My first hive in a wall cutout

A guy at the shop told me last week there was a beehive in a wall in an old abandoned house at his fiances, grandmothers farm. I talked to the lady and she said I could get the hive. I've never done a wall cutout before because I'm not tearing apart someones house and leaving that mess, or fixing it back. I don't have time and I'm not in the construction business. Anyway I got out there, a buddy went with me, which made it much easier and I tore some rotten boards off the wall and found the hive. I ended giving the guy that went with me all the comb that the hive would normally store honey in and I kept the bees and brood comb. It's hard to see but the center comb the bees are on is about 18" wide and it was about 36" tall from top to bottom. I cut it off in slabs, starting at the bottom and used rubber bands to hold it in empty frames. The bees will have the comb secured to the frames in just a couple days. I didn't take any pictures of the frames with the comb rubber banded into them. I'll try to do that tomorrow. I was lucky and found the queen, so I know I got her in the hive that I put them in.

I honestly don't know how the bees lived through that cold spell we had a week ago. I have never seen a hive before, with live bees in it that had no honey, and nearly no nectar in it. If I squeezed all the nectar that I found out into a bowl I bet there wouldn't be 1/4 cup of it. At any rate, I have them at home on a hive stand now, and put a feeder in the hive with one gallon of sugar syrup, so they'll hopefully be good to go.

Cool stuff there. Looks like y'all found a well established hive. Hopefully they like the new neighborhood better.

That's cool to look at. I enjoy reading yalls bee hive post

Great save!!!! Hope it works out well for you.

Thanks for the replies. I'm sure they'll do fine. I was pretty bummed out until I found the queen on a frame in my box. Once I saw her, I got a little pep in my step. LOL

Here's a picture of the comb that is held into frames with rubber bands.

Congrats on getting the queen. Nothing like a free hive. Finished up some swarm traps today. Now I just need to get them up.

Thanks. She's laying a great pattern too. She may be a keeper.

I've still got to get traps up. I should have had them up a month ago.

That's cool. My dad rents hives to help pollinate his blueberry field every year.

Cool. Has he been able to tell any increase in his yield since before using the bees? I've read that honeybees are poor pollinators for blueberries because the flower petals are deep enough that honeybees can't reach the stamen and pistil unless the flowers are first torn by a bumblebee. That doesn't mean what I read is true, about half of what is written about honeybees seems to be false.

The pollinator guy told me that red clover wasn't good for honeybees because they couldn't reach the bottom, white clover is good.

That's what I've read. I still don't know why red clover is named red clover since it's lavander colored. Crimson clover is supposed to be good for bees but it isn't used as much as I had read that it was. I planted 2 1/2 acres of it fall of 15 and saw some bees using it last year but nothing like I had hoped.

I just got finished spraying 3 acres of winter grass with Roundup. I'm going to plant it in Hubam White Sweet clover. I have read lots about it. It's interesting to me that the Sweet clovers (yellow and white) don't look anything like what we normally think of as clover. This Hubam is supposed to get 6'-8' tall. It's also supposed to provide several hundred pounds of honey per acre. I guess that will be dependent on rainfall.

Fur... Try planting buckwheat ... The bees love it

I've planted it several years ago. Before I started beekeepin g. What time of the year does it bloom? I want something that will bloom in June and July, that's the purpose of the Hubam, but Buckwheat would be a WHOLE LOT cheaper to plant, if it blooms during the summer.

He has always rented them since he started harvesting and selling. So we don't have any data without the honey bee hives. The field is filled with bumblebees and honey bees during the bloom stage!! The honey bees are cheap to rent so it's good insurance!!!

Hey Fur. Plant anytime after last frost. It will bloom white flowers. They will dry and turn brown. When the seeds are dry you can cut and disk in and it will grow and bloom again. I got three blooms off mine couple years ago.
I did notice the bees only worked them early in the day.

Thanks for the info on the blueberries Dog and thanks for the info on the Buckwheat Shed. I'll definitely try the Buckwheat.

Where did you get your seed?

Calhoun Co. CO-OP. Seems like it was bout $50.00 a bag.

10-4 thanks.

on our blueberries her at the house we only see bumblebees pollinating them in February and early March...never any honeybees.

Do you have any honey bees close by? My mother has some blueberries and I do see honeybees on them but not many. Too many other things around blooming at the same time that they prefer.

I'd love to find a nursery that grows hollies to put some hives at. That is one of their favorites and they bloom about the same time as blueberries.

I rode over to he barn one day this week and heard a lot of buzzing!! I knew it was bees but I couldn't pin point where they were at the moment. I finally found them pollinating a Holly trees blooms!! I bet it was a thousand bees,,

Cool. They cover up the hollies around the house. I think it must be one of their favorite sources of pollen, maybe nectar too, but I don't know how much nectar it produces.

The Chinese Tallow trees, or Popcorn Tree, (I know they are invasive) are a favorite tree to these pollinators.

I've got a friend that lives in Mobile that also keeps bees and he's told me how much honey he makes off Tallow trees. I don't think they'll make it through our winters up here, because we don't have any around that I know of. I know they are terribly invasive down that way. I have thought about planting a few in a spot that won't get any cold north wind, just to see what they will do, since our winters would keep them in check.

They grow well in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and North Carolina, I would think they would do well up there. They like open areas, a lot of nurseries sell them. Hard to kill, but Imazapyr will kill the crap out of them.

Fur,

Update us on the wall hive. Unfortunately, I was not able to recover the bees from my sisters house. They were going in at the edge of the brick/siding. Peeled back the siding and they were going down and not up. Finished Sheetrock room in the basement so I thought I could squirt som BeeGo in the wall and run them out. Punched a small hole in the wall but could not find bees. Could hear them but could not find them. BIL didn't want me to tear any more stuff down. Oh well, we have it a good try.

They're doing really good. I added another 10 frame deep on top of the original one last Saturday. They've been pretty docile to this point but were pissy Saturday. If they keep that up, I'll pinch the queen and requeen them. I'm tired of hot bees.

Hate you couldn't get the hive from your sisters house.

How are your Frost bees doing?

The Frost bees are fine. Adding supers to all of them. I agree they are swarm prone. Packages have filled up a box each and the patterns all look good. Going to see how much new comb they have added tomorrow or Saturday.

Good deal.