Bees in a farm implement

I'm going to tell the story about some bees that were in the sealed hydraulic box (8 inches square by 5 feet long) of a farm implement. I was informed that bees had taken up residence in the impement about august 27th, 2005. The bees had move in when the implement was in a distant field, and had hitched a ride home with no stinging or problems, but the farmer wanted them out. Fall is not a good time to remove bees from a hive, especially when we can't wire their comb into the new hive. I'm sure that I made a few mistakes, and that there was a better way, but I did my best!

Week 1. Smoke them into a hive - 9/3/2005.
I prepared a hive at my brother's house. A number of years ago, I gave him all of my bee equipment, ... and he still had it. He gave me all that he found, but I didn't know that he had crimped brood foundation at the time, so I gave the bees bare cleaned frames. This was mistake number one.

Out at the hive, first I did some gentle smoking, to cause bees to gorge on their honey. Then I taped up all of the holes except for their main entrance. Finally, I added a screen and positioned the new hive right next to theirs, with the cover off, and an excluder wedged in place between the old and new hive, so the bees could crawl over. Then, over about an hours time, I smoked them out. They crawled right over to the new hive. When it was nearly dark, I went over to the neighbor's barn and rescue about 30 bees using a paper bag. They were quite glad to find their hive-mates! I started feeding with a boardman feeder and some old honey (OUR OWN! not honey from an unknown source).

Week 2. 9/10/2005
I took 5 frames out, examined 1 week later - using smoke. Using smoke on such a tiny hive - this was mistake number 2. There were eggs in every cell that didn't have honey/syrup in it. I took the frames home and wired foundation, using a soldering gun to melt the wax. This took about 10 or 15 minutes per frame!

Week 3. 9/18/2005
I discovered that the bees had killed their queen. I guess the stress was too much for them. I found queen cells and 2 drone cells, and added wired foundation for frames 4 through 10. I am now feeding with a jar over the inner cover, protected by a second brood box. I added a pollen substitute, and thinned down their sugar so it wouldn't granulate in the feeding holes.

Week 4. 9/24/2005.
I observed bees at entrance and added sugar syrup. The bees aren't taking to the pollen substitute very well. I used a recipe from a Bee Encyclopedia by Roger Morse. I think the bees needed a much sweeter blend to tempt them to take it, and they needed a much smaller patty. I initially gave them a huge slab that covered 3 frames, but I later trimmed it to a single strip across the 3 frames (about 15% of the original).

Week 5 - 10/9/2005
I checked their sugar water, but I didn't do any real manipulation. I'm letting them "do their thing" when it comes to the queen. I don't know for sure if they will survive the winter, but if they do, I'll give them a good italian queen then.

Week 6 - 10/19/2005
I checked on the bees again. There were 50 to 100 robber bees outside the hive. Most of these looked like hybrid italians, but 1 or 2 were german black bees! I covered up the crack they were trying to force their way into, took away the sugar water, and left without opening the hive up. I know from experience that if the robbers get a good taste of sweets, they will wipe out such a tiny hive.

Lesson learned: Do not disturb bees that are stressed.  Try to work them without smoke.