moving swarm to TBH

[yoderski]

Last Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to be able to capture 2 swarms. The one swarm went into a nuc that I had ready, but unfortunately, I was not fully prepared with a hive for the 2nd swarm, so I used 2 medium supers with a couple of normal size frames with comb, and then filled the rest of the box with top bars, but no actual frames.  So this swarm has been there for the past week, and from my schedule, I won't be able to give them a permanent home for another 6-7 days or so.  In the meantime, they seem to be doing well, as far as I can tell from the number of bees going in and out of the hive.  I was planning to move them to a new V-shaped TBH that I am building.  How can I do that effectively 2 weeks after obtaining the swarm??  If they already have some honey, and brood, is there a way to move that to the TBH?

[likes2grill]

I'm a new beek my self but this is what I'd do.....

  I'd put everything in the TBH ( comb, bees ) then move the TBH to where the old hive box was so that if any bees that are out flying will come back to the right hive and you should be fine.

[Michael Bush]

What is the length of the top bars in you TBH?

[yoderski]

Michael,

[yoderski]

Sorry, pressed enter too early.  I am making the Kenyan TBH, using the plans on your web site, Michael.  So the bars will be 15" long.  However, I don't have any time this week to work on it, so it won't get made until next week.  By that time, the swarm has had 2 weeks to do whatever it is doing in the box they are currently in..I hope I don't have a mess on my hands...

[Michael Bush]

You will have a mess.  One solution would be to  build "swarm ketching" frames for the KTBH and do a cutout.