(Texas) I finally started something I have intended to do for sometime: to convert my hybrid top-bar hive to a Langstroth (traditional) hive. I have one remaining hive that carries the genetics (and the hardware) of my father’s old hives in College Station. The bottom two supers of this hive were regular supers, but didn’t have frames inside. Instead they had top bars with attached comb. I had tried to inspect the comb in these boxes before, but removing the wooden top bars was not possible. Moreover, the two supers were stuck together very tightly. In other words, to really get in this hive and inspect it, I needed to a complete overhaul. Meaning I needed take out the existing comb, and place that comb in frames, or get rid of it entirely.
The first task was to separate the supers. It was suggested to me on the beesource.com forum that I could use a wire between the boxes to cut the comb that has “glued” them together. Like a garotte. I placed the two stuck supers, full of bees, on the driveway and proceeded to make an attempt with a wire saw that is used to cut PVC pipes. The problem was that this wire was not very long, barely longer than the width of the super. It as tough going. I had to make approaches from all four directions. The wire cut into the wood at times, making it even more tiresome. I was finally able to separate them. And for the first time ever was able to look at the comb in the deep super. However there was a major problem. I had actually cut below the top bars of the deep super, meaning that there was no longer any support from the top for the comb. I lifted up this deep super and 3 large combs fell on the ground sending hundreds of bees all over the ground below, like a bee blanket. This did not make them happy. I set the deep super down on the driveway again and considered my options. I had not been planning to do anything with the deep super. My plan had been to take apart the smaller medium super and place that comb in medium frames. I even had rubber bands ready for the task of holding the old comb in the medium frames. I did have ten empty deep frames that I could use, but no easy way to hold the old comb in those frames. I didn’t have any large rubber bands or twine. I settled on trying to use framing wire, which I knew was not ideal. This wire comes on a spool. It is very tightly wound and very thin. If you are not careful, and do not carefully control the wire as you unspool it, it can turn into a wire bird nest. Think of your first backlash on a baitcaster reel. Now think you are trying to mess with this among angry bees and unwieldy gloves. The combs were much larger than the frames, because they weren’t straight. They were curved like a crescent moon. So I had to cut them into smaller rectangles. I finished off two frames this way, and then decided this was not going to work. I put everything back together and decided to wait another day to fight this battle.
That evening I decided that all that comb needed to go. I would replace all that old black comb with new frames and foundation. I knew that there wasn’t much capped brood in that comb, it was mostly uncapped honey. They could afford to lose this. And the new foundation would provide a clean start. So the next day that is exactly what I did. I ripped out the old comb, threw it in a trashbag, and placed the new frames inside, next to the two frames that held old comb. The trash bag of old comb went into the deep freeze. With a number of bees inside the bag. As I’ve said before, I’m not sentimental anymore about individual bees.
I decided that this old comb would be a good source of wax for candles. I read up on rendering old comb. This is very old comb. I’m thinking that this comb is at least 5 years old, and might be more than 10 years old. It’s not the same thing as melting down new comb. Not by a longshot. It is full of the remnants of bee cocoons. Countless generations of bees had come and gone in these cells. So I put a good amount of this comb in our crockpot in boiling water. I stirred up the mess until it looked like black bean soup. I mashed the comb in a collander, in place, and continued to let it soak. Then I dumped the whole mess through a collander into a plastic bucket. As the mixture cooled I could see a very dark layer of wax in the bucket. Then the next morning I removed the layer of wax. It was as thick as a dime. In other words, I had removed hardly any wax, and instead had just made a giant mess in the kitchen. Forget that comb, the rest of it is going to go outside so that the honey can be recycled by the bees, and then it is going in the trash.
So that’s the hybrid hive. I still have the medium super to convert to frames. But I’m going to wait until the bees have built up the deep super with the new foundation. And after that process is done, I will requeen the hive. And that will be the last of my father’s bee’s genetics that I will own.
In other news, I have purchased a Maxant 9 frame powered extractor. That’s my big purchase for this season. Last season it was a lot of miscellaneous equipment and woodware. Yes, I already own a hand-powered dadant extractor. But it’s a bit wobbly and very tedious to use. It can only spin four frames at a time, and each frame has to be spun four times or so to get most of the honey out. Spin, flip the frames, spin again, flip frames, spin again, flip frames, spin again. I can’t completely extract one side of the frame without the weight of the other side causing the comb to implode on itself. So I have to remove part of the honey, then flip, and so forth. It’s not actually physically hard to crank the extractor. It’s just that the process is extremely slow. The hand-powered extractor was given to me by my old neighbor Mel McCoy. A good man who got out of beekeeping long ago. I miss him–he moved to Utah. The new Maxant should speed things up considerably, which will lead to faster and more frequent extraction, and theoretically, more honey as a result (because I will be less lazy). Don’t get into beekeeping to save money on honey. It doesn’t work that way. You lose money. And honey. When you give it away. But it’s fun and rewarding.
A new queen from Bee Weaver will be on the way for the hive at Paul’s house. I’ve been very pleased with my current three Bee Weaver queens. The hives are booming, with no pesticides or even mechanical or organic measures to control pests. I’m going to stick with a sure thing, and a Texas product.