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When we got our bees they were already in a hive, we also were given supers with old comb and were told to put them on in 3 weeks.
Some of the foundation is broken, a few don't have anything at all
My question is , if i add new foundation to replace the badly damage how should i arrange it, like old in the middle, new on the outside or do i mix them up new next to old or should i use the old at all?
Thanks from a newbee..
If the old stuff is brittle and doesn't smell like nice fresh beeswax, I'd pull it out and melt it down and replace with new foundation. It's not that expensive, and if the bees decide they don't like it you are actually better off with empty frames.
If you are going to extract, I recommend wiring the frames, it's easy and makes the comb much more secure. I would put the new foundation in the center, although if you have a good flow going it won't probably matter much.
Peter
I am just going to put new in them.
One hive is thriving almost all the frames are full, so i added another brood box per bee keepers instructions but the other hive has beedles and i found a moth in it and only the center 4 frames are full.
I ordered beetle traps and am going to go and look for more moths and beedles in the morning when i have some help, i believe these hives may have already been infested, i see evedence of past moth infestation on the old frames.
Sad but thats how we learn sometimes. Off to see what i need to do about these pest.
Thank you for the reply it was very helpful
I ment to ask, how do you wire a frame? mine just have foundation for the bees to work with.
Do a youtube search it will be better than trying to explain here, if you are using plastic foundation then there is no need to wire the frames.