I am also interested in hearing about this. I have a hive I've recently put a super on. The old comb doesn't seem to interest the queen, pollen and some honey and brood there but she really likes the new foundation, beeswax with wire, and is laying like mad in it. I've noticed in other hives the old brood comb doesn't seem to interest the queen. I've heard after use the cells become too big for worker eggs. When and how to replace? A few frames at a time? When? Spring, summer fall, late winter when warm enough?

 

how

That is a good question. I bought a nuc... and the 5 frames it came with look really old and in pretty bad shape. How does one cycle them out without killing brood?

 

In the early spring the bees are often just in the top super, leaving the bottom one empty. I take that one off, and give them a newly cleaned up one on top when they need the room. Also move the worst frames to the outside, where they won't be used for brood. They might also be empty in the early spring.
Howard

 

Thanks Howard.

What would you do about replacing frames in the deep? Give them a new deep with new foundation?

 

You can do this as part of your spring management plans. You can take the outside frames from the brood chamber, usually filled with honey, and then spread the rest of the frames to the sides (4 to one side, and 4 to the other). This creates room to place two new sheets of foundation in the middle of the brood chamber. This done in the spring can open up the brood chamber, and if timed correctly can even reduce swarming. Mark your two new frames with 08, and next year 09 after repeating the steps as done previously, and so on in 2010, and so on. That way, you would cycle through changing out your brood comb every five years, but only two frames per brood box per year..

 

Bjorn Bee, thanks for the tip! With what would you mark with, felt marker, paint, knife?
We also use the sunlight test. If you can see filtred light through the frame, it's ok. When you can't, kick it out. We used this test on the hives we bought. some of the frames were so old, thick walled an black.

 

I use a standard med. point black marker and have heard of folks using push in thumb tacks color coded to the year.