Hello, at the end of Dec. I moved the swarm I caught from the nuc to the brood box now after a month of the bees in their brood box I thought I should do an inspection to see if they need the super on or wait a little while longer. I found that the frames were all jointed together and there was honey filled comb between the frames and the top board. Carnage followed as I removed the top board with honey flowing down all the frames and onto the base, this is not a mesh type.
I only took 2 frames out as I didn’t want to roll the queen and just to see how the brood was progressing , looked good to me with about 30 - 40% of each frame I removed covered with capped brood except for the outside of the outside frame still 100% capped honey.
I did put the super on and tried to mop up as much honey off the bottom board I could access and leave the rest to them to clean up and remove all the dead bees.
Are they joining the frames because there was no where else to put the honey as what I saw was capped and what can I do so as to inspect this in the future?
Thank you for your help. If you need more infor please ask.
Ian.
Hi Ian,
Firstly congratulations you have a cranking hive there. They were desperately honey bound and you have definitely done the right thing putting the Super on.
As for the mess of bur comb in your brood box…
You will need to clean it up as a matter of priority. All frames need to be removable and accessible to manage your hive as well as it being a legal requirement of owning a hive.
The biggest leak and mess would have occured by breaking the seal of the crown board. The crown board should be easily scraped off clean with your hive tool. Give it a smoke to move the bees out the way and scrape it clean.
As for the frames… gently remove the ones you had out today and scrape the bur comb off. With those 2 frames out you should be able to gently encourage each frame out and scrape clean as you go replacing them in the same order. Use smoke to guide the bees out the way and keep things as calm as possible.
Questions…
1 did you have all your frames in the brood box to achieve the correct bee space? I couldn’t quite count them.
2 do you have a traditional super or a flow super?
Hi Ian, my advice is kind of radical because it entails using a hive mat instead of the crown board. What I did for a client was to remove the ply, leaving just the outer frame, which I glued to under the roof, which maintains the same roof height, so that you can still operate the Flow frames. Then I supplied a hive mat that sits on the frames, with an all around bee space. The mat is floor vinyl material.
I can only count 7 frames in what I suspect is an 8 frame super. You look to have large gaps between frames, which leads to the issue you’re having. Your frame shoulders need to be touching each other, or no more than about 4mm between them. I use all wax foundation.
With well fitted wax foundation, coupled with evenly spaced frames, at no more than 4mm between the shoulders, you’ll achieve the desired effect. Then add a hive mat, instead of the crown board, you’ll have no more of that comb between the tops of the frames & the crown board.
Good advice there, Ian. The bees will do a thorough cleanup job and your efforts to free up those frames will pay off. I’m hoping you spot open brood and eggs at your next inspection.
Thanks for the advice and encouragement @TimG, @JeffH & @Eva. I did remove the excess comb from both the crown board and on top of the frames to put the queen excluder on.
Do I do anything with the way it protrudes out sideways or will that just be the way this hive will sit as the box seems to be too big for the 8 frames. I thought I had pushed them over so there was a larger gap on one end. I guess in hind sight I should have added a spacer board to fill the excess gap.
I have added a photo identifying the 8 frames, you both had me going there for a while but it definatly has 8. It was a purchased box, already assembled not from Flow, I only purchased the frames this time.
I have put a flow frame super on this one @TimG, my second hive. I have found that when I smoke them they don’t tend to move much only gather on top of each other, they seem to find my breath more offencive and take off when I blow on them 
@JeffH so a piece of lino from bunnings would do the job for the top, I will do that for both the supers 
do you put the print down?
Yep these were all wired and foundation frames.
@Eva they have increased many fold since I caught the swarm, it was only about the size of a small foot ball and seemed lost in a 5 frame nuc.
thanks again.
Hi Ian, yes from Bunnings, however carpet stores usually have the odd roll ends going cheap. You only need one piece of vinyl per hive, which always sits on top, under the roof. You need a bee space all around it, so that bees have access to the roof during a population explosion. You are removing the crown board. Lift the roof to inspect once a fortnight, which will eliminate a roof getting filled with comb & honey, plus it gives you an idea of the status of the population.
If the vinyl mat has a felt back, I cut 2 & glue them together with silicone, back to back, so that bees don’t get caught in the felt. It makes a nice stiff, however still flexible mat. It also prevents single mats from curling over time.
cheers
PS
