Here's the situation:
I've posted pieces of it in other threads, but here's the whole picture.
I got two 4 frame nucs and was rushing to finish building the hives. They came on plastic foundation. I ended up doing a chop and crop and installing them with eight 1 1/2" top bars (because I read that comb on foundation is too deep for 1 1/4") and the follower board, planning to finish the rest of the bars and revisit the hive within a few days.
As luck would have it, I didn't get back for two weeks. When I did, the hives were JAMMED with bees, and had drawn out 7 3/4 of the 8 bars of comb. There were a lot of bees and a lot of capped brood.
I put a 1 1/4" bar between each of the existing, drawn out 1 1/2" bars, leaving the one comb that wasn't quite finished on the end away from the door. I am operating with end entrances.
Under close observation ( I have glass in the side and hives right beside the window of my house) the bees appear to be very busy. They have been festooning in the empty areas between the drawn comb, and have pretty much abandoned the 3/4 drawn one (which had no brood in it) for the time being. I have seen no dead brood in front of the hive. As of today, they have almost drawn out all of the empty in-between bars most of the way.
So what should I do now if I want to A) regress to small cell B) get the entire brood area on 1 1/4" bars and C) Get that plastic out of there?
Should I move all the newly drawn comb on 1 1/4" bars together near the entrance and group the original chopped comb with plastic and 1 1/2" bars toward the inside of the hive - thus making it more likely to be transitioned to honey? Is this something I should do sooner than later? Should I do something else - Or should I leave them be for a while?
Thanks,
Adam
I've posted pieces of it in other threads, but here's the whole picture.
I got two 4 frame nucs and was rushing to finish building the hives. They came on plastic foundation. I ended up doing a chop and crop and installing them with eight 1 1/2" top bars (because I read that comb on foundation is too deep for 1 1/4") and the follower board, planning to finish the rest of the bars and revisit the hive within a few days.
As luck would have it, I didn't get back for two weeks. When I did, the hives were JAMMED with bees, and had drawn out 7 3/4 of the 8 bars of comb. There were a lot of bees and a lot of capped brood.
I put a 1 1/4" bar between each of the existing, drawn out 1 1/2" bars, leaving the one comb that wasn't quite finished on the end away from the door. I am operating with end entrances.
Under close observation ( I have glass in the side and hives right beside the window of my house) the bees appear to be very busy. They have been festooning in the empty areas between the drawn comb, and have pretty much abandoned the 3/4 drawn one (which had no brood in it) for the time being. I have seen no dead brood in front of the hive. As of today, they have almost drawn out all of the empty in-between bars most of the way.
So what should I do now if I want to A) regress to small cell B) get the entire brood area on 1 1/4" bars and C) Get that plastic out of there?
Should I move all the newly drawn comb on 1 1/4" bars together near the entrance and group the original chopped comb with plastic and 1 1/2" bars toward the inside of the hive - thus making it more likely to be transitioned to honey? Is this something I should do sooner than later? Should I do something else - Or should I leave them be for a while?
Thanks,
Adam