[woodedareas]

I want to take some of my frames in the lower brood boxes that have comb and use them in new hives. I was thinking of taking about 4 frames with comb from each of my existing hives and using them in my new hives.In this respect my old hives will have 6 of their original frames with comb and 4 new frames with foundation.My question is will this slow down the the progression and ultimately the production of honey in my older hives. I plan todo the same thing with my supers.

My new hives will have 4 of the older frames with comb, and 6 new frames with only foundation. The same applies to the new supers. Will this process ultimately produce honey in the first year in contrast to starting with all new frames and no comb? I have taken a couple of frames but never 4. I would appreciate any suggestions or comments.
Thanks

 

[Vance G]

drawn comb is important to have when starting a new colony. The supers are a different issue in my opinion. I get much better results drawing foundation 11 frames at a time in the same box. I trim them to 1 1/4" inches so they fit. After the combs are drawn, I space them out to as few as 8 frames in a ten frame box. Get a honey crop off your strongest colonies and put all the drawn comb in their supers. I put the undrawn super underneath a box the bees are already actively working in to get them working the new foundation.