[RD35]

Okay, so we went out to the hives this past Saturday after leaving them alone for three weeks. We had added the 2nd deep box to both hives and were anxious to see how much work had been accomplished in foundation construction. We have two hives which were new package installs May 2nd. 10-frame deep brood boxes which we fed 1:1 for the first 4 wks, then let them work the flow that was on. At about 8-9 weeks they had both built foundation on 8 of 10 deep frames, so we added a 2nd deep box with 10 new frames (all plastic foundation wood frames) to each hive. So, roll forward to this past Saturday. Both hives have performed very little comb construction as far as we can tell. Our stronger hive had just begun to build out one side of one frame in the upper deep box...a spot about 4-5 inches in diameter. The weaker hive had not touched the top box frames yet. Interesting thing about this is that when we stand and watch the hives, both are very busy with bees coming and going at a feverish pace. White clover is prevalent right now and when I stand in my yard I see them working the clover like mad. So, assuming there is not a good flow, we decided to add the feeders back on the hives and feed again. We put a half gallon of 1:1 in each feeder yesterday evening. We will check the feeders on Tuesday to see if the bees are taking it in. Also, we took one frame of brood from the middle of each lower box and swapped it with an empty middle frame of the top box to help spur on construction in the top box.

Are we doing anything wrong here?

 

[RayMarler]

Sometimes it is hard to get bees to move up into a box of nothing but foundation. The flows have to be very strong to get them to move up like that. Moving up a frame of open larva brood as a bait frame is very good practice, so long as the bee populations are strong enough and the weather warm enough to be able to move up and take care of that frame of brood. I think you are doing just right. With the feeders on and the open brood frame above, they will start drawing comb now, especially the frames right next to the frame of brood you've moved up, to have stores close to it for feeding.

 

[Margot1d]

At about 8-9 weeks they had both built foundation on 8 of 10 deep frames, so we added a 2nd deep box with 10 new frames (all plastic foundation wood frames)

Everything you said sounds text book except for this. Maybe it's personal preference but I would not use plastic for brood rearing. They may be more willing to draw out wax.

 

[AnnetteG]

This is my first year as well. I had the same issue with one of my hives (I have two), but I have wax frames not plastic. What I was advised to do was to spray the frames without drawn comb with a sugar/water 1:1 mixture. I did so and they started drawing comb in a week. Maybe it was a coincidence. I sprayed the wax frame of my supers a couple of weeks ago and my bees are up in the supers, but now drawing comb. The difference may be at this time is that there is not a nectar flow at the moment. Maybe someone else with more experience can say whether spraying the frames with sugar/water helps to entice the bees up the next box to draw comb.

 

[JRG13]

You should checkerboard young strong hives (fatbeeman style) if you want frames drawn (especially this time of year), and sometimes they just don't like plastic which is why I prefer wax foundation even though it can be more work to keep it in the frames and straight etc.... Also, 8/10 frames drawn and still building up a population to fill the box is a little early to add more room. You need to think about brood cycles and population as well when doing such manipulations. Personally, I would've moved the empty frames in, and when they were drawn or mostly drawn and the box full of bees with 4-6 frames of capped brood ready to hatch, that's when you come in with your second box and move some frames up and checkerboard some empties in the bottom.