the bees arrive

Our bees arrived in a small nuc box on National frames.  The National frames do not fit the top bar hive.  The queen was marked and clipped so easy to spot.  This is what we did:  team of three people all wearing bee protection.  The bee keeper took out one frame and shook the bees into the nuc box.  The frame was handed to me and I carried it to the other side of the garden where my husband was ready with a jig saw and a template to cut the frame to the correct size for the top bar hive.  This involves cutting through the drawn comb so honey and some larvae get damaged in the process.  The National frames were then cable tied in two places to the Langstrom bars we are using to fit the hive (this was done by making holes in the comb and threading the ties through at the top).  This was done quickly and handed to me - I took it back and put it into the hive.  The same procedure was carried out with three frames and then the bee keeper emptied all the remaining bees into the top bar hive.  This bit was tricky as he needed to spot the queen and make sure she was safely in the hive.  The remaining 2 frames were then taken and cut to size, tied on to our new bars and then placed into the hive.  Three more Langstrom bars with strengthened foundation cut to the correct size were put in with the drawn comb and then a "blank" to block off the rest of the box.  As the bees draw out the remaining foundation we will add more bars and foundation - well that is the plan.  We watched a video on the forum "downsizer.net"  which showed people doing this but our system with three people mad it quite safe and the bees were not too bothered - well once the lid was added.  The beauty of the Langstrom bars and our nice roof is that they can be fed on the top of the board so topped up without disturbance.  We will see how they get on.  The bees will have to mend all the cut edges and damaged brood.  Hopefully the weather will stay warm.

http://forum.downsizer.net/archive/transferring-a-colony-to-topbar-hive-at-last-with-pics-__o_t__t_61688.html


http://forum.downsizer.net/archive/transferring-a-colony-to-topbar-hive-at-last-with-pics-__o_t__t_61688.html