Needing some opinions

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Originally Posted by squarepeg

i'm not sure about getting comb drawn with putting foundation on the bottom, as i put mine there after the wax making had pretty much stopped here. having foundation on the bottom definitely stopped the overheating and bearding though.

during the main wax building part of the spring, i'll put any foundation i need drawn on the very top. once all of my mediums are drawn out, i'll be putting empty drawn comb in the bottom position instead of foundation (for cooling and pollen storage) and this will be in the late spring/early summer after the honey harvest. the bees can protect it from pests there and i won't have to worry about storing it, plus i'll have that empty comb to move up and checkerboard the with top super in late winter/early spring of the next season.

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I understand. I think it will just be trial and error again to see how much comb I can get made. Maybe I just need to leave a couple of hives for honey production.

But maybe with the drawn HB foundation that I have now, they wont have to work quite so hard to get the supers drawn out. I do have all shallow supers, and again...I just purchased what I used back in the day. We always ran 2 deeps with as many shallows as we could stack for honey.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by squarepeg

plus i'll have that empty comb to move up and checkerboard the with top super in late winter/early spring of the next season.

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If it is full of pollen it is not empty. In my area with cold nights in the spring I would be concerned with affecting cluster space unless the comb is truly empty. How do other northern beeks feel?

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Originally Posted by squarepeg

understood ber.

>we'd see a lot more feral colonies around here...

are you seeing a few?

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A few.
I don't tramp the woods like I used to.

There are at least two near my home in town, as evidenced by swarming.
As the number of empty buildings increases here in town, there may be more.
Last year I found a colony in the wall of one

I also see black bees foraging from time to time and no one I know of keeps them that they might be the product of kept hive swarms.
I also know of one outside of Erin, the town fellow forum member Joel summers nea.

So they are around, but not plentiful.

If you guys want comb, throw some empty frames over a will populated 4 or 5 frame nuc.
Check every few days and replace the newly drawn ones with empties.

Don't run out of empty frames or they'll swarm pretty quick.