Which option would you suggest

[Mike a]

To trim a long story down to a few lines I have a swarm that moved into an old partly empty 14x12 nuc, they have constructed several deep combs which are still very soft. The nuc has been used as a rubbish bin for the last two years (the foam entrance block I put in to stop any bees from getting in has vanished). There is a mass of wild comb completely covering the rubbish at the bottom as well as wild comb attached to the wall and my concern is the longer I leave this the worse it will be to open them up and deal with this nightmare.

(Slight miscomunication between me and my friend who was helping me, I suggested he put the roof down - He thought I meant on the floor instead of back in the nuc. The combs were still very soft they couldn't support their own weight.)

Obviously I want to get them out of there and on to frames as soon as possible, however they are pretty vile tempered and my last attempt of checking them with the idea of brushing them into another nuc left my suit peppered with hundreds of stings and a cloud of very angry bees.

Also worth noting smoke really winds them up, I assume their previous owner used a lot of smoke when inspecting them. Queen not seen, no sign of eggs on the upper most comb before I put them back in to the nuc again.

Option 1: Move the nuc off to one side for a day or two to remove most of the mature flying bees, before attempting a cut out.

Option 2: Make an eke with a false floor deep enough so I can lift roof off with the natural combs and place it in the eke and make the whole thing into a double brood chambered nuc, empty the nuc of the wild comb and rubbish and put in some drawn frames. Then hopefully catch the queen in the lower half and trap her below using a queen excluder and wait until they fill the natural combs with honey after all the current brood have emerged before removing it.

Option 3: Your suggestions please

Despite being stung on the forehead and suffering a bad reaction I want to deal with this mess as soon as possible before they attach their natural comb to the walls and the wild comb they covered the rubbish with. Then finally get round to requeening them.

 

[Flatters]

Hi Mike

Today I had to cut out two sections of wild comb with drone brood from the space in a brood box between the dummy board and the wall. The comb is very soft and very warm to the touch so I am not surprised that the comb flopped over in your photo.

Unlike a normal hive inspection where you are only effectively disturbing one frame at a time, here you are "attacking" the full colony and so they bees will be very angry. The hive I had to cut this comb out of tonight is normally very placid, but they were very mad tonight.

As to strategy. Option 2 sounds best to me but we shall see what the experts say as I am not one. In my view it is good though that you have given options you have considered. I like to do the same as I believe it helps learning.

Good luck.

 

[biggles]

Option 1 Move so flying bees return to another nuc/BB Then cut out and reunite. Sugar water might be a good option if they are still aggressive. Re queen ASAP