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checkerboarding and frames with foundation

3K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  hilreal 
#1 ·
I want to expand the brood nest of my three hives, and I am wondering if checkerboarding works with frames with undrawn foundation, or only with empty frames.
 
#4 ·
It's only March, and we could easily get cold weather again, at least where I live, so I'm hesitant to insert much extra space into the brood nest unless there enough bees to fill that space immediately. If you get a cold snap, the bees will abandon the brood outside what the cluster will cover and it will die. Most importantly, the drones will be left to die, and then they will make drone comb in that empty frame instead of brood comb.

Foundation is probably a better choice at the moment, although that depends on your particular forecast.

If you think you will have warm enough weather for the bees to be flying every day and not clustering at night, you can put a foundationless frame in the brood nest if you have enough bees to immediatly draw it out and you have white wax in the hive. I'm putting empty frames at the edge of the brood nest in my hive, I don't trust the weather to stay warm all that long right now, and until another round of brood emerges there aren't enough bees to my mind.

Peter
 
#6 ·
You're right, I missed the Greece part of the address. It's been a hectic day.

So long as there are enough bees to quickly draw comb in the foundationless frame it's fine to put one in. If there isn't a good honey flow, though, my limited experience is that they draw a partial frame of drone comb if they are not in expansion mode, which you then have to deal with since it's in the middle of the brood nest.

Still, the mountains in Greece are still fairly cool, I'd bet.

Peter
 
#9 ·
Sounds like you are about on time with central US. Cherry trees just startin to bloom in Fort Wayne but we are a couple of weeks ahead of normal (at least). In that case I would be careful splitting the brood nest. Wait until you are sure the temps will stay warm, have enough bees to cover and nectar coming in.
 
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