[Countryboy]

Assumuing I put the bottom brood box on before honey supers, would the bees not proceed to draw comb in the bottom, so that the queen could move down there and lay eggs?

Yes. I would make sure they have comb drawn in the bottom box before adding the supers though.

Personally, I would add the foundationless box above the existing box. I would pull a couple frames of brood and put them in the upper box of foundationless frames.

 

[mrspock]

I think the idea of adding brood frames is a good one.... But I'm still a bit confused as to why some are saying to add the extra deep on the top, and some saying add it on the bottom.

Can anyone help me understand the considerations/tradeoffs between the two?

 

[DavidBee]

As I've posted here before, I installed 3 packages without foundation. Two hives just had guide bars with a little wax melted on and one had 1" strips cut from wax foundation (because the keep I got the packages scared me into doing it). All three are drawing comb rapidly. One is a top bar hive, where I just put the queen cage on the bottom and dumped the bees in. I'm feeding 1:1 sugar water, top feeders in the two Langs and an inverted plastic coffee can with small holes punched in the top proped inside the TBH. So far so good.
Good luck!

 

[Countryboy]

But I'm still a bit confused as to why some are saying to add the extra deep on the top, and some saying add it on the bottom.

Can anyone help me understand the considerations/tradeoffs between the two?

Bee clusters naturally hang down into the empty hollow log. Bees do fine building comb starting at the top and working their way down. Adding a box of foundationless frames below the brood box mimics the natural tree cavity. Doing this requires lifting the box of bees, putting the empty box down, and then setting the box of bees on top. Bending over and lifting boxes from ground level can get old.

It is easier to simply set the box on top. However, with foundationless frames, it is like putting a big empty space above the cluster, and then asking them to climb up into thin air, and then draw comb down. You need a ladder for them to get to the top bars. Pulling a few frames of brood from the bottom box gives them this ladder, and the brood encourages them to work near the brood.

Heat rises, and bees like to work in the warm parts of the hive. The heat from the cluster rises, and if you put an empty box above the cluster, the bees can work in the warmth directly over the cluster. Putting an empty box below the cluster is putting that box in a cold part of the hive, and bees are slower to work in cold parts of the hive.

I'm sure other folks have other considerations.

 

[mrspock]

Thank you countryboy. Very helpful response.


It's been 2.5 weeks now. I havn't done an inspection yet, but can see through the plexi walls of my hive that the bees AREN'T building comb on the foundationless frames which are sandwiching the 5 frames of drawn comb (purchased) in the middle.

Perhaps they are busy putting sugar water nectar into the drawn comb... perhaps busy with housekeeping. I do see a fair bit of burr comb... but no new comb... yet.

I'll likely do a full inspection next week to get a better idea of what's going on.