A question for the beekeepers

[Emhall72]

Have an interesting situation (problem?) with one of my hives and I was hoping to get some advice from one of you more experienced beekeepers.

I recently lost a hive to wax moths, and while I was cleaning up the hive I discovered what appears to be a new colony which has established rather nicely directly under the hive that I lost. They have built comb which is attached to the screen bottom of my hive. They seem to be happy and are surrounded by cinder blocks on which I had my hive set up.

My question is, would it be ok to install new frames with foundation in my hive with a top feeder full of sugar syrup and hope the colony finds its way inside? Is there any way to encourage them to move inside the hive? I feel like trying to move the hive bottom would likely destroy the setup they currently have going on and potentially kill the queen, it's pretty tight quarters. Im open to any other ideas or advice. My other 2 hives seem to be happy and moth free thankfully.

Sorry for the wall of text!
Thanks fellows!

 

[Leadchunker]

Glad to help. First what happened. Wax moth didn’t kill the colony, the never do. The moth enter a weakened colony and help with the colonies down fall.
Your colony swarmed and requeened itself. Happens every year with strong colonies, it’s how they reproduce. The new queen produced by your colony flew out to get mated. This is the only time a queen leaves the colony besides swarming. When she came back she didn’t make it into the front entrance. She ended up under the bottom board, happens more than people think. The colony can smell her pheromones and will find her and start building comb where she is located. The rest of the colony will eventually migrate to the new colony location under the hive box. The old area will shrink in population of bees and wax moth will move in to the unguarded area.
The bees will not move back into the box. You will have to move them. I do it on swarm removals. You need to get some empty frames and lace them up on one side with fishing line, snug. Have one more frame than you think you need prepared ahead of time. Start with the outside, food frame, and transfer the comb from the bottom board to the frame. Keep the comb orientation the same as the bees have it. Comb does angle slightly upward. If you don’t the bees will ignore it. 2 food frames will be enough. Make as many brood frames as you can. It is very important to find the queen. She must go into the box or you will be doing this whole process again. Don’t worry about killing any of the capped brood. It’s going to happen when you cut the comb to fit the frames. Put an entrance reducer on it and an inframe or top feeder on it.
Hope this helps.