# October Cut out. Will it survive in box



## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

If I had a spare deep of honey or two I would put that above the boxes you put the bees in and let them move up into it. When they were out of the the natural comb boxes I would remove them and treat the hives as I would any other.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

Have they began pulling out the rubber bands yet? A lot of what I would do would depend on what the bees have done so far. Were the combs cut to fit the entire frame, for the most part? Are you feeding them to help them attach things? If you put them in 2+deeps, will they fit in one deep?


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## Chrismo (Jun 10, 2015)

Bad news. They got robbed by the other bees in my yard. I guess the smell of the broken honeycomb drew the other bees to take advantage of them. The queen is still there and some honey but very little. I didn't feed the cut out hive because I was worried that it would cause them to be robbed. Uggg. Anyway - they seem to be guarding their hive better now (I reduced entrance) so I'll start feeding and give them a few frames of honey.

Chris


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## Fishmaster50 (Apr 30, 2015)

Sorry to hear they got robbed out. I'm going this Sunday ( October 16) to do a cutout in a barn. They are going to reside it in Jan or February and contractor wants the bees gone. So I'm going to try to get them in a box or two and hopefully get them over the winter. She sad she seen the swarm go in the barn back in early June. Suppose to be close to 70 s next week.


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## Fishmaster50 (Apr 30, 2015)

Well nov 2 and they didn't make it. I really don't think we got the queen. Never seen her. I gave it a shot all I could do. Wish they made it!


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## Sabaharr (Apr 1, 2017)

To Chrismo: I know I am getting to this late in the conversation but a freshly cutout hive is very disoriented and easily taken advantage of. For this reason they should immediately have the entrance reduced to an inch or a little less so that they have a better chance of defending it. As tempting as it is once you get them set up if you have given them plenty of honey, food, or there is a strong flow going on just leave them alone for a few weeks. Let them do their thing and they will fill out their frames of comb you cut out and remove the rubber bands from it. You can watch the entrance and note how busy it is with its resident bees and if pollen is going in they are doing something right. After a few weeks you can open the entrance to a few inches and check for eggs and brood. If all is well they have a good chance of making it at that point. Just be sure to include as much of their own comb in the frames as you can and fill out the box with drawn comb on the sides if you have it, or foundation frames if you don't.


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