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.
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Old comb to be discarded |
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Cluster hanging in there |
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Defending an existing colony nearby |
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First step accomplished but will they stay put |