>Why would they ignore the brood frame?
It depends on their resources, but the cluster is below. They may sacrifice one frame of brood because it's not in the brood nest. They probably won't sacrifice two or three. That's why more is a better bet.
> Isn't brood their first priority?
The brood nest is their first priority. Other brood outside the brood nest is secondary.
> Is there a logical explanation, or do I just need to think like a bee?
Think like a bee and see them do such things enough times.
>a bit of a parodox here
on the one hand, you're suggesting only slipping one or two new frames in a box at a time
on the other hand, in my area, the flow is rocking, they're drawing comb like crazy, they draw out 2 frames in a week
I hate to pull the hive apart every week or two to keep doing this but I do want em to keep drawing this new wax
what to do, I hate to keep disrupting them in the middle of our main flow
Don't you have frames in the hive? Won't they keep drawing them? I'm only talking about how many to put in the brood nest. This is a judgment call. It's usually pretty safe adding one in the brood nest with a fairly strong hive. You can easilly add two or three in the brood nest with a really strong hive. You can alternate every other frame in a REALLY strong hive and get away with it, but I never do. It's not like they are running out of frames to draw. They can just drawn the ones on the outside edge of the brood nest. If you're pretty confident they can fill the gaps with bees, try putting more in. Since I can't really make the judgment call on hives I've never seen, I'd rather err on the side of caution than give you advice that results in you stretching things too thin.
>This is sure making the long hives where you can get to the broodnest without ripping the hive apart look good [Smile]
Yes. Every kind of work makes long hives look good.