I'm picking up a hive that uses handmade deep frames (using what seems to be a mix of wax and plastic foundation), in a non standard home made hivebody. I'd guess its about 13 or 14 frame?
The hivebody is actually much more of a box as the bottom is attached to it. What I liked about the bees is that they were survivor stock. The guys is a very no frills, no treatment, let them requeen themselves old fellow.
Now what I think I'd like to do is transfer them eventually into an all medium setup, so I first plan to put some medium frames into the original non-standard hive body and let the bees start drawing those out.
Then I'll:
Put the mediums into a medium hivebody, and start taking frames and brushing bees into the medium one by one. Once I have the bees in, I'll cut out the deep frames and attack them to mediums with twine as well.
Then leave the new medium where the original box had sat.
Is this an utterly horrible idea? If not, should I cut the deep frames in half so I can attack two partial combs to the medium frames? Or should I cut it so one piece will fill a medium frame entirely and the other is just a couple inches?
Looking for ideas from more experienced people
The hivebody is actually much more of a box as the bottom is attached to it. What I liked about the bees is that they were survivor stock. The guys is a very no frills, no treatment, let them requeen themselves old fellow.
Now what I think I'd like to do is transfer them eventually into an all medium setup, so I first plan to put some medium frames into the original non-standard hive body and let the bees start drawing those out.
Then I'll:
Put the mediums into a medium hivebody, and start taking frames and brushing bees into the medium one by one. Once I have the bees in, I'll cut out the deep frames and attack them to mediums with twine as well.
Then leave the new medium where the original box had sat.
Is this an utterly horrible idea? If not, should I cut the deep frames in half so I can attack two partial combs to the medium frames? Or should I cut it so one piece will fill a medium frame entirely and the other is just a couple inches?
Looking for ideas from more experienced people
you might be surprised at how fast they'll build comb, and replacing comb with foundation is standard practice for many beekeeps concerned about contamination in the wax. good luck,mike
