I got tired of the owl box bees not descending down into the lovely medium super I provided them, so I forcefully evicted them.  The plan was simple, start by removing as many screws as possible from the owl box so I could pull the side off.

Once the lid and side were off I could get to the whole segments of comb and remove them one at a time.

I placed each piece on a large sheet of cutting board, used an empty frame to cut out segments of comb that would fit nicely in empty frames, and then rubber banded them in.  The wonderful wife shot some video of the process to better illustrate.

A few of the appropriately sized rubber bands did a great job of holding the pieces of comb in as long as you are careful and don’t tip the frames sideways.  Everything fit in a single super, so I made that the bottom box with their expansions super on top.  Time to wait.

Two Weeks Later

I let them sit for a while hoping that they would not leave in anger or stress, and that they would start melding their cut up comb into the new empty frames.  The entrance showed plenty of activity when we came to inspect.

They really took to the wooden frames.  Every piece of comb we put in was expanding and was well anchored to the surrounding wood.

They even added propolis and wax around the rubber bands in places.  I read that they would chew through them eventually, but for now they are making them a structural part of the hive!  I took a weight measurement on both boxes now that they are in regular boxes.  With a little luck they will gain weight and start expanding more into the additional super.