# Reviving a dead hive



## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Depending upon how large your TBH combs are, you may want to put more in, or less. Most Beek's that start up Lang's with drawn comb that have it to use are putting a package in on a full 10 frames. The bees cover it quickly and turn it into home fast. What i'd suggest is use about the equivalent of a Lang 10 frame box.

Hope that helps..


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Dump them in. The bees will clean it up.


----------



## Thomassen (Jul 6, 2014)

Thanks,for the comments. Question for Michael or anyone else: Will bees clean up comb with furry mold?


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Will bees clean up comb with furry mold?

Yes. It will be easier for them than the dead bees, but they will clean it all.


----------



## Eric Crosby (Jan 4, 2015)

If you are concerned about the moody ones you could keep them behind the follower board. Not necessary, but you could observe over time how the bees will go back there and clean them up. I have not had any problems in langs or TBH with bees cleaning moldy combs. That being said, if there are dead bees in there wedged in the cells it takes time for the bees to chew them out and often they will chew out that wax around the dead bees as well. up to you if you want to cut those portions out if you have them. I would be interested to hear other perspectives on this little point.
As for size of nest I would share M BUshes opinion unless you are inclined to go in often and would like something to do (insert combs). The tbh and follower board give you lots of options depending on what you are comfortable with.

Eric


----------



## Thomassen (Jul 6, 2014)

There are very few dead bees in the comb. My hive died in October due to parasitic mite syndrome. Easy to extricate the few dead that I have.


----------



## aricilik (Jan 11, 2015)

For now you can put into a new package on the empty hive bees.


----------



## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

I'd leave all the comb in, moldy ones toward the back. I believe that wherever you hang the queen cage will be where they start to pack in the pollen and nectar once the package is installed in the hive. Keeping the 'good' comb toward the brood nest lets the queen start laying as soon as they release her. The moldy comb will get picked over as the workers have time to deal with it, plus it will probably become the honeycomb and you can get it out of the hive when you harvest the honey.

Packages in TBH's that are given drawn comb will REALLY take off, so enjoy.


----------



## Thomassen (Jul 6, 2014)

I've ordered a 4 pound package. I'll keep you all posted.


----------



## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Depends how mouldy. If the mouldy combs are REALLY bad the bees may just refuse to work on them. What you do in that case is wait till the hive has brood and is doing well, then feed one mouldy comb right into the middle of the brood nest, so there are bees on each side of it & they are forced to work on it. Gradually feed all the combs in over the following weeks as the bees can deal with it.

A new package or swarm may also reject manky old combs entirely and leave the hive. Sometimes people who had a deadout call me because they installed the new bees, but the bees will not go in the hive they cluster outside. When I have a look the combs are full of fermenting honey and such. To fix, what I do is remove enough combs so the bees have an empty space to cluster which is clean. Then the bees are left to settle a few days and then the dirty combs are fed into the cluster one at a time gradually.


----------



## Delta Bay (Dec 4, 2009)

Which ever way you decide to go make sure that you install on worker combs and keep them together and only feed work comb into the middle of worker brood. Leave drone and storage size comb to the outside. Really it would be better to leave the combs in the order that the last colony built them if you can.


----------



## Thomassen (Jul 6, 2014)

Leaving them in the order that they were made previously is what I have planned. It's a no brainer as I numbered the bars last year.


----------



## Delta Bay (Dec 4, 2009)

That's good to hear Thomassen. If you have a follower board that the new package can get around, then you can do as Crosby has mentioned and put the worst of the mouldy combs behind it and the bees will clean them up over time. You will see which combs are useable or what portions need to be cut out moving forward. Add them as you see fit.


----------

