Help!!!!

[whoosling]

Okay I know you guys will pee yourselves laughing but please help - I've managed in a panic about where to put fondant (originaly on top of the bars, then changed to over the crown board, don't ask why!) left an eke on top of the brood box, crown board over eke and fondant over the hole in the crown board. Bees really busy today and as it was pretty warm thought i'd check out quickly what was happening under the crown board - of course loads of bees and wild comb from under crown board to top of the bars, can't think why I left the eke on in the first place, how do I go about removing the wild comb before it fills the space created by the eke?? The only good thing to come out of this is that there were 8 seams of lively bees in the brood box.

 

[dpearce4]

if the comb is stuck to the crown board and the top of the frames, I would slowly twist off the crown board, then gently and slowly scrap the wild comb of the top of the frames and crown board, taking it away in a bucket. You will find it easier to do this by taking the eke off first.

hope this helps.

 

[user 6228]

Okay I know you guys will pee yourselves laughing but please help - I've managed in a panic about where to put fondant (originaly on top of the bars, then changed to over the crown board, don't ask why!) left an eke on top of the brood box, crown board over eke and fondant over the hole in the crown board. Bees really busy today and as it was pretty warm thought i'd check out quickly what was happening under the crown board - of course loads of bees and wild comb from under crown board to top of the bars, can't think why I left the eke on in the first place, how do I go about removing the wild comb before it fills the space created by the eke?? The only good thing to come out of this is that there were 8 seams of lively bees in the brood box.

The bees are alive congratulations thats better than a lot...

1st thing
wait till its warmer and the bees are stronger so you can take your time. But in the mean time if there is any bigspaces left you might thinkof putting blocks of foam covered in gaffer tape to stop them filling that as well

 

[Luminos]

One of mine built brace comb around the bag of fondant in the eke, beneath the crown board - I just scraped it off the frame top bars and the CB with a hive tool, and disposed of it.

 

[enrico]

Just try and make sure the queen is not one of the bees that may invariably get squashed!
Don't knock yourself to much, we all make mistakes, intrigued how you managed to get the roof on when the fondant was on to of the crown board with no eke between crown board and roof!
E

 

[whoosling]

thanks you lot although as I type I feel myself squirming (is that a word!) with embarassment, Enrico I put a super on the crown board to get the roof on but don't know why I left the eke in place under it, as I said I was panicing and not thinking clearly - how often do beekeepers say have everything ready and in your mind about what you want to do when opening the hive - live and learn. Do I just smoke the bees out of the wild comb?

 

[enrico]

Turn the crown board upside down and i would imagine you will be able to shake most of them out/off. There will be some fatalities, or..... Put the crown board upside down on an empty super above a clearer board and wait until most of them have gone of their own accord, that way you can be certain the queen isn't in there. If she is they won't leave her! You often have to think outside of the box in this game!!
E

 

[whoosling]

Thanks will try one of your suggestions.

 

[RoseCottage]

You have had some good advice and I would only add to this by reiterating the need to give them time to warm and grow.

We are all just in the cusp of 'spring' and most colonies are still consuming winter food. I don't imagine many are comb building too much yet. I would advise leaving things for a fortnight.
My own bees have probably only had 5 days of warmish weather so far and still are only just flying...not many sources of forage either...quiet hedgerows and fields without crops. Much early rape has had to be ploughed back in as it failed over winter.

All the best,
Sam

 

[nikca]

Bit late for this year, but why not just use a bee escape as a template, cut a hole in the fondant bag, and then place over the hole in the centre of the crownboard... I put Kingspan with bag shaped pocket over the lot to keep everything warm. To inspect in winter just lift the roof and kingspan and you can see if they are using the fondant and at what rate, without any interference with the cluster. Swapping the bag requires a carefull sliding shuffle, and a warm day so the 100 or so bees in the empty bag licking at scraps can fly back home. Other than that its a low impact method. I just swapped it for 1:1 and as they were on 8 frames in March I think they were happy!

Nik