OLD HIVE.... What would you do?

[For want of a better word]

Cutting a long and quite involved story short. I have been offered an old hive.

It is a cedar WBC with all components OK except for the legs that have rotted away.

Strong colony of very black bees, I did not find the queen, but brood throughout brood box, some in 1/2 below and pollen stores, no QE but super on top full of comb,some stores in a considerable mess on castellated, but mix of frames wedged in, and cross braced!
Glass "quilt", that needed a Kango hammer to get it off, all coverd over with old hessian sacks.

The last time anyone looked at this hive was at least 5 years ago, according to the next door neighbour.

I am ok with the fact the hive has been abandoned, the house and gardens have been empty for 3 years and my aquaintance has now purchased the property from probate and wants rid of the bees....... ASAP!!!!!

Not going to be easy to moove as floor will probably fall apart, so will lift brood boxes onto a tempoary floor I can fit an entrace block to, and strap together.

Problems I forsee are :
Who owns the hive
Who owns the bees
What kind of bees are they ( quite docile!)
Should I treat bees with Apilife VAR or a similar organic varroosis, before I moove them, when I get them home (128mile trip!) or not at all at this time of year.
Or should I tip petrol over the whole lot, and throw a match in..... as the local "Pest Controll" man suggested!

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Whatever you do don't torch them!!
A colony that has survived for 5 years without human intervention could have some very desirable disease resistance traits.

As far as who owns them etc, if they are in your neighbours garden and he has bought the property then I'd say they are his unless someone else has laid claim to them.

 

[psafloyd]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Whatever you do don't torch them!!
A colony that has survived for 5 years without human intervention could have some very desirable disease resistance traits.

As far as who owns them etc, if they are in your neighbours garden and he has bought the property then I'd say they are his unless someone else has laid claim to them.

If they've been left for more than three years, surely the new landowner can rightly clear them.

The possibility of disease resistance is very encouraging, though.

 

[greatbritishhoney]

if they are in your neighbours garden and he has bought the property then I'd say they are his unless someone else has laid claim to them.

Sorry, meant to say "acquaintance" not "neighbour"

 

[Teemore]

What is the time-frame for moving them?

I'd be loathe to destroy a colony of potential 'survivor' bees unless they had one of the notifiable diseases..... Have you an isolation apiary to keep them in until you can check their disease status? I'd seriously think about getting them tested for disease - especially since it appears you will have great difficulty in inspecting any of the frames!

Any chance you could wait a few weeks and then put a clean BB and foundation on top of the existing set-up , feed syrup and try to get them to draw comb and migrate up into the new BB over the period of a few weeks? Bees in a good BB would be a lot easier to move but if time is pressing, give the hive a bit of extra structural support - new floor etc, close up the hive, (hopefully you can get it bee tight) check ventilation and move it to an isolation apiary.

 

[RoseCottage]

I agree with all the above. If they have survived for 4-5 seasons and are still docile and strong they will have some desirable traits.

They have coped with Varroa, probably a number of supersedures and still maintained strength and attitude. If you find you don't want them offer them to your local BKA to perhaps breed from.

Perhaps there's someone on here who could look at a few dead ones and identify them for you...

Sam

 

[winmag270]

Cutting a long and quite involved story short. I have been offered an old hive.

It is a cedar WBC with all components OK except for the legs that have rotted away.

Strong colony of very black bees, I did not find the queen, but brood throughout brood box, some in 1/2 below and pollen stores, no QE but super on top full of comb,some stores in a considerable mess on castellated, but mix of frames wedged in, and cross braced!
Glass "quilt", that needed a Kango hammer to get it off, all coverd over with old hessian sacks.

The last time anyone looked at this hive was at least 5 years ago, according to the next door neighbour.

I am ok with the fact the hive has been abandoned, the house and gardens have been empty for 3 years and my aquaintance has now purchased the property from probate and wants rid of the bees....... ASAP!!!!!

Not going to be easy to moove as floor will probably fall apart, so will lift brood boxes onto a tempoary floor I can fit an entrace block to, and strap together.

Problems I forsee are :
Who owns the hive
Who owns the bees
What kind of bees are they ( quite docile!)
Should I treat bees with Apilife VAR or a similar organic varroosis, before I moove them, when I get them home (128mile trip!) or not at all at this time of year.
Or should I tip petrol over the whole lot, and throw a match in..... as the local "Pest Controll" man suggested!

if you don't want them, PM me please!

 

[For want of a better word]

Distance is a bit of a problem
No real way of checking for varroa without going through the frames.
Have thought of putting a nice clean framed up BB atop and placing on a omf to check for varroa.
However may be easier to bring home to do that in an isolated apiary site.
Should I treat with Apilife VAR organic type strips, to see if I get a knock down, I doubt if they are free from the evil mite............. did seem very healthy!

 

[Mogbee]

Bee removal from old hive

My first thread! at last something I feel I can help with!

Easy way: brood chamber with fresh foundation on top of hive, crown board and roof, Apilife VAR in top box come back 3 weeks later colony should have moved into fresh brood box. Easy bees do the work, but need 2 trips and more time.

Hard way: floor brood chamber with foundation below, smoke bees down whilst removing old comb. re-sight box and treat with Apilife VAR. about an hour...

I have done both and both work...

 

[greatbritishhoney]

I may be a bit wide of the mark here - but could you not just do a shook swarm into a new brood box then burn all the old stuff?
You would lose any brood in there, but at this time of year that shouldn't set them back too much.
You could then spray the shook swarm with OA solution.
You'd end up with a potentially stong colony on all new equipment.
Then, I'd definitely get your SBI to inspect them asap when you get them home.

 

[harveyzone]

Problems I forsee are :
Who owns the hive
Who owns the bees

Somewhere (and I cannot find it at the moment) there is a BBKA published leaflet on "Abandoned Hives" with advice on these kinds of questions. If you are a member you can get it off their website.

 

[Mogbee]

Abandoned hive pic in albums

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Abandoned hive pic in albums

I can't quite tell what we are looking at in the photo - is that the brood box?

 

[Mogbee]

Yes, abandoned brood box, re housed the 'hard way'

 

[greatbritishhoney]

So, you mentioned that you had brood on 3 frames or whatever. How can you tell if it's all natural comb stuck in the box like that?

(Not criticising - just trying to understand what we're looking at)


**Sorry, ignore me - I thought we were looking at icanhopit's hive.**

 

[Poly Hive]

Easy enough to move. Strip off the lifts, put on a screen, strap well down, have lots of foam rubber with you to plug leaks and pop it in the back of the car.

Whether you consider the round trip for a gift of £300 odd worth while is your call.

Have fun.

PH

 

[For want of a better word]

Easy enough to move. Strip off the lifts, put on a screen, strap well down, have lots of foam rubber with you to plug leaks and pop it in the back of the car.

Whether you consider the round trip for a gift of £300 odd worth while is your call.

Have fun.

PH

128 miles each way, so round trip is 256 miles
at 40mpg thats 6.4 gallons or 29.44 liters
at £1.38 a litre petrol = £40.62 per trip
so £81.24 for two trips... and I have already done one!

Worth it ! methinks



But wow wait a miute ...... ConDem pillocks are doing something REALLY BIG for us country dwellers... I can save 40p if I go tomorrow !!!!
Them really are the" party of wealth creation and privaledgers for the few!!!!

 

[Tim1606]

I may be a bit wide of the mark here - but could you not just do a shook swarm into a new brood box then burn all the old stuff?
You would lose any brood in there, but at this time of year that shouldn't set them back too much.
You could then spray the shook swarm with OA solution.
You'd end up with a potentially stong colony on all new equipment.
Then, I'd definitely get your SBI to inspect them asap when you get them home.

That is what i would do. Small amount of work and the cost of a bit of syrup.

Judging by the look of things, my wife would get a candle or two out of the wax as well.