Nope brood and no sign of eggs. If you look back through the thread there are photos from when I first cracked the possum box.
I think I would be inclined to get a queen. Do you know any other local beekeepers who could give you a frame with freshly laid eggs? Then they could raise their own.
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Yes Adam, I agree & one that also includes lots of hatching bees at the time of adding it.
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Yes emerging brood will strengthen them and give them instant nurse bees
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Hi Kirsten, we did a video with you in mind, it gave me an opportunity to show the feral brood comb/burr brood comb in the empty frame idea I got off the internet, cheers
That bit doesn’t show up until the 5 minute mark.
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That’s great Jeff, is definitely the way I’ll go with my frames. That Warre hive looked lovely too, I had thought about going with one but couldn’t find any available in price range, something to try in future. Thank you so much to both yourself & Wilma for taking the time to do the video, it is always more helpful to see something being done.
Hi & your welcome Kirsten, I probably didn’t describe it well in my previous post. The stuff I used was fishing rod binding. I hope the bees don’t chew through that before they join the pieces of comb together with wax. I’m off shortly to put the frames with plastic foundation (4 frames) in a strong hive to try to get bees working on them for a bloke. take care, bye
Your descriptions are fine 
, I like being able to see it done too, though. I’ve prepared a few frames using a cotton string, we’ll see if it’s strong enough.
Is this the first time you’ve worked with plastic foundation? It doesn’t appeal to me ( I understand your doing it for someone else). The bees production of wax is such a beautiful thing, so many complex processes & interactions from one tiny creature, it seems a shame not to make the most of all their talents…
It would be great to see some pics of frames in a week or so, see how the bees have worked with those frames?
Hi Kirsten, those plastic foundation frames are for a bloke who lives around 3 hrs drive away. Because I sell bees on a byo box & frames basis, I asked him to send me 4 frames so I could get bees building on them so that when I transfer the colony into his box, the colony hopefully wont abscond. Then he can do it on one trip, similar to science master.
You’ve inspired me Kirsten:), I’ll do that in a weeks time. cheers
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I’d be interested too so keep us in the loop. I use monofilament fishing line and that seems to work.
My frames are 14x12 and pretty big to be unsupported.
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Hiya weaver, I know you are busy with other adventures, but how did the possum box bees finish up?
Perhaps you’d also like to share your other venture with this forum. 
I recently come across this video by a local beek transfering colony from possum box into a nuc:
I really enjoyed watching the confidence he has handling the bees and comb.
Then seeing the bees march into the box suggest that he’s successfully moved the queen into the nuc.
I reckon I spot a flow hive in the video too 
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Thank you for sharing this Fred. How on Earth he doesn’t get stung?
It is a good reminder that we should be extra vigilant to prevent swarming. Natural nesting hollows are extremely precious for our native wildlife.
Natural tree hollows take decades to form, over 100 years in fact, and with land clearing and deforestation, they are becoming even rearer. Feral bees taking over nesting spaces are an added problem that we can all help to keep to a minimum.
These are some must reads:
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I can’t agree more Olly.
He will get stung one day & it wont be pretty. Bees are not like cute kittens. They have stings in their tails & it doesn’t take much for 1/2 a dozen to charge at your face with one thing in mind.
To my mind, doing something like what he’s doing in the video shows a degree of inexperience.
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Surely he got stung… Would have liked one to have gone up his shorts. 
Could you expand on this please Jeff, he appeared quite competent and confident.
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I agree and am curious too Jeff- if he wasn’t so confident and slow but steady- I am sure he could have been screaming in seconds. But he seems to understand his bees?
I’ve just spent a week in Sydney with a master beekeeper who maintains 100 hives on rooftops across Sydney. She rarely uses gloves- and yes- she does get stung - but not very much. Working without gloves is so much easier- to catch and mark queens, and lifting out frames- lifting boxes, etc. It’s all about knowing the bees and moving slowly but surely. She showed me little tricks about lifting out the frames- super gently (especially the first one- slow all the way)- and other things that keep the bees passive. I have started taking my gloves off for certain jobs and it is liberating.
I had to do a very crowded cut out the other day with over 10kg’s of honey in it- I took my gloves off for some of the delicate stuff- and I did get stung a few times- but it made rubber banding and dealing with all the honey so much easier. Afterwards she said to me, “A cutout without gloves?? No…”
If he was competent & confident, he wouldn’t have to move bees by the handful from the possum box to the nuc box. It’s just showing off, doing something like that. If he was more experienced, he would have received a few stings by now & learnt his lesson. Therefore he would be more cautious. Once bitten, twice shy.
lol… I can imagine the look on your face… what you thought was wise, was foolish in the master’s eye… how does one become a ‘master’ beekeeper?
This was what I really appreciated above the clip. He was slow but purposeful and confident in his movements.
I’d agree, I was thinking why doesn’t he shake the box in?? but maybe he was making doubly sure the queen was not un-royally shaken in…
Maybe it is, but if the temperament of the bees allows it… why not? It gets a like from me 
Don’t worry Jeff, I appreciate your youtube videos just as much. 
I’m still mustering up the courage to transition from thick leather gloves to thinner latex gloves… to eventually bare hands… whilst assessing the temperament of the hive as I go.
The only thing holding me back is… I dislike being stung!
When I first started out beekeeping, I watched other people working bees without a veil. I thought I’d do the same thing. It didn’t take long before I started suiting up & wearing a veil. Like you Fred, I find that bee stings hurt.
The longer we take to remove a sting, the more venom gets injected. It’s difficult to quickly remove a sting while holding a frame with both hands. I’ll keep wearing gloves, my skin is too thin & I’m allergic to pain.
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Oh, I knew I would probably get stung and what I was doing was not generally advisable. But it was a lovely cut out and worth giving the gloves off treatment.
She became a master beekeeper through 24 years of dedicated effort. She had an apprenticeship with commercial beekeepers in South Australia on Kangaroo Island- and now makes a decent living in Sydney keeping urban bees- no mean feat. Inspecting beehives on top of high rise buildings in the center of Sydney with her was a real blast for me. I learned a lot of tricks about how to efficiently harvest hives, finally learned how to properly use a hive tool to prize boxes apart (it’s the blade on the side dummy!!), learned the art of the DeWalt leaf blower for removing bees from frames to harvest- and much more. Also it’s a lot of fun going up service elevators in 5 star hotels dressed in a bee suit. The looks alone from the other passengers are priceless.
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