[c10250]

I have some frames that have been sprayed with soapy water to kill off a severely dwindled hive (laying worker). Can these frames be reused? Should I rinse them off first? Thanks.

 

[mike haney]

yes and yes.
next time just shake'em out on the ground.
good luck,mike

 

[rkr]

A friend has a hive that raised some drones from laying workers. It stretched out some of the cells to drone size. Not a big deal as he is using plastic foundation and can scrape them and start again.

No need to rinse them if they are not fouled with something.

RKR

 

[AmericasBeekeeper]

You do not need to wash them, but you might as well rinse them in bleach water and polish every cell with a Q-tip. Don't worry about it the bees don't.

 

[Peter]

A friend has a hive that raised some drones from laying workers. It stretched out some of the cells to drone size. Not a big deal as he is using plastic foundation and can scrape them and start again.

No need to rinse them if they are not fouled with something.

RKR

How do you scrape them and start again?
Do you have to re-add a coating of beeswax after they have been scraped clean and how is this done?

 

[rkr]

Even when scraped down to the plastic they are never really "clean" per say. They always have a little wax left on them. I re-coated some(But I am a bit OCD at times) to try and they drew it out like gangbusters.

Once the cells are stretched out to Drone size they won't be repaired. Put these frames about an excluder, let the brood in them emerge (if you are concerned with saving the brood), then take a hive tool or other scraper and knock 95% of the wax off of them. The bee will rebuild the comb to the proper size. One must be sure not to leave so much wax that it obscures the hex pattern, so they have a guide.

This thread might be handy.

RKR

 

[Beeslave]

Once the cells are stretched out to Drone size they won't be repaired.

RKR

Yes they will

 

[rkr]

Yes they will

Really?
Your not talking about the odd cell here and there, your saying they will turn a "patch" or frame of drone cells into worker cells without prompting in a reasonably short time?
I have not been beekeeping that long, so I have not seen them "repair" a patch of drone cells. Does it take awhile?
Do you have to do anything to get them to go back to worker size cells? My solution for this "problem" has been to put in new foundation or scrape the wax, depending on the foundation used.

Very interested to hear your observations!!!

RKR

 

[Beeslave]

Drone cells they will not turn into worker cells. Worker cells that have been layed in by a drone laying queen or laying worker will be chewed down after the drone hatches and a good queen lays in it again. Maybe they chew it down before the queen lays in it. When I have a laying worker hive I shake the bees out and make a split into it. The donor hive for the split gets the frames with the most drone brood(in worker sized(dia.) cells) on it. After the drones(in the worker cells) hatch it is all back to normal. At least that is my observation.