A couple of weeks ago I was given an old colony. There were 10 frames in a brood box which used castellations, mostly very old comb. Several frames were netted comb, several others had two layers of comb and some of these flaps were falling off. Some of the frames were themselves falling apart and one had no bottom bar. A couple of frames were empty old comb. I moved them into a new brood box and tried to get another frame or dummy board in but there was no room. Given the terrible nature of the frames I decided to do a bailey comb exchange and so a week ago put another brood box on top, with 11 fresh Hoffman frames and a dummy board, and started feeding. I know it is a little later than recommended but I've written off harvesting any honey this year and just want to get them through the winter on healthy, tidy frames. Last week's inspection showed very little brood, but there was BIAS.
The bees themselves are lovely and docile. There is plenty of pollen and nectar going into the hive. Today when I tried to inspect them, I see that they have started drawing out 3 of the upper frames, so far so good. Then I tried to look in the bottom brood box - unfortunately frames 1-4 are now one solid mass of comb and I can't get them out. Frame 5 did come out, and I saw eggs and larvae but couldn't find the queen. Frames 6-10 are also all stuck together and I can't get them out to look at what is there.
I'm at the stage where I can't see what is going on in the bottom box without removing/destroying a lot of comb. Am I right in thinking that I'm best off leaving them to it and waiting until the queen moves up to the top box? My thinking is that if I remove comb below then I'm giving them space and they'll just replace it, so delaying any move upwards. I would also inevitably end up removing brood and weakening the colony.
The bees themselves are lovely and docile. There is plenty of pollen and nectar going into the hive. Today when I tried to inspect them, I see that they have started drawing out 3 of the upper frames, so far so good. Then I tried to look in the bottom brood box - unfortunately frames 1-4 are now one solid mass of comb and I can't get them out. Frame 5 did come out, and I saw eggs and larvae but couldn't find the queen. Frames 6-10 are also all stuck together and I can't get them out to look at what is there.
I'm at the stage where I can't see what is going on in the bottom box without removing/destroying a lot of comb. Am I right in thinking that I'm best off leaving them to it and waiting until the queen moves up to the top box? My thinking is that if I remove comb below then I'm giving them space and they'll just replace it, so delaying any move upwards. I would also inevitably end up removing brood and weakening the colony.