Bee shakedown Update on Update

A good number of bees are transferred safely into their new TopBar Hive and my chief concern is to establish whether or not the queen is present and undamaged. The hive was well sterilized previously by scorching the wood.
I am feeding them with sugar water (1:1) and also Ambrosia fondant which is suspended from two of the top bars present within the cluster seen below.
The bees seem to have cleared much of the honey from the discarded comb left imediately outside, so this has since been taken away.

24th June and two weeks later I find laying workers - Oh dear I should have taken action on my first suspicions of queenlessness.  I imagine the shakeown was done soon after the colony had swarmed and the unborne queen could have been lost within the discarded combs. Best advice from Phil Chandler is now to shake out the colony some way away from original hive location and introduce a new queen or brood comb to the returning flying bees. The laying bees will be left behind but would only kill a new queen.

Maturing drones and multiple eggs laid by workers   (Latest Image taken on 23rd June)

1:1 Sugar water feed jars

Bees chose this end to start on where fondant is suspended from two of the top bars

Opened hive lid is hinged

Entrance holes on this side of the hive are replicated on the opposite side

The sides have a viewing window

Discarded comb

What's going on here?

Sugar Water 

Where is the queen ?

Bee Shake Down

Having an old neglected top bar hive to re-house I managed to transfer the bees into a nice new spacious Top-Bar Hive without getting stung or losing courage. Its a somewhat sticky process tickling out thousands of bees from broken comb and a hive gummed up with propolis.
A swans feather was most usefull, plus a hive tool made by my brother out of an old saw blade to form a thin flexible blade in the shape of a long slender L. This was used to hook and slice away the combe from the sides of the hive and from beneath the top bars.

Before venturing down this route I consulted with local beekeeper Peter Hunt and without his encouragement I would probably have not attempted the proceedure.

Old comb to be discarded

Cluster hanging in there

Defending an existing colony nearby

First step accomplished but will they stay put