Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I had an interesting trip to Ga. I found this old hive at my mother-in-laws place that had been there for about 15 years. My brother-in-law had become very allergic to bees and had not bothered the hive since he built it. So it has been sitting in the same place for the last 15 or so years with bees coming and going.

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The hive was 18 inches square with two 2 inch bars crossing in the hive from side to side. The top was nailed down and the hive sat on a loose piece of plywood. The top had a hole in it like an inner cover. I was told that they never went into the brood chamber they just sat supers on top of the brood chamber and the bees came up through the hole and stored the honey.
There were 4-5 family members watching me and when I got the lid off I told them this is where I would say" WALLY WHAT DO I DO NOW!"
I finally got one side off and and started working through the comb picking out capped brood to rubber band into frames. I got about 3 frames of brood. I brushed about 3 lbs of bees (my guess) into the hive.
I never did see the queen.
I hope they survive.

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They seemed to be doing OK when I left.

I hope you got comb with eggs to go with the capped brood. If so, all I can say is>>>Job well done...Congrats.

Just don't post on the net if you brought them back. They have to be inspected before crossing state lines.

WOWAAAAA!!!!! I would like to be the first to say...Good Job. I would have went for the gasoline and match method. Are you not worried about AFB of EFB??? By the way, one of my hives swarmed Sunday. I was glad to be at home to witness the most spectacular nature event I have ever seen. I didn"t think ANY of the descriptions I heard about a swarm did this one justice. Thousands and thousands of bees. Circling in about a 50 to 75 foot circle. About 50 to 75 foot in the air. TRULY amazing. The bees pouring out of the hive as fast as they could go. My wife and two childern were standing almost in the middle of it turning around in circles trying to take it all in. I jumped in the car and went to Wallys. Bought a hive. Raced back home thinking they would be gone. But I was wrong. My wife was beating on a pan to try and calm them down. They gathered on a branch about 9 foot of the ground. I put my box on a ladder and shook them in. Got the queen in the shake down and the rest is history. I will post some pics later. The swarm was pretty big. The streched out about 3 foot long. I was so pumped for hours. My uncle told me that he never takes his hived swarms anywhere and the bees have never left. So I just moved them in row with the others and they are doing just fine. I started with two hives. Did a split on both. That makes 4. My uncle gave me 2 swarms. That is 6. Now this one. 7. My wife says STOPPPPP! I think I will hold off for now. This is too much fun.

Wally, I could not see any eggs, I always have trouble seeing them. I was also very overwhelmed. Hopefully in the three frames of brood there will be some eggs. I was impressed that there were no small hive beetle.

I did not bring them back. I was aware of the inspection that needed to be done so I did not plan on bringing them back. We never have room in the car anyway.

I did meet a beekeeper in Ball Ground Ga that had 500 hives. It was interesting talking with him. He sold me the equipment. My mother-in-law went with me to get the equipment and mentioned she liked the chunk honey . He said HEY I have some of that and gave her a jar. She said How much? He said thats OK I put it on his bill. lol He did to.

WOW L&H sounds like you saw a neat swarm, I have not seen one yet. 7 hives lol thats cool I don't think I could handle 7 hives right now sounds like too much fun.

L&H

I didn't think about AFB.

I did watch the hive for a few days, an hour or so per day. They looked healthy, lots of activity, bees coming and going from a few entrances in the hive. I was told these bees had been there 2 years. But not 100% sure of that.
While removing the comb from the old hive the larva did look nice and white, there were no signs of mites that jumped out at me and no hive beetle. The Ball ground beekeeper told me I would find beetles for sure. lol tricky bees.
I think they were a healthy hive. I hope they continue. I will get reports from my mother-in-law about activity at the entrance. She likes the bees.