[richhitch]

Monday I opened up the wall in my tree house and WOW. 16" by 6' of comb with solid bees from 2ft to 6ft. I was kind of WOW. The girls were calm at first but as time went along they became mad. It didn't help when some of the comb fell to the floor. after about 2-1/2 hrs I had them all in 2 deeps with some comb in buckets. Things look OK tonight. sure hope I got the queen. Did not see her, things were kind of wild. But WOW that was FUN. Hope someone has some ideas on how to tell if I got the queen with out opening up.

 

[Iddee]

Congratulations!!!

Where is the hive in relation to where the colony was? If it was left at the site, the bees will all be with the queen, whether in the box or in the wall.

 

[BjornBee]

I can't help but thinking this has to be the most positive, and happy beekeepers I ever heard of after doing a cutout of 2-1/2 hours.. Congratulations. You have a tree house? I'll assume you are young, and that makes this even more special. Sounds like a job well done.

 

[richhitch]

Iddee, I left the hive very close to the wall so I can get any remaining bees. Hope it warks

 

[richhitch]

The treehouse has an entrance at ground level, so it is easy to enter. and I am not young--middle aged hahahaha- over the hill.

 

[Iddee]

95% of the bees should be in the hive, or all of them in the wall by now. Where ever they are, the queen is.

 

[richhitch]

Iddee, I need some help. Got home about 3pm and took a look. Bees are still removing honey from comb I left near by and bees going in and out of new hive. Lokked inside of treehouse and had a small cluster of bees in one coner of wall, About a hand full. Should I brush into a box and dump into hive or just leave alone. I want to make sure I have the queen. Hate to go to all this work and loose her.

 

[BjornBee]

The treehouse has an entrance at ground level, so it is easy to enter. and I am not young--middle aged hahahaha- over the hill.

A middle aged with a tree house. Hmmmm....possibilities. Big enough for poker table? A kegger, and a few girlfriends....sounds good. Now all I need is to find a tree my wife won't see... :lol:

 

[Iddee]

I would say if they are easy to get to, go ahead. If not, don't worry about them. If the queen were there. I think there would be many, many, more. There will likely be a few hang ons for 2 or 3 days.

 

[richhitch]

I think I will just leave alone. I have messed with them to much buy now.Without opening the hive , what should I look for? I will open in a weeek to have a look. Anything that would confirm the queen is there right now ?

 

[richhitch]

Iddee
Help

 

[Iddee]

If the queen is still alive, she is in the hive. They will not stay in it if she isn't. If she is dead, they will raise a new one from the eggs you put in the box.

Now, new daddy, quit worrying so much. Your babies will be fine.

 

[richhitch]

Thanks I'll try to relax. I'm just kind of excited about the whole thing. You know.

 

[Iddee]

Been there, done that...Got the T-shirt. :lol:

 

[richhitch]

Opened the hive Friday afternoon. Took out 7 frames of comb & honey and added 7 new frames of foundation. Didn't find very much brood maybe 2 frames had alittle and one frame had a bunch of bees on it with a lot of new comb. The new comb was making the overall thickness of that frame wider than the others. I think this is the frame with the queen or I hope, Lots of bees and new comb HOPE!!!!!!!! So now I wait and hope and pray. Wish me luck.

 

[Charles]

Good luck

 

[richhitch]

I did it...I have new eggs and comb ..must of got the queen. Wish me luck

 

[Charles]

Congrats Rich, sounds like you did a bang up job for your first cutout!

 

[richhitch]

Ok, I checked Friday and had eggs-Larva & capped brood. Wow, I saw the queen and she is huge. Now I feel much better that I have seen the queen. It looks like I have lost some bees. There isn't as many as before but I have 3 frame about half full of comb and bees with some honey comb with bees on it. They are coming and going so things look OK. whew I feel better.

 

[richhitch]

OK, so here is a update:
since my first cutout, I had another swarm come into the wall. I guess it is prime. I remove it and did a split. Then one of the splits swarmed into the wall again and I removed. So I then had 4 hives. OK so I built a NUC for swarm trap and low and behold I caught a swarm in my trap, so now I have 5 hives and looking good. All have queens....don't quite understand how but they do. I am having a ball with my bees. Now just hope they all build up for winter.