[richh]

first year beek here... i got 2 nucs in june... added a medium 8 frame super to each.... wanted to go foundation-less so filed each super with kelly foundation-less frames.... one hive has done nothing with them.... a lot of bees meandering around in the frames but no comb.... the other hive is building from the bottom up and not doing a very good job of it.... i straightened it out as best i could..... we shall see.... advise?

 

[Arpolis]

First year beek as well. I moved from 10 frames of wax foundation to 10 foundation-less frames added with an additional deep box. I made mine from scratch and are different than yours so results may vary. Yours seem to have a beveled edge along the top bar where as mine have Popsicle sticks sticking out about 3/8 of an inch out of the top bar.

I did not notice any comb being built 7 days after installing the second hive body but noticed them drawing at the second peek in the hive at the 15 day mark. Now one thing I noticed is that I had two empty frames moved to the bottom box and two frames of capped brood moved to the empty top box. All the empty frames next to capped brood had a lot more comb built on them than the rest. So if you are not doing this then I would say take 4 frames out of your bottom and stager the frames full//empty//full//empty... And mimic that in your second box.

Building from the bottom bar up? Not sure about that. How much comb was started that way? I wounded of the bees could not properly attach onto the beveled top bar and on a hot day the comb fell. Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in on that. As a fun test I took some partially drawn comb I had from a wild swarm last year and just pinched it to two of the empty frames' Popsicle guides and the bees properly attached them and expanded from them just fine upon my next inspection. So you may be able to do the same.

 

[richh]

i would but deep on bottom medium on top....

 

[Michael Bush]

They need a ladder to the top or sometimes they will build up instead of down.

 

[wcubed]

Building comb upward is contrary to their natural instincts, but they can if forced to. They normally build comb downward from the top. That's what MB's festooning is all about - scaffolding for the construction crew.
W

 

[FlowerPlanter]

Try putting a few of your med frames between your deep brood frames, when the bees draw them most of the way move them up to you next box. This will help keep them nice and straight, and encourage them to build in a new box.
Building in a new box from the bottom up could end up a mess.

 

[CajunBee]

Same thing happened in one of my hives....outermost frame with a drawn frame next to it. Kinda bass ackwards, but they're doing an OK job of it so I just left it alone.