Langstroth to National Hive Transfer

[Daithebees]

I have just acquire a swarm that was housed in a Langstroth hive. Has anybody any experience of transfering a colony consisting of sealed brood, open brood, eggs and stores from a Langstroth hive into a National hive?
I'm improvising at the moment and hoping that they will "move up". All help and suggestions very gratefully received.
Dai.

 

[Polyanwood]

Yes they will move up, so long as the National is directly above and they are a big enough colony. It will take a little while. They won't leave the brood. Can you post a picture to show how you have sat the National box on top of the LAngstroth? Thst might not be quite right.

 

[Daithebees]

Don't know how to post a photo! I have place the Nation brood box directly on top of the Langstroth, so that the back edges coincide. I have made sure that the National box is sitting so that the sides are just coincident enough to keep the bees in. At the front there is a srip about two inches wide where the length of the Lanstroth protrudes beyond the National. I have covered this with a strip of wood, nailed down, and have cut a hole about half an inch by an inch to allow the bees acces. I have blocked the normal entrance to the Langstroth. My next aim will be to shake the queen off the langstroth frames into the National, and put a queen excluder beneath the National.

 

[Black Comb]

I've done this but the other way around.
Easiest is to use a piece of ply larger than both boxes and cut a decent sized hole in the middle so they will move up. Place this between the two boxes.
When queenie is laying in the top box confine to the top by using a queen excluder and three weeks later when all the brood in the bottom has hatched you can take this away.

 

[Poly Hive]

Done this times, and the way I have done it is as above. Ply used as an adapter, wait for the queen to start laying up stairs, and pop in excluder.

I always let them use the normal entrance of what ever Brood box is on the bottom.

PH

 

[Daithebees]

Many thanks to you all. that's another little job to do. No pressure! He, ho!