Bee Transfer

So this is what it looked like as I pulled the first frame from the nucleus hive. These bees were quickly running out of room and probably close to swarming.

As you can see in this photo below, the bees had started to double stack comb. Building one layer of comb over another with just a bee space between.

Since we are transferring Langstroth frames to top bar hives we have to modify the frames to fit. The easiest way we have found to do this is the crop and chop method.
The procedure is fairly strait forward. First remove the hive from the nuc, shake the bees off the frame into the new hive.
Next, cut through the wires which hold the bottom of the frame to the sides.
 We use a pair of tree pruners. Make sure you clean these well both before and after use.

Next we lay the frame over a follower board (divider), using the follower board as a template. 

Now it is time to use a clean serrated knife to cut through the comb. We use a regular bread knife. Ideally you try to do this without damaging brood, however this nucleus was so full that we did lose some brood. The cells with the brown caps are worker brood.

Finally, you can place the converted frame into the top bar hive!

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Normally, if you work calmly and carefully, this process is quick and causes minimum stress to the bees. However sometimes life throws you a curve ball. Sometimes this curve ball is in the form of a nasty plastic frame. Yes plastic. I, who abhor plastic had not one but two plastic nuc frames. Why are these so bad? Because they are SOLID plastic; meaning you cannot quickly cut through wax and a couple of wires but have to hack through plastic. Sigh

It took a while, but we managed to get it done. All four frames in the hive...

The only thing left to do is space out the bars add some additional top bars which have been primed with bees wax. Carefully brush any wayward bees out of the way.

The spray bottle holds water with a few drops of peppermint essential oil. We don't use a smoker when working with the bees.
The final step is to place the lid on the hive and let the bees do their thing. Isn't it pretty?

I will let the hive be for about a week, then open it to check how they are adapting. Usually they do fine. Overall, I am very pleased with this group. They are a robust and docile group. They should give us a nice little bit of honey in mid August and then we will let them be until next spring. I don't take honey from the bees in the fall. There is no sense taking honey from them and then feeding them in the winter. I will post about the bee work as it comes up so you can follow the hive through the year. Thanks to Reiley for standing his ground and taking the pictures and to Gary for helping cut the frames, without gloves!
Have a great day everyone.