Ice Chest Swarm (colony)

[Yankee11]

This was a tough one. 

He said just take the whole ice chest. Just get them outta here. I am going to let them build up in the bee yard in the ice chest this summer.
Will remove them in time for them get ready for winter. Gonna cut them a new entrance.

I bet they would over winter well in the ice chest though.

Might make a good swarm trap after I remove them 

[LazyBkpr]

heheh Nice!
   I have a couple of those Styrofoam coolers I brought lobster back from Maine in. NOT a bad idea if it were not for the cut out part.

[Yankee11]

"cut out part"

What do you mean. Cutting them out of the ice chest?

[LazyBkpr]

yep, and rubber banding the combs into frames.  Still betting they would be well insulated.

[Barbarian]

Interesting location for a colony. Was the box inverted ...... standing on the lid ?

In my temperate location, I would be concerned that with a hot day (80+F) the colony would get too hot in the insulated box.

Compressed polystyrene is starting to be used in the UK for nucs and hives. There are some reports of wasps (yellowjackets ?) chewing through the side to get to the built in nuc feeder.

[Yankee11]

Yes it was inverted sitting on the lid.

Well the heat is something to think about.

It gets over 100 here in August. So, I will probably at least let them get some brood going before moving to a hive. I'll punch some air holes in it in the mean time to give some ventilation.

[Bsweet]

Might try and set a hive body on top(bottom) of the chest and see if they will move up. I'd cut a hole in the chest and cover the hole they are useing now so that they would have to enter/exit through the hive body, with some drawn comb and maybe a frame of brood I bet they would move up. Jim

[blueblood]

Might try and set a hive body on top(bottom) of the chest and see if they will move up. I'd cut a hole in the chest and cover the hole they are useing now so that they would have to enter/exit through the hive body, with some drawn comb and maybe a frame of brood I bet they would move up. Jim

Good idea.  That way, they will have some drawn frames they can store their winter honey in during the summer until you do the cut out.

[LazyBkpr]

just an FYI.. the foam will repel heat as well as it does cold. It should be much easier for them to regulate the temp in that cooler, hot or cold. If those were sturdier they would be great hives.. as it is.. you pull pieces of foam off with the propolis the bees glue everything together with.

[Perry]

Leave them in there, install a spigot, and sell honey from it, it's what customers think we do anyways.

[riverbee]

"Leave them in there, install a spigot, and sell honey from it, it's what customers think we do anyways. "

..........

[Yankee11]

Went down to look at it again today and they were using it bow and arrow target practice. It's got plenty of vent holes.