Well,I screwed up my first hive today

[spunky]

Well geeze.

My split was going well, so I tossed on an empty deep , with starter strips to let the girls expand. Well of course, the first few combs were crooked, and I was going to cull them out, no biggie. 5 days ago they were no brood, honey , and they were only about 1/3 of the way down the frame, of 3 frames. I ordered some plastic cell from brushy, got it in the mail, and went to cull the comb and put on a medium, with some plasticell to help the girls get it strait.
In 5 days time this split exploded , and the upper brood chamber was 1/2 full of bees, 3 more frames of partially drawn comb, all strait of course and packed with honey and fresh brood. Well, I shoulda just left it alone, cause I went to manipulate it, to cull the crooked comb, and it all imploded. I ended up with a huge mess, and couldnt find the queen. Soo I plopped in a pollen patty, sat the old hive body, next to the hive with the frames and bees and scattered comb, and put the new hive and foundation on.

I guess near sunset I will go out and try and see if I have a cluster I can capture, with a alive queen.

[CSbees]

I also have seen several people us the strip method almost in a top bar manner, however, the brood is hard to examine later due to the bees not drawing the comb all the way to the bottom. They do not draw all the way to the bottom bar due to the light entering the entrance or through a screen bottom board. Full foundations may be very expensive, but the wired and cross-wired frames are easier to inspect.

[iddee]

All my hives are wired and crosswired. You scientists can experiment all you want, but I will stay with the tried and true. The saying "what ain't broke, don't fix" is quite true, IMHO.

[Gene Weitzel]

I use a few foundationless frames and the rest HSC fully drawn plastic comb. I never have a problem with the bees not drawing the foundationless frames all the way to the bottom. I use upper entrances in an imirie shim and screened bottom boards that are completely open most of the time. This seems to work well in my high humidity climate, gives them plenty of ventilation.

[Oldbee]

"so I tossed on an empty DEEP with, starter strips" [spunky].....A whole DEEP???!! with [just] starter strips??? [Oldbee]....."Well, I shoulda just left it alone, cause I went to manipulate
it, to cull the crooked comb and it ALL imploded"............."a huge mess". [spunky].

My family had bees 40 years ago and I have had bees only for the last 4 years. I have NEVER seen crooked comb.... IMPLODE! or ended up with a huge mess like you describe. I did put in a frame of drone comb this year that had 2 inches of "starter strip" only because the foundation [Dadant] was too fragile to wire.; it worked out fine. The bees even drew out the comb to envelope the wires; straight and true. Oh well! We all learn from our "experiences" don't we?


"Full foundations may be very? expensive, but wired and cross-wired frames are easier to inspect". CSbees.

"what ain't broke, don't fix" is quite true, IMHO"...........iddee....YES! [OB]

[spunky]

Well, I musta got lucky and not killed the queen, because come nightfall, all bees were tucked back in their 2 mediums. They were out today as normal, forgaing the old combs.

[Mike Gillmore]

One thing you may want to try the next time you need to add a box with empty frames is to stagger drawn and empty frames. When adding the second box, pull three or four drawn frames from the lower box and move them up to the center of the upper box, then alternate empty and drawn frames. This gives them a guide on each side of the empty frame and they usually make nice straight comb. Add empty frames to the lower box in the same manner.

To start with, I like to pull frames up from the outside of the box so I interfere less with the brood nest. Then as they draw comb in the upper box you can start sliding them toward the outside of the box and move empty frames to the center.

I never buy foundation any more, they build comb on their own just fine. It's up to me to guide them in building "straight" comb... for the beekeeper. :)
But I do like to run two strands of wire across the empty frame to help support the comb. When it is first drawn it can be very fragile, especially if it is not attached well on the ends.

[Ross]

I have never wired a frame and I haven't used a foundation of any kind in 5 years. My bees are doing fine and I can inspect anything I want.

I also have seen several people us the strip method almost in a top bar manner, however, the brood is hard to examine later due to the bees not drawing the comb all the way to the bottom. They do not draw all the way to the bottom bar due to the light entering the entrance or through a screen bottom board. Full foundations may be very expensive, but the wired and cross-wired frames are easier to inspect.
If you haven't tried it, don't knock it.

[spunky]

One thing you may want to try the next time you need to add a box with empty frames is to stagger drawn and empty frames. When adding the second box, pull three or four drawn frames from the lower box and move them up to the center of the upper box, then alternate empty and drawn frames. This gives them a guide on each side of the empty frame and they usually make nice straight comb. Add empty frames to the lower box in the same manner.

To start with, I like to pull frames up from the outside of the box so I interfere less with the brood nest. Then as they draw comb in the upper box you can start sliding them toward the outside of the box and move empty frames to the center.

I never buy foundation any more, they build comb on their own just fine. It's up to me to guide them in building "straight" comb... for the beekeeper. :)
But I do like to run two strands of wire across the empty frame to help support the comb. When it is first drawn it can be very fragile, especially if it is not attached well on the ends.

I have done that with a few frames of plasticell. I dont have any drawn comb to do that with for the deeps. Next time, I wont try try and " cheap " it by using one left over box, which was a deep. It ruined a couple of weeks of hard work by the girls. I even had those deep frames wired, but the comb was sooo new and sooo soft

[Mike Gillmore]

but the comb was sooo new and sooo soft


The trick there is to ALWAYS keep the comb face perpendicular to the ground as you examine the frame.