I already put up my log details for today, but I'm back for a quick look over the shoulder to how I prepped for moving the bees and how I executed it. Lets go over the steps again:
Step one: Finish the outer cover of my hive project.
I put on an outer cover on the hive. Not sure if it'll last but time will tell.
CHECK
Step two: Move the uninhabited hives out of the way so I can place the long hive.
Did that!
CHECK
Step three: Place the long hive.
I got my daughter out to help on this one, since manouvering with that big bastard of a hive is a pain in the *.
CHECK
Step four: get your tools ready:
Regardless of whether I used them.
Hive tools CHECK
Smoker CHECK
goose feather CHECK
6 top bars CHECK
Straps to fix the simplex frames on the top bars CHECK
bee-suit and gloves CHECK
knife and foodpacks CHECK
Queen clip CHECK
camera gear to film the experience CHECK
Populated Beehive (simplex nucleus) CHECK
Something to close off the nucleus with (piece of foam) CHECK
Unpopulated beehive (3 boxes with at least 24 frames ready to go) I only prepared 14 frames in total
Take your frame-plan CHECK even though nerves got the best of me.
Step Five: Set up the Camera
Well, wait till 24th of april and you'll see for yourself!
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Step Six: move the populated beehive away from it's current location and replace it with the bottom box (empty frames close by). Keep the populated hive withing working distance.
CHECK
Step Seven: open up the unpopulated Hive and get ready to fix the top bars onto the simplex frames.
I didn't spot the extra frame that was in there... mistake number 1
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Step Eight: Open up the populated Hive after smoking the enterance a bit and smoke over the top of the box.
Smoke was everywhere! It doesn't show on the video that well, but flames came out of the nozzle at first. And the smoke came out abundantly at times.
Rookie mistake number 2 - but no harm done!
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Step Nine: Once the bees are down scrape off burr comb of the top of the simplex frames.
This went rather fast without the bees coming after me! I was surprised somewhat!
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Step ten: check if you can get all 6 frames loose but don't remove them yet.
I did spot the one frame was built against the wall, at least near the top end of the bar, but I cut it loose.
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Step eleven: fix the top bars onto the simplex frames without removing the frames from the box entirely - should this not work move them as soon as they're fixed into the new box.
I had to go with option 2 and move them one by one. Here is where the nerves got me and not spotting the extra frame in my box made me change around the order of the frames.
First I removed frame S3 (Simplex 3) and put it in B6 - it should've gone in B5 but there was a ZFE there!
Second I removed frame S4 and put it in B7
Third I took S3 and put it in B9 - I then spotted the extra frame in my Zander Box. Removed B8 but ended up putting an empty frame with no starter strip whatsoever back in there. There was foundation on there at first, but that frame I moved to B1, then I took out B5, also a ZFE. (are you still following? I'll put the hive combination in my Zander box down after this listing)
Fourth frame I took out was S5 and put it into B5.
Fift frame I took out was S6 and put it into B4
Last one was S1 and that went into B2
So my Zanderbox now looks like:
B1: ZFE foundation strip (1/2)
B2: SFC (only comb)
B3: ZFE foundation strip (1/4)
B4: SFF Nectar (capped)
B5: SFB Brood (no food)
B6 SFB Brood with a bit of nectar (capped)
B7: SFB Brood with a bit of nectar (Capped)
B8: ZFE no foundation
B9: SFB Brood (no food)
B10: ZFE foundation strip (1/4)
S1-10: ZFE full foundation
So I moved the brood to one side of the hive, where it should've been more in the middle. I can only hope the bees correct it.
CHECK
Step twelve: If it does work start with taking the second frame from one side and check it. Note what you see and hang it in the unpopulated hive. What to look for?
I did look at the frames but I didn't see any of the things I aimed to look for. All I could recognize were closed cells of brood and capped honey cells. I didn't see eggs, I didn't see uncapped brood, I didn't see the queen, I didn't see if there were drones there...
NO CHECK
Step fourteen: dump any leftover bees remaining from the simplex nucleus (populated hive) into the top box (be it the bottom one or the super) then close up the hive ASAP.
I did not notice the bees in front of the hive (the ones you see on camera on the outside of the hive)
I might have only shaken it once if I did.
CHECK
Step Fifteen: remove the now unpopulated simplex and close it up so no bees can get in.
Since I didn't get them all out I moved the simplex in front of the Zander hive. I only closed it up later that day
NO REAL CHECK But shouldn't have been. I got this wrong!
Step Sixteen: if the bees are still calm then put the apiary in order: place the empty hive boxes where they should be in the future if populated. (as to not confuse the bees too much with changing enviroments. If you are stung like a pincushion best to leave the apiary and wait an hour or so before coming back to fix this.
I did clean up and let the video run. Al I saw so far on there was some bees fanning on the new hive to draw in the bees that were looking for the hive.
What went wrong?
1) Bees go wild.No the bees did not go wild, I used a lot of smoke though, more to put myself at ease than calm the bees I guess. But it worked.
2) You kill the queen.
I don't think I did, the fanning bees should support that.
3) I spot a disease.
I didn't spot much of anything out of the ordinary. Sheesh, it was my first time looking at the inside of a hive (not counting YouTube video's)
4) I spot swarmcells
I did not see swarmcells!
What did go 'wrong' is I did not think of the plastic ends of the zip lock strips. They hindered closing off the box. I tried to solve it by putting another box on top, but even in that box some frames got pushed aside.
I also need to look up how to kill my smoker. Now I dumped the contents out in the dirt and stamped it out.
My nerves got the better of me and I forgot to really look at the frames. But then again, I wanted to move the bees in the Zander hive ASAP so I wanted that to be over with.
Bob Out
