I stuffed up. (◕︵◕)

Bees will easily sting through nitrile gloves as easy has bare hands. It is likely there is a fare amount of the ‘sting here’ pheromone that goes with a bee sting so it might be worth giving them a wash while wearing them with warm water and dish washing liquid and straight away rubbing in some Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion then let them dry and they will remain reasonably soft and supple.
I remove the outside frames as the first ones to get lifted for an inspection so there is then a heap of room to remove comb that is built on the box wall.
Cheers

@Numbatino any hints on the nearest local town to you? Inland WA is quite a big expanse…

And while people are commenting about stuff ups, i recently ended up with brood in my flow frames…shyte happens to everyone.

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Yes very, but you get use to it :slight_smile:

It was bad enough I ended up with some pollen in a couple of cells in the flow frames this year, but brood, that sucks. Alan, have you replaced the plastic QX with a steel one?

Yes, indeed. I actually bought it 2 years ago but never changed the plastic one out…until recently.

I’ve discovered that reassembling the frames is not that difficult and is kind of calming, requiring you to be methodical and forcing patience. That being said, I wouldn’t want to regularly be dissembling and reassembling the frames…

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Good tip Peter. I smoked the gloves where I was stung while I was working to try to mask the pheromones.

By the way, my hive tool has a clean sharp edge, but not sharp as a knife of course. Do these need to get sharpened from time to time?

I will start the guessing game. I guess he is near Denmark or Albany.

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Busso I think you are geographically misplaced. @Numbatino says Darling Scarp. According to google:
The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north-south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to the south of Pemberton. The adjacent Darling Plateau goes easterly to include Mount Bakewell near York and Mount Saddleback near Boddington. It was named after the Governor of New South Wales Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling.

He also mentions a two hour travel time for the local beek to come out to help. So I’m thinking nothing towards Bindon matches that as it is only a couple of hours from Midland. As we move south, assuming he asked a Perth based beek that brings him south of Busselton (where you are). So we then move down through Donnybrook to Bridgetown, Manjimup to Pemberton.

So I haven’t really help narrow it down at all. However I do know that there are beekeepers I talk to in all of these southern towns around the Darling Scarp…

Adam

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If his avatar is anything close to where he is, I’d say that might narrow it down to the southern escarpment like you said.

Oh… I must have misled you guys. Did I say two hours drive? I won’t be surprised as I’m known to exaggerate.

I drove one hour each way to Pinjar to collect the nuc. I’m on John Forrest NP. just on the escarpment overlooking Perth 30km away.

I’m not really that far inland, but not in the CBD and many people find it difficult to drive this way from the city.

I found the beekeepers on gumtree - the $250 one was from Mundaring, the $200/half hour guy was from Kalamunda, both close by.

Probably you guys will advice to join the Apiary society - which I thought about, but I’m not much of a socialite I have to admit.

I am now sorted and Terry has been fantastic. Thanks!!!

BTW, I live in a most wonderful place here in WA overlooking John Forrest NP, and (*) “The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north-south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to the south of Pemberton”

(* cut and paste from Wikipedia)

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Ah. You probably not far from @skeggley. I think he is more Gooseberry Hill way.
You have a few guys in the hills you can message for help if required.

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We use one of those stylist pens for the ipad and phone to keep records and photos, works well & easy to use with gloves on.

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I’m not that sophisticated but I prepared a spreadsheet with all the things I think I should note on each I inspection. Plan is to jot those downs after the inspection.

Unfortunately in the notes section of the first entry I had to write down I stuffed a full frame of brood and I’m a d’head.

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There is nothing to gain in putting a sharper edge on the hive tool in my opinion, it is plenty sharp enough to ‘shave’ and bees wax off the box sides and from the frames. You might see a smear of the wax remain but that depth of wax isn’t going to be an issue. What you are trying to do is remove and bur comb that is going to tear the capping. If the edge was too sharp the tool might be harder to slide it along the wood.
Cheers

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I agree with @Peter. In fact with cedar hives, if the tool is too sharp, it is very easy to start planing the wood from the boxes with it! :open_mouth:

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I definitely do not want to carve out the box!

My plan is to inspect the hive regularly so I’m on top of any crazy comb. Breaking up comb is a bit intimidating, at least for an inexperienced novice like me.

If the nuc I bought was properly maintained it wouldn’t be in such a mess.

So, in severely neglected hives where the frames are stuck all the way down to the sides, a standard Aussie hive tool is the one to use right?

When I tried to slide my hive tool in the side of the nuc to separate the comb I found a fair bit of resistance, and I stopped. Then as soon as I attempted to pry the frame the comb broke off. That’s why I asked whether a sharp long knife to slice it of would have made it easier.

I have another question. If I managed to take this frame out intact, the comb would have been very thick and lop-sided on one side of the frame. What do you do with that?

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These are all great questions, and I am sorry that you have been sold a wonky nucleus. :thinking:

I understand, even after more than 30 years, I hate doing it too. But sometimes we have to do so in a managed hive to look after the health of our colony.

If you mean all the way deep (vertically), I use an old 10" long kitchen knife to free them up. If it is all the way horizontally along the edge, but not welded to the hive wall (or another frame), a hive tool would be just fine with no sharpening needed. You will create destruction, but during a nectar flow, the bees will fix it in days. In the wild, their hives slump in heat and after animal attacks. They have evolved to cope with it. :wink:

Brilliant and difficult question. It depends, is the frustrating answer. If it is lop-sided with an indentation on the opposing side of the frame, I might fracture the comb and rubber band it back. If it is truly enormously lopsided, I would work out a way to rotate it out of the hive once the brood had emerged (assuming there was brood on it). If it was all honey, I would either spin it, or crush and strain it (providing no old dark brood cells), then render the wax. I would put a new frame of foundation into the gap. The other option is to trim it flat with the frame, using a long knife, and then put it straight back in the hive. Messy, but it works. :wink:

Bees keep us thinking. That is why it is fun for me. Hopefully you will have some fun stretching your creativity too! :heart_eyes:

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Hi Stefan maybe you need to use a knife to cut the comb free but I have never been in that situation or able to see yours. Maybe if you can find an experienced bee keeper to help you out is a better way to go as he may have a better option. The hive tool we are talking about is the hive tool with a lifting hook on one end and a flat blade on the other end that is made for your issue.
Cheers

Thank you so much Dawn for your extensive answer

That’s exactly how it was.

And that’s what I should have used. I thought the hive tool wasn’t the ideal tool for this particular task.

Speaking of stuff ups I potentially made another one.

After watching one of Cedar’s videos, I decided to go au naturel with frames, and leave them foundation less. But then I read a bit further and attempted to digest all the pros and cons of all types and settled with a strip of wax foundation. I read in several places that bees always prefer to build their own, so I went for a compromise.

I had already glued the small wooden strip in the top groove of the frames. I attached the quarter sheet of foundation just by melting wax on the that little wooden strip to glue on the foundation sheet.

The foundation is not 100% perpendicular to the frame, as it would be if I used a full sheet. Will this result in wonky comb? Or is it likely the bees just build comb striaght down inside the frame. The hive is level and checked it with a spirit level.