Thanks guys, nope, no smoke Jeff. We have a fire ban in place here due to this Stoopid heat and it’s my understanding bee smokers are included. Not looking forward to this coming heatwave. Last Sunday it was cold and wet this Sunday forecast in the 40’s… Yuck.
I’ll get some photos after work.
No worries Greg, we’ve had it in the high 30’s with high humidity. I’ll be glad when autumn arrives.
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You can get canned smoke 
I’ll be glad when spring arrives 
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Wow, that plant pot is HUGE! No wonder they went for it, they probably thought it was a swarm trap 
How long after inverting the pot was that photo taken? If it was just an hour or two, I am not all that surprised. In that case, I would give them a couple of days, but it looks like you may need a second brood box. If you constantly have bees outside, I would want to investigate both the pot and the box.
If the bees aren’t moving down, I would consider cutting the comb out of the pot, putting it in frames and installing it in the box. I would definitely use smoke, even if there is a fire hazard. We have that concern in San Diego too, but beekeepers still use their smokers - I just damp down the area around the hive with a hose or watering can, then proceed. Sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask permission! 
Dawn
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Yeah kinda took me by surprise too. It’s ceramic and has holes around the top rim and also around the bottom on the outside which I didn’t realise last night when we collected them, I kept wondering why there appeared to be more bees on the outside each time we looked whilst collecting :). When I had returned home and opened the cab no pot was to be seen only bees… Considering a few stings around my neck area had caused me to collapse earlier, a mate actually started dialling for an ambulance, I reckon I did alright getting them into the position they are now. I have now plugged the holes but they were open when the photo was taken. I suited up to do this and no bees seemed to attack me which was nice…
The pot was sitting on the ground how it is sitting now. This photo was taken at 6pm and they were set in their current position 20 hours earlier.[quote=“Dawn_SD, post:25, topic:4881”]
I would definitely use smoke, even if there is a fire hazard.
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We have a total fire ban now, if someone even thinks they smell smoke they will call the fire brigade and fair enough too with the last couple of fires down south which have destroyed towns and taken lives. We have a week of +35°c with a run of +38° days,( over your 100°f mark ) and the pot was in the shade where it originally sat so I thought perhaps they were shading the pot as they moved around during the day.
I have since removed the entrance reducer and opened the top bottom hole to allow for some air movement through the colony.
I will wait a couple of days to let them settle as you suggest.
I beg to differ… I think you did BRILLIANTLY!!! That thing could weigh 50kg or more (I am bilingual in weights and temps ). I can’t even imagine how you lifted it. I think that is truly a labour of love, gifted to the bees. Really hope it works out for you.
Assuming it stays that warm over night, I wouldn’t worry about the bees outside, they should easily make it through the night. They may even be doing a modified form of bearding - trying to cool down in the new location. I think you did right to remove the entrance reducer, that looks like one heck of a strong hive!
Dawn
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Hi Greg, well done:) that IS a huge colony. I’d certainly use smoke as @Dawn_SD says, damp the area down, with a hose nearby. I’d have a lot more holes than the one 50mm hole in the board. Seal the pot plant completely off & only allow the bees the one entrance, which as as you said has the entrance reducer removed. The bees will circulate enough air throughout the hive as long as you have a few more holes in the board. With the hive in the shade, you’ll be sweet.
Thanks Jeff, appreciate your input.
I’m not sure how I could put more holes in the board now, but where there’s a will there’s a way, maybe sliding the pot on the board then the board on the hive.
It’s all a bit overwhelming truth be told and I suddenly feel like I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I guess it’s a confidence experience thing.
Looking forward to having a day at home to watch their movements throughout the day.
So this is how they are today, there is a cluster of bees on the other hive presumably from the pot bees.
I also forgot to mention that I noticed quite a few drones on the pot yesterday.
And a cluster in a bush nearby.
I have records that the tree hive colony swarmed this time last year.
Where to from here?
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Well it looks like they settled in the box/pot ok. I would leave it as it is. Did the cluster break away from the pot? or do you think it came from one of the tree hives?
All I would do with the cluster is rest a frame of brood next to it, once the bees are covering the frame, I’d put it in a box.
It doesn’t look very big, but even a small colony of bees with a queen can be turned into a big colony with a little bit of frame manipulating.
Getting back to the pot/box, you could block the holes in the pot with gauze, so the bees have air in the pot & only allow the bees to use the box entrance for a week or so. Even if you raise the pot one or two mm’s off the board to allow air in.
Good luck with it, cheers.
Hi Jeff, I’m fairly confident both the clusters are off the pot hive and yes the one in the bushes are quite small. As I’ve mentioned earlier I have no brood frames at the moment except for the ones in the hive on the left and I’m realising it was a weak colony when I got it a couple of weeks ago and is still weak now. Can I use the bees clustering away from the pot hive to help the weak hive? I still have the flow hive to colonise and that will be my last… This year… If I can utilise these bees in some way that would be great.
Why have they broken away from the main colony anyway?
I peered into the pot box last night through the entrance and it looked jam packed so it does look like they have accepted it.
Next stage is to plan the removal of the pot which might make a good future swarm trap.
Hi Greg, they should go back to it. When you say the second cluster, do you mean the one at the rear of the other hive?. You could try dusting them with icing sugar & move the lid across to make an opening & also dust the bees inside, see if the bees on the outside go in. I read that in a book once as a method of combining 2 swarms. By the time the bees clean up the icing sugar, they unite as one colony.
Plus I think it’s easier to combine a weak colony into another weak colony rather than try to combine a weak colony into a strong colony.
It’s great that the bees are in the box. Your right about the swarm trap:)
I think after what you’ve been through, removing the pot will be easy. I would remove any honey in comb & only try to save the worker brood combs to place in empty frames. They might even come in handy to help strengthen the weaker hive.
If you consider beekeeping to be a learning process: You’ve certainly learned a lot & coming through with flying colors:) cheers
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Ok quick update.
The colony seems to have settled into the box quite well. The temperature was well into the 40’s today and the pot must have cooked as did I working on a tin roof all day… Thanks boss. Temps of the same nature expected for the next few days too.
Anyway the cluster on the cream box has disappeared and that colony seems to have markedly gained in strength, perhaps the cluster has joined them?
The cluster in the bush moved to a table maybe 20 meters away and I’m now assuming it was a swarm and by the time I had a hive a half hour later it had gone, somewhere. Opportunity missed. Perhaps it was about to swarm when I collected it?
In my observations I have noticed the cream hive colony is bringing in heaps of pollen and the pot hive none although it seems many foragers are returning maybe with nectar?
It’s only been 4 days and the pot box seems full to overflowing, would it be an option to move the pot off the box and sit it onto another empty box elsewhere as a split of sorts or would that be a bad move? There are still heaps of bees clustering on the pot, why are they there and not in the hive?
I am looking forward to opening up the hives to see their progress and gain experience with the forums help.
I wouldn’t do that unless you have some eggs/very young brood that you can leave in both hives - which ever part is queen-less is going to need the means to make another queen. I think I would take a look in the hive. If it is totally full, I would put another brood box on top of it.
To the bees, that pot IS a hive! 
It smells of bees, it smells of home. They don’t necessarily prefer our wooden hives to something they have found. I doubt that they will abandon it, and the queen may even still be in the pot. That is why I suggested cutting the comb out of the pot, attaching it to frames and putting the frames into the hive. I believe that is the only way that your mate will get his pot back from the bees!
Fascinating stuff.
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For what it’s worth now I would have upended the pot and put the new box on top.Wait for queen to move up. It’s easy to check top frames for her. Excluder in-between, remove pot when all brood emerged. It would be a good idea to have another entrance between the two boxes for drones to get out and for forager bees to get straight up into the new brood box, thus avoiding them putting all the pollen in the pot.
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Thanks for your input Dee, as an amateur I value all the comments from all of you seasoned beeks. I can see the logic behind upending the pot and adding the box on top for ease of inspection as I also see the logic in removing the comb in the pot and framing it up as Dawn suggests. I was trying to do the least intrusive method of extracting the colony from the pot which is why I’ve posted on this forum for advice and ideas and am all ears.
This weekend when it cools down to a mild 36°c, 
, I’ll do an inspection in the morning and make a decision on action depending on what I find, I’m hoping to find brood in the box in the combs I did frame up on the crazy collection night.
I’m keen to stick my nose in the hives and gain experience.
So, the bees seemed to have thinned out in their bearding on the pot and am thinking that they have better things to do within the hive, or they have died…
The last two days have been +40°c here and the pot is in the direct sun between 6:30am to 5:30pm I am blown away at the bees ability to live within the pot without shrivelling up, I mean a ceramic pot in the sun all day in 43°c heat, inconceivable. When I’ve read about putting the hive in full sun I was dubious but here it is.
Did I mention I’m really keen to stick my nose into the hives?
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I wasn’t suggesting you did anything wrong. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Your predicament is fascinating so please give us updates.
Ok so it’s been 9 days since I set up the pot hive and this arvo I did a hive inspection and it seems like I’ve jumped in the deep end.
All the wax foundation frames were covered in bees however no drawn comb except for the comb I had strapped into 2 wired frames. I added the last frame into the box.
I lifted the pot off the board and found this;
Reverse angle;
Sorry about the crappy photos…
So my plan is to cut the comb, straighten it up and strap it into starter strip frames and put the frames into another box and add it between the current box and the bottom board removing the pot completely.
Does this sound right or is there a better way to go?
Thanks.
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I would hastily put some sort of box round that free comb and put your new box on top.
Have a look in about a week. No smoke and QX in hand.
Cutting that up is going to be very difficult.
You might not get all this sorted for months but if you let them move up naturally you will keep the bees and queen safe.