I learned another valuable lesson this past weekend. I’ve been using 7 frames in 8 frame supers for thicker comb which makes for easier extraction. Since I’m increasing the number of hives this season I had to put foundation in some of the hives. So I put 7 frames of foundation in supers on my strongest colonies and the bees decided they liked the idea of building comb between the frames, perpendicular to the foundation. So I had these “chimneys” of comb with bee tunnels going through vertically. Panic time.
So I did a bit of research on the WEB and learned that you have to start foundation with 8 frames in the box so the bees draw out the comb along the foundation, and then remove a frame and reposition them so the bees draw them out deeper. Made a lot of sense and I rectified the situation. I’m glad I caught my mistake when I did. When I started using the 7 frame method last year I already had drawn out “wet” frames so I hadn’t run into this before.
The same would apply to those that use 9 frames in 10 frame boxes.
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