My swarm built comb on the lid...

I caught a swarm, about a week ago, that was massed around a low branch of a Russian olive. This is the first swarm I have caught, but I have been keeping bees for a couple years. I shook the bees down into a medium box with ten frames and a second empty box on top, to give them some extra space. Today, I opened up the hive to put frames in the empty box, but the bees had already built several combs hanging off of the lid. Not wanting to disturb this too much, I picked up the entire empty box and lid and slid another box and ten frames between the lower one and the empty box and lid that has the comb attached. So, now I have two medium boxes with frames in the lower two positions and a third box on top without frames, but with natural comb. Hopefully, that gives you a clear picture.

So, now I seem to be in a pickle. I don't see a way to ever add any honey supers, or even how to open up the hive again. I'll do this differently next time, but does anyone have suggestions of how I can make the hive more manageable?

Thanks!

Chris

you could carefully cut the comb off the lid and tie it into empty frames. shouldn't be terribly difficult at this early stage, though new comb is generally very soft.

Thanks for the suggestion. I was hoping to avoid surgery, but I'll probably have too. Chris

If it is only a small amount of swarm I'd think about just cutting it out and removing it. Yes, it's a small loss to the hive, but trying to salvage the comb may be difficult.

Well, it's done, but it was a mess. Lots of comb, soft, and full of honey. I only got stung once. I'll check the hive in a week and see how it's doing. Thanks for your help.