Another bee mistake
Apr. 21st, 2010 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doodlemaier posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
bee_folkI went back into Medford's hive last evening to retrieve the shipping crate I left in there during the installation. From the bottom super up: I left the the crate tipped on its side in the the lower-most super, a shallow. When previously I opened the inner cover for quick peeks I was pleased to see that the bees had refrained from building burr comb inside the shipping crate. This was, as I came to discover, only because they'd built a large free-standing layer of comb that attached to the lid its entire length. That had to be separated and led to a lot of pissed and/or murdered bees. Of course it was full of eggs, which is otherwise a positive sign. That I probably doomed them to neglect by moving the comb, not so much.
On top of that box was a deep that I had interspersed Lang frames and top bars with a gap left on one half of the box to make room for a quart of sugar syrup. From a frame in the lower shallow they had built a comb up into the upper deep, again, running its entire length and attached to the syrup jar. This also had to be removed to switch the position of the boxes and lead to dead bees. Again, full of eggs and nectar.
When I go back in tomorrow I need to reconfigure the order of the frames and top bars in the deep, now on the bottom, so that the Lang frames are all to one side and the top bars are all on the other because interspersing them doesn't allow enough space for them move up and down between the boxes. The top shallow will need to be outfitted with 19" top bars where there is currently empty "slots" where all but two frames are absent. The frames that are there were adjacent to the shipping crate and have been drawn out heroically, and therefore shall be preserved. Only wish I had the presence of mind during the install to only put top bars in there.
We live and let die, and even learn a thing or two!
On top of that box was a deep that I had interspersed Lang frames and top bars with a gap left on one half of the box to make room for a quart of sugar syrup. From a frame in the lower shallow they had built a comb up into the upper deep, again, running its entire length and attached to the syrup jar. This also had to be removed to switch the position of the boxes and lead to dead bees. Again, full of eggs and nectar.
When I go back in tomorrow I need to reconfigure the order of the frames and top bars in the deep, now on the bottom, so that the Lang frames are all to one side and the top bars are all on the other because interspersing them doesn't allow enough space for them move up and down between the boxes. The top shallow will need to be outfitted with 19" top bars where there is currently empty "slots" where all but two frames are absent. The frames that are there were adjacent to the shipping crate and have been drawn out heroically, and therefore shall be preserved. Only wish I had the presence of mind during the install to only put top bars in there.
We live and let die, and even learn a thing or two!
