I didn't want to disturb the bee hives midweek like this but while cleaning the varroa floors last night I found that something was wrong with Charlie's varroa floor. The slide-out tray was stuck fast and wouldn't remove. I gave it a tug with a pair of pliers and a bit split off and it still stayed stuck fast. I needed to get at it from the inside to see what's causing the problem, trying not to cause too much disruption.
It was cloudy and starting to rain a bit, but not enough to bother the bees much.
I removed the entire stack down to the brood box.
Then I carefully lifted the brood box away from the floor section. There was a danger of the queen dropping out of the bottom and getting lost, but I handled it carefully and stood it on a spare upturned lid, just in case.
There was a large discoloured patch across the centre of the slide-out tray and it was still stuck completely fast - it looked like the bees had managed to stick it to the wire mesh grid with propolis!
I had to completely remove the whole floor section and replace it with a couple of spare nuc floors. I don't have a spare full-sized floor but two nucs next to each other are the exact same size. This will only be a temporary fix to the problem - hopefully I can fix the varroa floor quickly.
It looks a bit odd having two entrances like this, but I don't imagine it'll bother them in the slightest.
While I was doing some repairs anyway, I decided to sort out that broken landing board on Dipsy's hive - it's been looking a bit shabby for a few weeks now.
It looks like a disaster area here but this was far simpler because I didn't need to seperate the brood box from the varroa floor, meaning there was no danger of the queen falling out of the bottom of the box this time.
I swapped the broken landing board for a spare one I'd prepared earlier.
The brood box with floor sat straight back on top of it.
I decided to have a quick look to check one of those 'honey bound' frames from the weekend. The bees have taken the stores out, just as expected, giving loads more room for Dipsy to lay.
All finished - much smarter now. I should have got around to doing that weeks ago, it only took five minutes in total.
Looking more closely at the damaged varroa floor, the bees actually have stuck the entire centre section of the sliding tray to the wire mesh grid with propolis, making it both completely useless and also a great place for dirty old grot to get stuck where the bees can't clean it. This shouldn't be possible at all - I don't think it's a coincidence that this is the only varroa floor I've ever bought with the word 'economy' in the title. As usual, 'economy version' is really just another way of saying, 'it's a bit rubbish, but it's cheap enough for you to think it's probably worth buying - though you'll regret it after you've been using it for a short while!'
