How to run bees from one box into another

[Jimy Dee]

Hello all. A swarm earlier this year took up residence in an old empty box and has built all wild natural comb inside in it. It is a good strong hive.

Is any one aware of a utube vid or information about running bees from one hive into another ? I read some where years back that skep or log beekeepers could run bees from one hive into another by turning the hive upside down and beating the side of the hive causing the bees to leave it and march up into another hive situated above the upside-down hive. It might all be an old wifes tale, I dont know.

Has anyone any actual knowledge of this or how it is done? Hearsay is one thing but I am looking for concrete evidence if it works and how to do it.

Any guidance on how to get the bees out of this "natural" hive without killing them would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GlenJ]

When you say "box", do you mean a hive without frames? If so then it depends on how long have to get them to move into a new box with frames. Instant would be cut out the wild comb and fix it into frames with elastic bands - pretty drastic. If I had time I would put a same size box with frames under and add supers between until the brood nest was mainly in that box next year before taking the "wild comb" box off and extracting the honey.

 

[Jimy Dee]

Glen - yes an empty brood with no frames. All comb attached to crown board. I think your idea about adding boxes underneath might be the best and leave it along till next year.

Has any one any other ways around this?

 

[tudorcd]

This could be handled in the "cut out" method of getting the bees out of a tree, and a split ...
Principle is to move all the bees into another box, and they need a queen, then the original queen and hive wither away.
Steps:
Move hive off.
Put new box on site with one frame of brood and some eggs (or queen cell if available), drawn comb
Put solid split board on top with entrance facing 90, 180 or 270 degrees away from original hive orientation
Make a "cone" one way valve so bees flying out of the original box can't get back in.
Original foragers will enter new box through the original entrance, and care for the brood and new queen.
New foragers will beg their way into the new box or another hive because they can't get back into the old box.
Over time the upper box becomes drained of stores and bees, and will wither.
Once the lower box has lots of bees in it, you could open the upper box only to find the queen and move her down, no need to try to set up with elastic bands etc.
Later you sort out your two hives, the new one vigorous and the other weak or failed.
Good luck.

 

[rolande]

Has anyone any actual knowledge of this or how it is done? Hearsay is one thing but I am looking for concrete evidence if it works and how to do it.

Any guidance on how to get the bees out of this "natural" hive without killing them would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a current thread which touches on the subject, and yes i do have practical experience so not 'hearsay' .

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=34746

 

[oliver90owner]

This time of the year? You have 6 hives? Must, then, have some spare drawn comb? Give them a box, over, and feed it full much later in the season ready for the winter. Next spring they will hopefully start brooding in the top - the warmest part of the hive. If you think two deeps are too much, then use a shallow over and get an excluder in sharpish in the spring! If there is any chance, dummy down any space in the current box and maybe use dummy frames at the outside edges of the top box to reduce the amount of stores going into winter. Those could be replaced with laying space early in spring.

With a box over now, there may be the chance that she may lay upstairs this year. That might give the opportunity to exclude her from the bottom brood, while upstairs.

Plenty of opportunity wthout any too drastic action now.

 

[beeno]

All comb attached to crown board, so feeding 'upstairs' will just make them move it into existing brood nest as this will be seen as being outside the nest principle?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Here's a current thread which touches on the subject, and yes i do have practical experience so not 'hearsay' .

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=34746

Referring to that thread - Tom Seeley also advises to just turn the whole thing upside down (so your crownboard becomes the floor) remove what is now the roof and put a new brood box on top (with drawn comb preferably, especially at this time of year) and let them move up into the new box A la Bailey change.

 

[MartinL]

This could be handled in the "cut out" method of getting the bees out of a tree, and a split ...
Principle is to move all the bees into another box, and they need a queen, then the original queen and hive wither away.
Good luck.

Utter B*!!0cks!

This time of the year? . . . .Give them a box, over, and feed it full much later in the season ready for the winter. Next spring they will hopefully start brooding in the top - the warmest part of the hive. . . . . . . . . . .
With a box over now, there may be the chance that she may lay upstairs this year. That might give the opportunity to exclude her from the bottom brood, while upstairs.

Plenty of opportunity wthout any too drastic action now.

:

How long have they been in there?

I'd just pop a box of drawn come on above them for now and see what happens.
Maybe a bit of feed to entice them up.



If there's no feeder hole in the crown board, cut one out with a hole saw.

 

[rolande]

Referring to that thread - Tom Seeley.....

Nice reference, as you'd expect from Tom Seeley. Is that from one of his books?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not sure whether it's mentioned in honeybee democracy but it's in his leaflet on using bait hives

 

[tudorcd]

Thanks MartinL.
I suppose, in my ignorance, I was thinking of a result of getting the bees into a hive so they could be treated for varroa in late summer and brought through winter. Rather than being locked in a box with the crown board plastered down by wild combs.
Or are varroa not a problem where you keep your bees ?

 

[peterbees]

See http://tinyurl.com/ab3x6hc for a method I suggested to a local beekeeper a few years ago. Scroll down to Beekeepers' Diary. It's a good writeup with some great pictures.

 

[jonathan cowley]

Google - autumn skep beekeeping,youtube
Then select first link,
4 minutes /50s into the video shows how bees are transferred in skeps