Playing With Bees

On Saturday I had a quick peek at the bees to see how they were doing.  They were doing well;unfortunately they were doing well in the wrong direction. They had managed to get around a space in between one of the 'bars' from the original nuc and one of our top bars. They were building comb between the top bars and the roof of the hive. It was a complete mess. Well, it was a complete mess from my perspective. I am sure the bees didn't think so as they had masses of lovely comb all filled with fresh honey and some brood started. At least we know there is ample pollen and nectar sources for them

So yesterday I starched a cloth and last night we tackled the mess or tried too. Things didn't go well. Proof positive that you should not work with bees when you are tired and cranky. Bees require you to be calm and present.

We did did manage to scrape the newly built comb and it's contents off the roof. We had planned to remove the comb from the top bars and hopefully get rid of the old 'bars' from the nuc altogether. I had a good idea that the plastic frames from the nuc were the ones that were causing the issue, and as I recalled they had been mostly used when we put them, with just some brood left in the comb.

Unfortunately, by the time we removed the comb from the roof the bees were really worked up, and I was distracted and even more cranky than when I had started. I also had 6 stings to remind me that it doesn't pay to work with bees when you are cranky.

So we scraped as much of the top bars as we could, and removed both of the old plastic frames bars. We also removed the follower board to give the bees the full half length of the hive.

I laid the cloth and we closed everything up for the night. So, this evening after everyone settles down, I will open up the hive and make sure all the bars are still flush and the bees have no access to the roof cavity. Hopefully I won't have to move anything around and I won't get stung again!
Have a good day everyone!

We didn't take photos last night, so you can enjoy this picture I took a couple of weeks ago of a bumblebee foraging Trust me he was a lot happier than my bees last night!