Just a few comments Paul, In blue below....
On 30/04/2019 00:19, Oxnatbees wrote:
I decided to send this to the List rather than just Marie. It's educatinal and maybe someone will have better advice!
Marie mentioned:
> I would also love some advice from you re one of my hives having 4 boxes full of comb - & what to do about that. It's pretty hard trying to disassemble and reassemble a Warre by yourself when it's full of honey! And how do I remove a box when the hive is full of bees on every level. I'm pretty sure today's swarm is from this same hive but when I glanced in through the windows it looked as full as ever!?! I'm sure it is Marie...see my comments below....but why do you want to disassemble it? Do you have to move it?
It is often tricky to tell a hive has swarmed 'cos bees in a crowded hive expand to fill the space available!
OK first thing is to consider whether you really need to add a box? I would generally add an empty box if all the boxes were full of comb, but why? (a) So they can build down and I can eventually harvest the top box that Autumn; (b) so they don't feel crowded and swarm. But, your hive has just swarmed. And, if you have 4 boxes of empty comb, maybe adding another does nothing. I'd appreciate others' views here. I've never had a colony grow beyond 4 boxes and this is new territory for me. I don't know if this is the case Paul, but in an earlier e-mail, Marie mentioned that the swarm she passed on to Jane came from bees originally sourced from Gemma. No doubt Gemma has had other swarms since 2016 but just to note, I gave Gemma the other cast to the one I gave you (your number 7 top bar hive that also moved on to Karl). "IF" these bees did come from me originally (and I don't know if they did but it sounds like they could have done) then they're likely to be very prolific. I can imagine they'd fill a four box Warre easily and lifting boxes has been a particular problem for me too, hence I'm going back to Top Bar hives (or some variant thereof). This is also why I'm concerned about waiting to move my Frankenhive because I know they'll be too heavy to shift very quickly. When David and I split the top bar nuc off the top of it three weeks ago it took both David and I to lift it and I don't dare give them a fourth box now or I'll just have so much more to lift, (I'd rather they swarm).
Don't assume the comb is full of honey, especially after a swarm has emerged (they take some with them).
The other day I lifted 3 boxes at once on 2 hives I was adding a 4th box to. It was the absolute limit of what I could lift, and I made sure it was just a quick sideways lift to a nearby robust chair, but I know that previously I have been unable to lift 2 boxes when they were full of honey. So though I am NOT recommending you lift 2, 3 or 4 boxes at once I think it worth saying that maybe the task is not as forbidding as it seems. Now if you were asking in Autumn, that would be a different matter...
In the past I have forcibly separated boxes, once using wire to slice them apart (like cheesewire). This doesn't generally go well because you cut through or rip apart comb (some combs do seem to go all the way down to the next set of bars, no "bee space" gap) and you may end up cutting a bee or three. And you inevitably cool brood. So you have dripping honey, possibly broken comb, alarm pheromone etc and it gets quite exciting. The bees pour out... And they did !!!
But I noticed that when I remarkably lifted those boxes as a unit the other day, the bees were pretty calm about it. Sure their floor temporarily disappeared but, the nest wasn't disturbed, just rotated for a couple of minutes. In fact one of the trickiest aspects was the BULK of moving 3 boxes at once. I couldn't really get my arms in sensible locations for a stable lift until I removed the roof and quilt box, then I could sort of tuck my chin over the top. Still sounds super human to me Paul !!! Well done, can we hire you out please lol.
So I think your best option, if you decide to add another box, is to get someone to help you for a cautious 2-person simultaneous lift. They will need full protective gear. In particular Wellington boots as bees will drop out the bottom and try to crawl up your trousers. ABSOLUTELY CONCUR WITH THE BOOTS THING !!!! From bitter experience !
Paul
