Is there any problem with mixing foundationless frames with foundation? I have a full foundation hive now, but would like to transition to foundationless. I was considering changing the brood supers (2 deeps) to foundationless but leaving the shallow honey supers with foundation. Will the two different cell sizes confuse the bees, or keep them from completely transitioning back to natural cell size?
Mixing Foundationless with Foundation
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I had a mess earlier this season from putting in foundation between partially and fully drawn comb. The bees drew the comb out beyond the frame before they ever started on the foundation. In the future I'll make sure the comb is fully drawn and mostly capped so that the bees don't overdraw the cells. Some of it is funny to look at. Honey around the sides and top of the frame drawn out to 9 or 8 frame depth and the pollen and brood in the center and bottom drawn out to 10 frame depth. Easy enought to fix with a razor knife but a waste of cell building.
Pete0
Pete0
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Mine did the same when I put starter strips between frames of drawn comb. At first they ignored the strips and built the comb out thicker. Too thick to pull out one frame without tearing it up.
A few weeks later everything was normal again.The new frames were built up and they had planed down the thick ones themselves.
A few weeks later everything was normal again.The new frames were built up and they had planed down the thick ones themselves.
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Sundance -
I have had the best luck putting the empty foundationless frames between two fully drawn combs.
reply -
I absolutely agree, otherwise I tend to have a wavy mess too. The bees need some exterior structure to base their comb direction upon. This is not a nice mess to try to correct, especially later in the season when the bees need the stores that you'd have to cut out to correct the problem.
What also tends to help is waxing the under top bar. This tends to make them start work at the "point" on not on the top bar sides which can make the combs wavy from the start.
JEFF
I have had the best luck putting the empty foundationless frames between two fully drawn combs.
reply -
I absolutely agree, otherwise I tend to have a wavy mess too. The bees need some exterior structure to base their comb direction upon. This is not a nice mess to try to correct, especially later in the season when the bees need the stores that you'd have to cut out to correct the problem.
What also tends to help is waxing the under top bar. This tends to make them start work at the "point" on not on the top bar sides which can make the combs wavy from the start.
JEFF
>Is there any problem with mixing foundationless frames with foundation?
No problem.
No problem.
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