I was a bit worried about my top bar design that I built last year. So, I moved the door towards the end and designed a retractable reducer with landing board. (Probably too close to the end of the hive for cleaning and jamming)
We put some of the comb from the weak hive that we froze from last year thinking it might give the new bees something to clean up and start with. I also designed a top syrup feeder that would fit under the lid with hardware cloth. We thought we could put the whole thing in the garage stopped up until the weather warmed up in several days.
We installed outside in the rain/sleet and it was pretty cold for the bees, so they were balled up pretty good. Fed them 1:1 syrup for a few days in the garage. My mom even came to inspect and the 3rd day we took them outside and released the queen.
So far so good. The were even bringing in pollen and the mortician bees were hauling out some things. We'll see in a few days if that queen whips them in shape and starts laying! Good luck new hive- they sure are dark colored bees compared to the other hive!
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