the frame next to it, gently lever the frame upwards. If you have a wide hive tool then place it between two frames and twist slightly to separate them.
If you lived closer I would invite you over to show you but trust me, it gets easier the more you do it. You just have to be firm and not worry about a few deaths as long as it isn't yours.
Best of luck
E

 

[Swarm]

If there is quite an amount on the bottom bars, you can turn the frame sideways, rest the side on the hive and slice straight down with your hive tool. Obviously it's essential to do this with any frames lifted into the top chamber. From the amount, it sounds like they are crying out for brood space and hopefully the addition of a secound chamber will concentrate their efforts on drawing comb rather than queen cells.
Your weekend inspection may be a lot easier as you have the second chamber to catch the foragers as they return. Cover it with the crown board and inspect the old chamber alongside. Do check carefully for queen cells, this will require shaking the bees off each frame so all the comb can be seen.
If they have charged queen cells then you will need to decide on a course of action but let's hope they haven't.

 

[Hengest]

Thanks all - that is very reassuring - I have a nucleus hive I've made ready for doing an old queen nucleus for when the need arises - it may be this weekend!!

Previously when I have scraped off odd bits of comb etc., at the branch apiary it has been wax and propolis and this has been retained presumably for wax extraction later. Is this a good idea if it has dead/dying larvae in it or do those sort of bits need carefully binning (wrapped up etc.)?

Its all quite different to reading about it and handling nice well maintained hives with a calm experienced beek alongside! But I am sure I will get the hang of it!

 

[Cazza]

Previously when I have scraped off odd bits of comb etc., at the branch apiary it has been wax and propolis and this has been retained presumably for wax extraction later. Is this a good idea if it has dead/dying larvae in it or do those sort of bits need carefully binning (wrapped up etc.)?
:

Yes, sort and bin.
Personally, I am a slut and do not often scrape much off the frames under the probably misguided assumption that the bees will put it back again and this costs them effort.
Cazza

 

[enrico]

That makes me a slut too!!!

 

[MuswellMetro]

I was told that the burr comb on tops of the frame is part of the Bees' climate control, in that they smear water in it which then it evaporates and cool the hive

i never therefore remove it ( well thats my excuse for being a Slovenly Old Git)