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No this isn't another "How fast will my package fill my frames" thread...
I installed 2 packages on May 25th. I'm using medium boxes w/ foundationless frames. I put 8 foundationless and 2 plasticell frames in each brood box (FFFPFFPFFF). I installed the bees into both and left them alone for 3 days. Went back to be sure queens were released and found niether were so I released them (they also had 4 days shipping time with the queens). I left them alone for another week and went to peek at them to see how they were doing. One hive had drawn out 80-90% of each of the 3 left most frames (against the left side of the hive) and were kinda sorta drawing on the left side of the plasticell. NO bees at all on the other side of the plasticell. The other hive only had about 4" of comb drawn on 2 frames (again to the left side of the hive against the side), but they ended up being queenless and I had to replace her so I'll stick to talking about the 1st hive. Ive checked several times on the first hive and they refuse to move beyond the plasticell. I've moved the plasticell over and placed empty an foundationless frame in the middle and they filled it out pretty fast...about 3 days later I put another foundationless frame in but they've left it mostly alone. The first new bees should be hatching any day so up to this point it's only been the original package. Any ideas on why they won't move over and fill the rest of the hive? I'm guessing that they don't want to spread themselves out too thin and will start moving over when the 3 frames of brood that are in there hatch? Also, why the side instead of the middle? Could it be because the entrance reducer opening happens to be right in front of the frames they started drawing?
So I guess my questions are:
1. Will a queen only lay as many cells as can be kept warm with the current number of bees in the hive? IE is she that smart? If so thats amazing!
2. Will the bees only occupy so much room (frames) so that they don't spread themselves too thin? I guess this is related to the above question but more is it the bees that wont draw more comb than they can nurse, or the queen won't lay more?
3. I know bees will do what bees do but Ive always been told that they start in the middle and work out. I'm assuming that since the entrance was right there, and the plasticell acted as sort of a wall they used that as the initial hive chamber. Does this sound reasonable?
Yes, I'm a new bee keeper and yes I'm using foundationless. I used 2 plasticell to help guide the comb and act as a ladder (which seems to have worked very well, as they are drawing beautiful straight comb on the foundationless). So far all I've heard is that my first mistake is using foundationelss as a new bee keeper. I don't really see the issue here to be honest, as I'm simply trying to learn why they are doing what they are doing... not that I think they are doing it wrong. But by all means... if they are and I should change something, let me know. =)
I installed 2 packages on May 25th. I'm using medium boxes w/ foundationless frames. I put 8 foundationless and 2 plasticell frames in each brood box (FFFPFFPFFF). I installed the bees into both and left them alone for 3 days. Went back to be sure queens were released and found niether were so I released them (they also had 4 days shipping time with the queens). I left them alone for another week and went to peek at them to see how they were doing. One hive had drawn out 80-90% of each of the 3 left most frames (against the left side of the hive) and were kinda sorta drawing on the left side of the plasticell. NO bees at all on the other side of the plasticell. The other hive only had about 4" of comb drawn on 2 frames (again to the left side of the hive against the side), but they ended up being queenless and I had to replace her so I'll stick to talking about the 1st hive. Ive checked several times on the first hive and they refuse to move beyond the plasticell. I've moved the plasticell over and placed empty an foundationless frame in the middle and they filled it out pretty fast...about 3 days later I put another foundationless frame in but they've left it mostly alone. The first new bees should be hatching any day so up to this point it's only been the original package. Any ideas on why they won't move over and fill the rest of the hive? I'm guessing that they don't want to spread themselves out too thin and will start moving over when the 3 frames of brood that are in there hatch? Also, why the side instead of the middle? Could it be because the entrance reducer opening happens to be right in front of the frames they started drawing?
So I guess my questions are:
1. Will a queen only lay as many cells as can be kept warm with the current number of bees in the hive? IE is she that smart? If so thats amazing!
2. Will the bees only occupy so much room (frames) so that they don't spread themselves too thin? I guess this is related to the above question but more is it the bees that wont draw more comb than they can nurse, or the queen won't lay more?
3. I know bees will do what bees do but Ive always been told that they start in the middle and work out. I'm assuming that since the entrance was right there, and the plasticell acted as sort of a wall they used that as the initial hive chamber. Does this sound reasonable?
Yes, I'm a new bee keeper and yes I'm using foundationless. I used 2 plasticell to help guide the comb and act as a ladder (which seems to have worked very well, as they are drawing beautiful straight comb on the foundationless). So far all I've heard is that my first mistake is using foundationelss as a new bee keeper. I don't really see the issue here to be honest, as I'm simply trying to learn why they are doing what they are doing... not that I think they are doing it wrong. But by all means... if they are and I should change something, let me know. =)